Years of Pride

In my experience, the Musharraf period was the best time from our national point of view. He has been a leader who was always working in the national interest without any personal interest. The result was that we got the highest growth and development of the country.

I have known Pervez Musharraf for over 60 years. Overall, Musharraf’s rule was a golden era for Pakistan. The economy was growing, there was relative peace in the country and Pakistan had regained its dignity among the comity of nations.

In the beginning the Supreme Court had given him unbridled powers. That was the time to wipe the slate absolutely clean and start afresh.

The two mistakes that he made during his tenure were granting NRO to politicians, whom he knew to be totally corrupt and the judges case. Later he admitted these mistakes, but the clock had ticked away!

When I first encountered Parvez Musharaf, I was giving a presentation on Thar Coal - he asked me a question to which I had replied “ Sir I don’t know."

To this answer, there was a stunned silence in the room which was full of generals and ministers, including Mr Waseem Haqqie.
After the brief silence, when everybody thought I would be thrown out, he abruptly spoke:

“Ok, when would you be able to give a presentation and not say ‘I DONT KNOW’ ?”-

I said one month. He said I give you 15 days.

He later called me and said, 'You are my man.' All because he heard an HONEST answer, a person who believed in people.

Next time around, against the wishes of the CM and Minister Irrigation, Sindh, Planning Commission of Pakistan, on the question of Sukkur Barrage being repaired by the Sindh Government, he listened to my advice as Chief Secretary and ordered the Army engineers to do it.

I think of Gen. Musharraf as a dynamic and brave man who is also humble, friendly and a visionary.

Describing any era that spans over a decade is usually difficult and to broad brush it into absolutes of ‘good’ or ‘bad’ is disingenious. I had the good fortune of knowing Gen Musharraf and despite some divergent views my respect for him increased with every conversation.

When he was approving the PEMRA Ordinance to free the media (something which successive elected governments had failed to do earlier), he was advised against it by a few as it might open a floodgate of problems. He still went ahead believing that even his worse critics would have the country’s interest first in their hearts.

Similarly on the issue of Kalabagh Dam, he was advised by his own ministers not to get embroiled in this emotive and contentious issue. He instead put his political capital on the line at the peak of his popularity, as he felt that it was the right thing to do and that he would be able to build a national consensus.

On relations with India, he again tried his very best till the very end of his rule to arrive at a permanent peace with our larger neighbour, exploring every out-of-the-box solution possible.

Despite the odds, putting national interest above personal or party interest at critical moments is easier said than done. Gen Musharraf is one of those few exceptions I had come across.

His knowledge in national financial management, energy management, trade management, industrial management, etc. were far from adequate. But he was probably the fastest learner I’ve ever met, armed with a passion for Pakistan and excellent memory. Within less than two years he was reminding us, as subject specialists, of the factual data and even suggesting solutions to challenges, which in management terms you cannot unless you have sufficient command of the subject. I recall Bosun, the then Minister of Agriculture, presenting Agriculture Policy and PM asking “what’s the strategy behind your plans?”. The meeting was reconvened when the ministry was better prepared. I recall him saying “but if you want to encourage the farmer to grow more wheat give him a meaningful increase in support price rather than the Rs 20 per MT that you are proposing!”... We had a bumper wheat crop next year with more than 2 million MTs surplus, which TCP was asked to export to Iraq (and made a royal mess of it which Razzaq Dawood asked me to sort out as I had developed strong relations with the President of Iraq, Saddam Hussain!!...But that’s another story!). I recall him calling out to me asking for confirmation that our rice production that year was 2 MT (and I nodded, not because I recalled but because I was sure his memory was better than mine!). This was when he was addressing the Pak-US Chamber of Commerce on one of our visits to the USA.

PM had an uncanny ability to focus and prioritise. From day one, his direction was economic turnaround. “Without Rupees and Dollars you can’t do much” he said to me in March 2000 on a sudden, unplanned visit to my office as Chairman EPB demanding an export ‘strategy’. The fact that the Head of State decided to visit the Chairman EPB, a speck of dust in the context of the whole government, reflected his priority of generating foreign exchange as borrowing was a negligible option. For those who today moan and groan of having inherited a bad economic situation, let me remind them that compared to 2000, the present is heavenly! In 2000, Pakistan was bankrupt and under sanctions, which meant no sources to borrow from, our reserves were less than a week’s imports, GDP growth had declined to near zero, our revenues were around Rs 300Bn and foreign debt almost USD 38 Bn., exports stagnant at USD 7 to 8 billion since 1947. By 2008, GDP growth averaged 7%, FDI hit an all-time high, revenues exceeded Rs 1 trillion, exports hit USD 19 Bn (without any significant devaluation of the Rupee), and most importantly, all this with near zero increase in external debt! It was indeed unbelievable.

We have often heard that PM made a mistake of trying to return to democracy; that he did this to establish his own legitimacy. I recall my own advice to him of extending his stay, to as long as it takes, as the economy had started to turn around. But his response to me was a firm NO. This was based on two arguments he gave me personally. “Tariq what do, I have but credibility of my word, otherwise immediately people will say here is another Zia ul Haq.” Also, he felt that the way forward for nations today cannot be a military regime, it has to be democracy. Besides, military rule was growingly unacceptable to the world. I heard with my own ears the Prime Minister of Japan, Junichiro Koizumi on our visit in 2000 saying. “Mr President we would love to and want to help Pakistan with funds including ODA funds, but our parliaments will not allow this till we see Pakistan returning firmly to democracy”. On the same trip these views were echoed by Prime Ministers of New Zealand and Australia.

PM’s management of the Pakistan brand was exemplary. The respect and regard for PM was amazing. I will quote just a few of the many examples of which I am personally a witness. On our visit to Japan, before official talks began, the prime minister of Japan extended his hand for a handshake with PM and said, “Mr President you are not just a leader of Pakistan, you are a world leader.” PM courteously thanked him, but Japanese prime minister stopped him and said, “I am serious. Had it not been for the decisions you took after 9/11 this world would have been a different place.” Personally, I am not sure of what he was referring to but a prime minister of a major country does not make casual or meaningless remarks at summit level. On another visit, this time to Morocco., the day after we arrived, I was informed by their commerce minister that the King of Morocco, Mohammed VI, perhaps out of respect for Mrs. Sehba Musharraf’s presence, had broken a 500-year tradition by having the Queen of Morocco appear in public at the official banquet the previous day. In my meeting with President Saddam Hussain the words he used in praise for Musharraf were most salutary. On our visit to Brazil in 2003, or was it 2004, the change in attitude of the President of Brazil, Mr. Lula da Silva that PM managed was a pleasure to observe; from most unwelcoming and cold on arrival, poisoned by the Indian lobby, to most cordial to the extent that he personally came to the airport to see PM off on the day of departure. The pilgrims in Madina belonging to the Turkish community chanted pro-PM and pro-Pakistan friendship slogans, when PM spoke to them in Turkish.

PM was persistent and managed challenges with clear understanding of the problem-epicentre. There are many examples, but I’ll share a personal one as most others are well known. When in Nov 1999, the GHQ team invited me to join the government, I, my family and friends were dead against it. I had a soft corner though, as my father, a senior civil servant had once said to me, when I declined joining the CSS, “It’s not always money, you must learn to give as well”. But I was dilly dallying my acceptance or otherwise with all sorts of reasons and concerns, money, future of PMs government, my children’s education, possible loss of reputation, etc, etc. In December, PM suddenly turned up at my residence in Karachi... and now verbatim... PM (addressing my wife) “Why don’t you let Tariq join the government...?” (she boldly responded and so PM replied)...”Do you know when Bill Gates started his business out of his garage, he invited head of Pepsi Cola to come and work for him... and the Pepsi chief said you are working out of a garage and can’t afford one minute of my time.... to which Bill Gates said “Mr Pepsi Cola chief do you want to sell sweet water all your life or make world history?” PM quickly added, “Tariq will neither make world history may be not even Pakistan history, but I NEED him as he has the ability, and you must allow and help him”. I joined on 1st Jan., 2000.

The working environment during PM’s 8 years, for the non-politically motivated officers, was extremely demanding but a pleasure to work in. It was an environment where people were self-motivated and contributed as if it was for themselves. “Pakistan First” was the driving mantra at conscious and sub-conscious levels. The level of engagement was such that the best multinational company would be envious of. PM believed in the right person for the right job, not appointing just friends or family. Persons like Shaukat Aziz, Dr Ishrat Hussain, Dr Atta ur Rehman, to mention a few, were unknown to him till someone proposed them and they were found to be the right persons for the job. It was amazing to know that in the first cabinet meeting he didn’t personally know anyone but one or two persons. Each person had been appointed on strict merit. In fact, he began this meeting by asking each person to introduce himself! In one case, thinking that the person may not be very good in spoken English, he spoke in Urdu. He personally told me that he felt most embarrassed when that person replied in excellent English. He believed in empowering his team and then trusting them and supporting them. In one instance when I told him that I cannot continue being demotivated due to bureaucratic hurdles being created, he immediately summoned the concerned senior officers and addressed the situation. This trust and space that he provided the right man for the right job, at times even hurt him as not everyone stood up to his expectations in performance or integrity. But mostly he was right and successful. This didn’t mean that he would take his eyes off the person’s performance and correctness of behaviour. He had his sources to remain informed.

Challenges in work environment were immense for me as it was a very different environment from the one I had been in for the previous 30 years…. addressing persons on first name basis, friendly, unconscious of protocol, process and result-oriented, almost non-political in working relations … all this was nearly reversed. The learning was therefore immense in man-management. How to steer yourself successfully in spite of these challenges. I learnt of how bureaucracy can in such a smooth way create hurdles when they would not wish to support a line of action. I learnt the consequences and how to manage when in the larger interest you had to step into another person’s turf, how to manage discipline in an environment where you cannot easily take disciplinary action, how to manage the unsaid resistances to even correct initiatives. It was immense learning.

For me personally it was certainly a period of great challenge, immense effort, innovation, patience persistence, learning, success, and pride. I was humbled by his recognition by two honourable mentions of my contribution to the country in his book ‘In Line of Fire’. He even awarded me ‘Sitara e Imtiaz’ much to my surprise. Trust me I had no idea that I was being considered! It was also indeed a period of a great ego massage too though I kept reminding myself that the graveyard is full of successful people and that 99% of the praise was for the seat perhaps not the person. I recall excellent advice to me by a great friend Shahid Ahmed, former Pakistan Ambassador to India. He said, “Tariq when two people jump to open the door for you, when a 100 people sitting in audience clap for you, when hundreds thrust their visiting cards in your hand and try and shower you with gifts and praises…. don’t let it get into your head and you will succeed and be remembered well.” Trust me I reminded myself of my humble self each day of the 8 years. Indeed I found these eight years very satisfying and rewarding, specially the sense of achievement and contribution to the nation, but it did come with a price. For the family it was certainly kudos but very trying and very different from the past 30 years of our family life. I was not there. I was travelling or deep in thought and unaware. I lost contact with many friends and mid to distant family too. This could have led people to think. ‘bara admi bn gya ha’. I recall one of my close friends from Lahore visiting Karachi with the usual expectations but being very disappointed as I was not home till late evenings and every second day away, travelling. The fact of the matter was there was so much to do and only 24 hours in a day. My wife Aisha remarked in hindsight, “It was perhaps the most suffocating eight years of our lives together”. She was right. Even for me. Care, concern and caution at every step and stage of life and existence. One had to be above board and seen to be above board. No one at home could use my official telephone number. No one from my office could visit my home without my permission, house maintenance had to be self-managed, my wife and children could not travel with me when on visits abroad, who we entertained when we entertained, why we entertained was carefully considered… yes it was a hamstrung period in our personal lives and stood out like a sore thumb in contrast to the past 30 years of multinational company environment.