When will Pakistan have political stability?
Outlook
When will Pakistan have political stability?
By Nguyen Khanh Chi
There were high hopes that a degree of normalcy would return to Pakistani politics with the resignation of President Pervez Musharraf early last week. After all, forcing Musharraf from office had been high on the country’s four-party ruling alliance’s political agenda since they trounced the former president’s allies in the February elections. However, if a return to some sort of political stability had been expected, it turned out to be a forlorn hope.
Just one week after Musharraf stepped down, the two main parties in the coalition split, further aggravating the political turmoil. Meanwhile the country’s sagging economy has gone unattended, as has the rising tide of Islamic militancy that left nearly 100 people dead in suicide attacks last week in a tribal region near the Afghan border.
Former premier Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (MPL-N) said it was pulling out of the alliance because the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto’s widower Asif Ali Zardari’s had broken its word over reinstating some 60 judges sacked by Musharraf last November.
Sharif had set a Monday deadline for a resolution of the long-running dispute, while Zardari’s party said it would not be drawn on setting a time-frame for the judges’ reinstatement.
“It was agreed that when Musharraf resigns or is impeached, the judges would be automatically reinstated within 24 hours,” Sharif said, adding that he had later extended the deadline.
Political pundits say the PPP fears that if the judges are reinstated they may revoke an amnesty that paved the way for Bhutto and her husband to return to Pakistan last year – leaving Zardari open to prosecution on long-standing corruption charges.
Another major source of disagreement centres on who should be the next president.
Zardari filed his nomination papers on Tuesday to contest the September 6 presidential elections, while Sharif nominated retired supreme court chief judge Saeed uz Zaman to challenge Zardari.
In a written agreement with Zardari, Sharif stated that neither he nor anyone else from his party wanted to become president – in accordance with an earlier agreement that the next president would be a non-partisan individual. In this respect, Zardari has not kept his word, Sharif claims.
With these major disputes still unresolved, it seems unlikely the two biggest parties in the country will be able to present the kind of united front they had after the February elections when they came together to oust Musharraf.
Pundits generally agree that the PML-N’s decision to quit the alliance is not likely to affect Zardari’s chances of winning the presidential election. But with Sharif in the opposition, it will be more difficult for the PPP to marshal the two-thirds parliamentary majority needed to amend the constitution.
Joint effort
The political future of both leaders will lie in their ability to deliver on security and the economy – a task that no single party can perform by itself given the fractured state of the country.
In the coming days, the two men will come under increasing pressure to tackle the soaring cost of food and fuel, as well as the country’s falling foreign reserves, yawning trade gap and an overall slowdown in growth.
And there’s another big reason why the two men cannot afford to fail – both have been victims of military coups, and it is only through joint action that they can hope to survive another attempt by Pakistan’s powerful military to hold sway over a civilian government.
As if on cue, in a televised address on Monday night Zardari urged Sharif to return to the fold.
“We are sad over Nawaz Sharif’s decision. We want to move together and solve the problems facing the nation,” he said. “We will request Nawaz Sharif to return to the government.”
Zardari added that “despite the break up of the coalition, both parties should continue to work for the stability of the country.”
However, aside from appealing to Sharif’s better nature, he made no concessions on restoring an independent judiciary.
A new government will be formed after the September 6 presidential elections. It will need to tackle the growing Taliban militancy with a firm hand. The test will come when the new government attempts to end the instability that has plagued the country for the past years and at the same time find a solution to rising food and fuel prices and the faltering economy.
Therefore, political stability in the South Asia nation is very much on a wait-and-see footing. The question is, when will it happen? — VNS
By : http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn
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Tags: Benazir Bhutto, Broken Promises, Forlorn Hope, Former Prime Minister, Islamic Militancy, Nawaz Sharif, Nguyen Khanh, Nomination Papers, Normalcy, Pakistan Muslim League, Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz, Pakistani Politics, Pervez Musharraf, Political Pundits, Political Stability, Political Turmoil, Rising Tide, Suicide Attacks, Widower, Zardari