The party is over

The best jihad is to speak the truth before an unjust ruler. Thousands of people in Pakistan have done what has been ordained. They have staged protests against the emergency-cum-martial law rule, which General
Pervez Musharraf has imposed to avoid facing the judgment on his illegal election as president when he remains a government servant.
The intelligentsia is in the forefront of the protest. Lawyers, doctors and journalists have come out in the open to agitate against the suppression of even the semblance of democracy.
The government's repression has been savage and brutal. It has specially picked up for punishment those lawyers who had won the battle for the reinstatement of Chief Justice Mohammad Iftikhar Chaudhary. Some of them have been dragged in the bazaars of Lahore and Karachi, an inhuman act, which only dictators commit to save their regime.
The military even entered the Supreme Court building. Wrongly deposed Chief Justice Chaudhary, after his house arrest, has said that whatever Musharraf has been doing was illegal. Chaudhary's call to the lawyers to rise up has had a determined response.
The majority of judges in the Supreme Court, and the High Courts of Punjab, Sindh, Baluchistan and the North Western Frontier Province have refused to take a new oath as ordered by the government.
There had been a few demonstrations during the regimes of chief martial law administrators General Ayub Khan and General Zia-ul Haq. Even Musharraf himself experienced it some time ago. But never before had the defiance been so widespread, so resolute and so persistent.
People in Pakistan, who have been under one military rule or another for almost 50 years, have shown more bravery than we, living as a democratic nation for the last 60 years, did when the emergency was imposed in India (1975-77). Then there was fear stalking the country, people were afraid to come to the streets.
Indira Gandhi gloated over the timidity and said victoriously that not even a dog had barked. Little did she realise that the sense of alienation would be so strong one day that she and her Congress Party would be ousted from office in 1977. The opposition secured more than 300 seats in the Lower House of 546.
In the same way, the military rulers in Pakistan should realise that the apathy of the public towards Musharraf will grow as the days go by. Even in the "free and fair" polls, when held, his party -- the Muslim League (Quaid) -- may not be anywhere in the picture. This will be the people's catharsis for staying quiet for decades.
True, it may take time to build up a countrywide movement, because Pakistan has never gone through a national freedom movement as India did. Opposition leader Aitzaz Ahsan, who had led the protest from the front, has often told me how they are now going through that process. Hats off to them for the fight against the military rulers.
I am sorry to see that the political parties have yet to put their act together. However, I find that human rights activists, when under house arrest, were guiding the movement through the internet, using modern technology to outwit the military. The activists have now been moved to Kot Lakhpal, a jail near Lahore.
Before going to jail, human rights activist Asma Jehangir sent the message: "Ironically, the president (who has lost his marbles) said that he had to clamp down on the press and the judiciary to curb terrorism. Those he has arrested are progressive, secular minded people, while the terrorists are offered negotiations and ceasefires. We want friends of Pakistan to urge the US administration to stop all support for the unstable dictator."
Many activists have gone underground. They are doling out information on what is happening in the country and urging the world to stand against military rule in Pakistan. Some detainees have been tortured.
Aitzaz Ahsan is one of them. Musharraf has a personal score to settle with him because Ahsan has argued two important cases, one for the reinstatement of Chief Justice Chaudhary and, two, for Musharraf's removal because he fought illegally for the office of president.
India's reaction to Musharraf's doings is that of horror. There is a widespread sympathy in India for the people of Pakistan. I wonder if the government or the Ministry of External Affairs is formulating New Delhi's policy on Pakistan.
To refuse a visa to Pakistan's Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid to watch the one-day cricket match at Mohali is to create a point of digression at a time when all attention should be focused on the battle between the military rulers and the democratic elements. It is a thoughtless act at this time, however undesirable Rashid himself is.
The role of Benazir Bhutto, chairperson of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP), has been disappointing. She was expected to lead the country to a democratic future. The deal she made for a joint civil-military rule is still there because she says she wants to talk to Musharraf.
When he has broken the deal by pushing the civil rule aside, she should be standing with other political parties, which have shown their determination to fight against Musharraf.
One is getting constant messages from across the border that there are serious differences in the army over what Musharraf has done. The corps commanders have not been kept in the picture. They did not want to write-off the civil side completely as Musharraf has done. They reportedly favour the earlier arrangement, which had put the civil forces in the front and the military in the background.
It looks as if the same arrangement may be tried again, with Musharraf, if possible, or without him if necessary. The danger in what Musharraf has done is that the people's wrath against him might turn into anger against military rule on the whole. The beginnings are there, but the armed forces are too entrenched to be moved.
Yet, the possibility that it may happen soon has frightened America. It is putting all the pressure on Musharraf to give up the uniform and hold elections in January as promised earlier.
Even the protesters are definite that elections would be held early because of America's pressure. But they, like the rest of the people in Pakistan, are not sure how free and fair they would be despite Washington's promise.
A free election may not see the PPP at the top. It has lost considerably because of Benazir's equivocal attitude towards Musharraf. He himself should realise that the party is over. This emergency-cum-martial law rule has proved to be the last straw on the camel's back. Whatever Musharraf had planned has gone wrong. His exit is only a question of time.
Kuldip Nayar is an eminent Indian columnist.