A Loss in Musharraf’s ‘Win’

One of the better photographs to emerge from what Pakistan is trying to pass off as a legitimate referendum was of a billboard drawing of President Pervez Musharraf on horseback. Ah yes, the age-old portrait of the man on a horse, riding in to save the nation.

The image may have been heroic, but the campaign for this self-called referendum on his presidency was not. Gen. Musharraf diminished himself in this effort to gain five more years as president.

Pakistan’s history since independence in 1947 has been split almost evenly between rule by military dictators and corrupt but democratically elected civilian governments. Many Pakistanis hoped Musharraf would improve the economy of a desperately poor nation and dampen violence between different Muslim sects after ousting Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in a 1999 bloodless coup.

He has made some progress, especially since Sept. 11. Musharraf sided with the United States decisively in the fight against the Taliban in next-door Afghanistan, even though Pakistan had been the prime sponsor of the Taliban. He has spoken out against Islamic radicals within Pakistan, banned several of their organizations and jailed about 2,000 of their members. He promised the restoration of democracy and scheduled parliamentary elections for October.

But the general originally seen as a plain-talking soldier now appears the crafty politician bent on personal power. He has insisted that Parliament will serve at his pleasure, banned Sharif and another former prime minister from running for office and released many of the militants he had jailed.

Only Musharraf appeared on the ballot in a yes-or-no vote he was certain to win. Even so, ballots were by all accounts rigged to inflate the turnout and margin of approval.

Musharraf would do better by his nation if he served one more year, not five, and promoted a constitutional change to return more power to the elected Parliament. Then he could run for Parliament himself instead of presiding over another chapter of rule by strongman.