The Hindu Business Line : Full marks to the General

THEY may berate him for bending over backwards to please the Americans, and they may fault him for standing in the way of "real democracy" returning to the country. There may be hazaar jokes about him and his promise to shed his uniform by the end of the year, and there's even a majority which feels that by humiliating the father of the Islamic bomb, Dr A.Q. Khan, Pakistan's President General Pervez Musharraf has deprived the nation of an icon.

And yet most Pakistanis, particularly those from the educated classes, continue to mark him with an `A Plus.'

When a businessman like Majyd Aziz, President of the MNG Group of companies, describes himself as an "unabashed admirer" of General Musharraf, it's no surprise, because the economic initiatives taken by the Pakistani President and the dexterity with which he made a U-turn on Afghanistan after 9/11 are well known. But when a hardened journalist like Asif Noornai, a senior editor from The Dawn Group, says, "In the given circumstances, he was the best thing to have happened to this country," you have to sit up and take note.

Commenting on the Indo-Pak peace initiative, MNG's Aziz gives credit for the initiative to the Pakistan President. "Being a military man, our President is talking peace. That holds out hope. In 1999, we were in the dumps and had a foreign exchange reserve of barely $700 million.

"This man has done a couple of things that I might not like. But I call myself his unabashed supporter because he chose a wonderful economic team, headed by Shaukat Aziz (Finance Minister), Dawood Razak and Altaf Saleem. I don't think he had ever met these people. He not only selected them but also gave them a free hand to take some tough decisions. He brought in these technocrats and economic managers to pull the country out of the doldrums. The bureaucracy did not want to change anything."

At the risk of displeasing his "idealistic friends," Aziz says Pakistan is yet to mature for full-fledged democracy and wishes that instead of calling for elections after three years, Musharraf had continued.

"Of course, every Tom, Dick and Harry talks of democracy from an idealistic point of view. Whether it is democracy or dictatorship, you have to see it vis-à-vis a country's culture and priorities. I wish the President had gone to the Supreme Court and said you've given me three years, I've brought Pakistan from here to here, I need a two-year extension. ... But unfortunately, the elections took place, and now we have 150 tabla nawaz (drummers) who keep banging the table in the National Assembly. They have no idea how to run the country and try to stop everything."

Mohammed Durbar, a Karachi-based businessman, agrees. "General Musharraf's priorities are right. We may fault him on many things but we can't quarrel with the manner in which he is taking the country forward. And his peace initiative with India, too, is on the right track."

Editor Noorani says though he doesn't want the Army to rule his country, "often, when politicians have made a mess, the Army has stepped in, which is a bad thing to happen. But Musharraf is a man with a vision and more liberal than any of the previous generals. He is fond of literature, arts, culture." He narrated the scene at a recent music festival in Karachi that the general's daughter had helped organise. "She and her paternal grandmother sat on the ground to listen to the music with everybody else. If any elder came in, she got up and greeted them. This is not the kind of behaviour we normally see in our rulers.

"Of course, the Army is here everywhere but we didn't have any other option. If some dadhiwala yaha aa gaya tau phir woh tou mulk ko barbaad kar denga. (If some bearded man takes control, then the entire nation will be destroyed)," he says.

But his colleague, Murtaza Razvi, Assistant Editor from The Dawn, violently disagrees. "I think the Army is a rogue institution. Regardless of who is representing it, the person safeguards first and foremost the Army's interest instead of national interest, and General Musharraf is no exception. Anybody in similar circumstances would have acted like the mercenary he has shown himself to be. Even if (Jamat-e-Islami chief) Qazi Hussain Ahmed was at the helm of affairs, he would have served the American agenda. After the US said either you are with us or against us, any leader would have acted the same way."

He doesn't think General Musharraf's economic team has done any great wonders. "Even the Jamat has got its team of competent economists. Of course, Islam ka keeda hei kuch unkey dimag mei (some Islamic obsession is there in their minds) but even Musharraf plays this card when it suits him. While addressing the ulemas, his lexicon is very jihadi. He says we have to launch a jihad against extremism. What is that? He is a pseudo-liberal. We need approval from Washington all the time regardless of who is at the helm in Pakistan."

But the most interesting perspective on the General came from a housewife in Karachi. According to her, the women of Pakistan are all for the General "because of his modern, liberal views. We don't want religious fundamentalists telling us how to dress or behave and what to do or say."

Response can be sent to rasheeda@thehindu.co.in