Waltzing among wolves

Op-Ed by Anjum Niaz

Hair blow dried with a hint of a mid-parting and temples conveniently left white to create that academic look, the Pakistani president took his road show to Europe. He did a minuet with Condi Rice. The setting at Davos was sufficiently strategic with a mini Pakistani flag sitting between Musharraf and the American secretary of state. Yes, he looked debonair enough and marshalled notice; yes he stayed at the Dorchester (with taxpayers' money) in London and boasted he'd play bridge with buddy Brig Niaz at his expensive retreat when off, still the president earned criticism not laurels.

Did Pervez Musharraf really think he'll conquer European hearts and minds with his aggressive defence of the indefensible? Yet, at the same time he played the victim. He talked of his opponents whenever he got a chance, accusing evil doers like the sacked Supreme Court judges down to atta hoarders and smugglers eviscerating his writ. Presenting himself as a modern day messiah, Musharraf opened up the wounds of his crucifixion to earn sympathy. Sadly he did not earn much.

Is anyone keeping Musharraf updated with the scornful news stories, editorials, columns and blogs that keep pouring in daily? Not so long ago, the same man was aggressively pursued by every editorial board worth its name whenever he went west. He received kudos. Now he is met by the baying of the wolves.

Since he is a commando he will not throw in the towel and call it a day. Of late we have heard him say he will resign if he's unwanted. Obviously the mercury in the thermometer kept at the Presidency has not shot to danger levels necessitating his emergency exit while everywhere else the barometers are turning red. He still has his followers who go with him to chant slogans wherever they can. Musharraf's party would have been made more the merrier by the addition of another six lackeys flown to London to shout their throats out for him. Unlucky for them, they got nabbed by the airport police under anti-terrorist act and locked up for almost 24 hours and were finally packed off to Pakistan. Among the arrested was Chaudhry Shujaat's younger brother Wajahat, his three nephews and two hangers-on. These Gujrati supporters flew in from Barcelona but were trundled off on the next flight to Pakistan after Interpol grilled them of possible links with Pakistani terrorists recently arrested in Madrid.

The incident warranted an appropriate show of protest for face saving. Hence the British acting high commissioner in Islamabad was trotted out before our acting foreign secretary and made to say sorry. The Foreign Office muscle flexing hardly intimidated the Brits who mumbled tepid apologies and said the deported guys were welcome to return to London anytime. What a farce? We'll never know the truth -- either from Pakistani authorities or the Brits.

President Musharraf often uses our Foreign Office in such situations, ordering about the babus and getting them to do stuff (like intervening for the Chaudhry clan), but treats the Pakistani media with contempt. An amused Maulana Fazlur Rehman has just complained why the FO was not used when he was deported from Dubai. At London at a desi do, he singled out a senior Pakistani journalist who asked him about Rashid Rauf, the suspected terrorist who escaped from a Pakistani jail recently. Musharraf didn't like his question, accusing the journalist of "casting aspersions" and "undermining our forces and your own country". He questioned the journalist's patriotism and professionalism saying that no western media person had asked him this question throughout his tour. "What's bugging this guy (the Pakistani journalist) to ask such a question," Musharraf impugned, "what's his problem?"

His behaviour further fuelled media tut-tutting. He "treats his fellow Pakistanis with contempt while oozing charm for the benefit of foreigners" wrote David Blair, diplomatic editor of Daily Telegraph. But a possible embarrassment awaits Musharraf when he wakes up from his VVIP dream-bed at Dorchester this morning. At 11.30 am before 10 Downing Street will stand Asma Jehangir, Imran Khan, Jemima Khan, and activists of political parties. They will shout "Go Musharraf, go." It is not Islamabad where Musharraf would have had the three lathi-charged, manhandled and tear gassed. This is London. You cannot use the stick here.

Interestingly Musharraf has become controversial. While the governments of Britain, US and Saudi Arabia support him and encourage him to continue throttling people's freedoms as long as he promises to contain suicide bombers killing Pakistanis and not any foreigners, the western media is no longer in love with him. Musharraf in turn hates the Pakistani media because he thinks it is the source of his malignancy spreading cancer against him abroad. In this zero sum game, bigger issues often get blotted out.

What's this talk about Pakistan being the most dangerous country? The British Interior Minister Jacqui Smith according to an AFP report confessed that she is scared walking the streets of London at night. Even posh districts like Kensington and Chelsea are not safe at night, she conceded. Why did the world media not pick up this lead and flash it around the world saying that if the interior minister feels unsafe at night what does it signify? But no one paid much attention because the world media remains Pakistan-centric and loves to dig out all the dirt it can about it from whosoever is willing to snitch.

Recently two retired intelligence bigwigs told the New York Times the intelligence agency had "lost control" of some of the networks of Pakistani militants it has nurtured since the 1980s, and is now suffering the violent blowback of that policy. Who are these two men and why are we keeping quiet? Musharraf's criticism, I guess, is selective and he likes hitting out at those who cannot hit back, like the Pakistani journalist in London.

The writer is a freelance journalist with over twenty years of experience in national and international reporting.

Source: The News International