Pakistan is moving from one political crisis to another, unfortunately at the expense of democracy.
That democracy is at risk in the ongoing power play plaguing the South Asian country became evident when President Pervez Musharraf imposed emergency rule on Saturday. It is only a matter of time before Musharraf, who seized power in a coup in 1999, declares martial law.
Experts have described the latest move of embattled president Musharraf as ""a second coup"" to enable him to cling to power, given his victory at the Oct. 6 presidential election, which remains controversial in the eyes of the powerful Supreme Court.
The influential court, whose chief Iftikhar Chaudhry was reinstated in July following his dismissal in March, is disputing Musharraf's eligibility to contest the election and may stand in between him and the presidency. Musharraf kept his Army chief post intact while running for reelection.
Imposing emergency rule has enabled the president to take control of radio and television broadcasts and arrest government critics. Under martial law, the president will have more freedom to freeze the Supreme Court and the parliament, the state institutions Musharraf has so far failed to control.
Perhaps Musharraf is in need of extraordinary power to restore order in the wake of terror attacks perpetrated by al-Qaeda-linked groups. But the authoritarian measures the president has resorted to will curtail the freedom of others who dare to oppose his wishes, and that will mark an end to democracy.
Emergency rule is normal in many countries, but usually only happens in the event of a major natural disaster or a conflict, when the government requires extra powers to expedite relief and reconstruction.
In the case of Indonesia, martial law was initiated by then president Sukarno in 1959 and then moved beyond his control and plunged the country into a long spell of authoritarian rule, under civilian and military regimes that only ended in 1998.
For nearly four decades, democracy in Indonesia was suppressed and unsurprisingly turned ugly when it suddenly was restored following the fall of Soeharto. The price is too high to bear if democracy and freedom are denied.
The United States has announced a plan to review billions of dollars in financial aid to Pakistan, one of the superpower's close allies in the war on terror, in a show of disappointment with the latest developments in the South Asian nuclear country.
While Washington's threat will do little to stop Musharraf from exercising the power at his disposal to rein in the growing public resentment, a greater danger is lurking in Pakistan.
Analysts have predicted that Musharraf's antidemocratic measures will only precipitate internal conflict. Apart from jeopardizing Musharraf's ties with the U.S. and the Army, the emergency rule will intensify militant attacks.
A Pakistani scholar told AFP that Musharraf would be quickly ""swept away by the tide of anger, popular resentment and forces that wish to restore some degree of decency and normalcy to Pakistan"".
It will be too much of a sacrifice for Pakistan, a leading country known as a vanguard in the global fight against terrorism in Asia, to undergo a prolonged conflict. More lives will be lost and it will take the nation extra miles to recover.
It's time for Musharraf to calculate the costs and benefits of going the authoritarian, as opposed to democratic, way.
