General Pervez Musharraf had started his tenure as the self-imposed ruler of Pakistan in a very dramatic fashion in 1999. His plane was still circling in the sky in an attempt to land with barely 10 minutes of fuel left in the tanks when the civilian government was overthrown by his fellow generals. It was a blood less coup, one of the dozen Pakistan has seen in last sixty years since its creation in 1947. During these sixty years, Pakistan has been ruled for almost half the period by army generals from time to time. Somehow western style democracy does not gel with the people of that country. The main reason for that is the basic feudal structure of the society. It is the same land lords, Sardars, Waderas, and Chowdharys and their progeny who are in every sphere of life. They alone come up again and again. It is virtually “Feudocracy”. In earlier times it were the Punjabis who dominated everything. There is a stark contrast. On one hand are extremely rich land lords and on the other very poor common people. There is a very minuscule middle class. It is basically the middle class which breeds intellectuals and leads revolutions. India too has a glaring disparity between the rich and the poor but it has a vibrant middle class which exceeds the total population of USA. Apart from this, the other factor has been the absence of established institutions. None of the rulers in Pakistan allowed formation and development of institutions unlike India where democracy survives because of the institutions. Moreover, for some unknown reasons most of the Islamic countries do not take easily to western style of democracy. Turkey and Malaysia seem to be only exceptions. May be because they produced some exceptionally emancipated self-less leaders? No such leaders could come up in Pakistan. They have people like Nawaz Sharif who was arrogant and ruthless during his own rule and virtually made Pakistan a failed state. The other leader Benazir Bhutto’s husband Zardari had graduated from Mr.10% to 50% towards the end of her rule. She has been convicted by a Swiss court and faces two more cases, one involving Surrey Castle in England and the other regarding Oil kick-backs in Iraq during Saddam Regime. These glaring corrupt practices are apart from the dozens of cases within Pakistan dropped by Musharraf through a recent ordinance. In Pakistan, the cream of the society consisting of the progeny of feudal lords has always been forming the core of their army. The officer class in all branches of the services comes from the elite of the society. Inter Services Intelligence is the crème de la crème of this officer corps which has given itself the “divine role” of defending the concept of Pakistan from behind the scenes. Nothing moves in any branch of the state without their consent and they over see every development. They are the invisible defenders of Pakistan. Initially, Pervez Musharraf did not intend to take over the role of a ruler. He was rather forced by Nawaz Sharif to do so. However, once he was in the saddle, he felt destiny had chosen him to lead and defend Pakistan. He started as an “Officer and a Gentleman”. He had very high flown ideals and wanted to create an enlightened and progressive Islamic country. For him it was, “Pakistan First”. Even though some of his ideas seemed utopian, yet he was not divorced from the stark ground reality which had made Pakistan appear as the most dangerous place to live in. His predecessor general, who usurped power and hanged Bhutto, had with external assistance exploited the religious sentiment to the hilt and had created a dangerously extremist society. Some estimates had revealed that over a million AK-47s were freely floating in the country when he left the scene due to an unnatural death. Musharraf on taking over coined a new phrase for modern Muslims. He called it “Enlightened Moderation”. It is a blend of Islam and western values. A liberal and progressive outlook on life which combines basic tenets of Islam with modernised western life style. He professed the new mantra of “Enlightened Moderation” in all the forums within the country as well as abroad. The clerics who were ruling the roost among the common masses in some of the volatile regions did not buy his new dispensation. He was not even able to sell this concept to his own close supporters. They remained with him not because they sincerely believed in “Enlightened Moderation” but for their own individual reasons. They thought of him as the best horse to bet on in the disturbed times of 1999. Pakistan seems to have people of two extremes, either a minority of westernised intellectuals or fanatic religious zealots professing all out Jihad to reform the world! There is no in between. During his early years he was able to muster world support because of his unconditional fight against global terrorism manifested through 9/11 incident. He took the extremists head on to keep the west on his right side and in this process ruffled many feathers especially the originators of Taliban who lived in his own backyard. His enthusiasm to catch the bull of terrorism by the horns created a large constituency of his sworn enemies. Even though he came from the Special Services Group with a commando background yet he made the mistake of opening too many fronts at one and the same time. His main blunder has been taking Judiciary head on. Probably he was ill advised about this step? His greatest worry has been the fifth column within his own ranks. On the positive side, he did manage to pull Pakistan out of a debt trap and raised foreign exchange reserves from US $ 1.6 billion to US $ 16 billion. Economy had started looking up with massive foreign investments. Infrastructure in the form of roads, ports, dams and so on was getting developed on global standards. He gave absolute freedom to media which ultimately misused it to undermine not only him but the very existence of Pakistan itself. His negative side has been the common mistake committed by leaders in this part of the world of considering themselves to be indispensable and thinking to have been given a “divine role” for reforming their nations and countries. Unfortunately they do not know when to leave and get thrown out! After seeing the manipulative tactics of his opponents, he gave up the stance of an “Officer and a Gentleman” and turned into a “Modern Kautaliya” in action. He must have studied Arthshastra in great detail. It seems he is implementing all the stratagems described therein meticulously in letter and spirit. His failure to convince the opposition to his way of thinking involving “modified” democracy with “Enlightened Moderation” frustrated him immensely. However, he proved to be a very patient army general. He took the desperate step only after he was driven to a wall. Judiciary itself did not remain fair and just. It got totally politicised and when it was heading towards ensuring his humiliation after getting duly elected, he struck with a well planned and calculated move. Every body is discussing the extra-constitutional measures taken by him. Some say it is martial law while others call it emergency. In fact some have coined a new word for it, “Emergency Plus”! He has proved sharper and cleverer than a Kautaliya’s Brahman. At present it is virtually army rule but without the army being visible anywhere. Strangely, unlike in the past, the common people seem to be totally unconcerned with these dramatic developments. Life is virtually normal except for clashes between lawyers, political workers, and Police. Probably people are fed up with the machinations of the politicians and have lost faith in the sincerity and genuineness of political leadership. However, going by the history of such upheavals in the past, the odds seem to be against him. It is difficult to predict whether he will be able to sustain himself in the present line of fire? The most alarming prospect is Pakistan getting into total civil war and disintegrating which would be a disaster of immense proportions not only for the sub-continent but for the whole world especially in view of it being a nuclear armed country. Let us hope and pray that the “Enlightened Moderation” does not ultimately result in total frustration and desperation and the General knows when and where to stop? As regards Kashmir, the episode has confirmed the fact that this land as well its people are definitely “Jinxed!” Any one who tries to sort out the vexed problem goes up in smoke.