A Democradical

After the previous post, I started to brood over the scenario where Pakistan actually extradites Laqvi. As poetic as it may sound, I doubted Pakistan's willingness in doing this. Well, my doubts have been clarified today with the Foreign Minister of Pakistan, Shah Mehmood Qureshi clearly stating that there will be no Extradition of Pakistani nationals to India. However, he keeps the option of trying the accused under Pakistani law, open. Another report goes on to state that the US which was pressing for extradition has changed its stance probably realising the complexities behind this demand. Should India be disappointed or was it just a case of high expectations?
At present, looks like the latter.

To begin with, for a country to extradite to another country, some sort of an Extradition treaty needs to be in place. There is absolutely no such agreement between the two countries. Of course, something that can be expected with 3 wars & 60 years of border dispute.

Today, Pakistan has a democratically elected Government- probably, paradoxically, the biggest deterrent to extradition. When former president Pervez Musharraf with the ISI, caught & extradited someone as important as Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to the US, the extradition was made easy because only one institution was ruling the country- the Army. Also, the extradition was being done to the US, not conventionally seen as an enemy state, thanks to all the F-16s the PAF uses. Even, if any opposition existed within Pakistan, it was conveniently & discreetly put to rest by the ISI. Under Musharraf, the Constitution & Judiciary of Pakistan had second row seats. So extradition being against the sovereignty of the State was ignored with the pretext of being commited to the War on Terror. Maybe, Musharraf was actually committed to the War on Terror or was the funding provided by the US to strengthen the Pakistani army just too tempting. Besides, who would dare go against Musharraf? The ISI which obviously benefitted from the funding, the Army which Musharraf headed or the Judiciary? Well, what happened to the Chief Justice under Musharraf would certainly not endorse that, would it?

So today when President Zardari or Prime Minister Gillani- whoever decides to be Head of the State (they still seem a little undecided on that)- needs to take a decision to extradite a Pakistani National, he needs to first convince his party, the parliament, the Army, the ISI, the radical heads & every kid who reads a newspaper on the streets of Pakistan. Also, when India happens to be the country at the other end of that extradition agreement, it is a case of hoping beyond hope. If an Indian was wanted by a Pakistani court, would India extradite him? I think not.

So, with mounting US pressure, how does Pakistan wriggle out of this situation. Simply yet cleverly, reminding the world that it is now a Democracy, that it has its own Constitution to adhere to, its own Judiciary to follow. It reminds the world that extraditing a Pakistani national to India would be against the Constitution in absence of an extradition treaty. Unfortunately, Pakistan is absolutely right & justified in doing so. Pakistan however has promised to try Laqvi within Pakistan- anyone's guess as to how effective that would be. Pakistan has made a move which cannot be questioned by the world even with the real intent behind it being evident. This decision by the Pakistani Govt keeps all State, Non-State actors of Pakistan happy & renders a helpless position, more or less, to India & the US.

This is a position that a State like Pakistan enjoys being DEMOCRAtic & raDICAL at the same time, a Democradical State. It can support the most inhuman acts against its neighbour countries while falling back upon the sanctity of "Sovereignty of a Democratic" when threatened. For the first time & probably not the last, India & the World would have preferred a military, totalitarian rule committed to the War on Terror, albeit hidden intentions, to a Democratic Government with only hidden intentions.