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Amidst all the bickering over stolen speeches, questionable values, hope and reality, presidential candidates are keeping an eye on changes in Pakistan, a country the U.S. has identified as a crucial ally in its efforts to curb the Taliban and growing fundamentalism in the region.
Pakistanis have voted to build a credible democracy, and America's pointsman in the war on terror, President Pervez Musharraf, is not welcome to the party. Of the 262 results announced (for the 272-seat National Assembly) so far, late Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan Peoples Party-Parliamentarians (PPP) --- led by party co-chair and Bhutto's widower Asif Ali Zardari -- bagged 87 seats, while former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League (N) went home with 67. Musharraf's supporters, the Pakistan Muslim League (Q), were pretty much shown the door with 40 seats.
Those are the statistics. Here's the story. While Musharraf has said he'll work with the new government to facilitate democracy, the winning parties don't think he has the mandate to do so. They pretty much want him out, by whatever means necessary. Political rivals PPP and Sharif's Muslim League have agreed to form a coalition government.
Sharif and Zardari are themselves not in the prime ministerial race (since neither of them contested the polls). But PPP senior leader and loyalist Makhdoom Amin Fahim is all set to be Pakistan's next Prime Minister.
Given that Sharif was unceremoniously toppled by Musharraf in a coup in 1999, it comes as no surprise that the former PM has been the loudest in demanding that the President be impeached and the judiciary (including ousted chief justice, the iconic Iftikhar Chaudhry) be restored. The PPP isn't rushing to do so, but both the parties have agreed that this is indeed the ultimate goal. The two parties don't have the required two-thirds majority in both houses of Parliament to impeach Musharraf, but it is likely that they will work hard in the new Assembly to drum up enough support to do just that.
Ah! The irony of it all! If an independent judiciary is restored, Musharraf's re-election could be invalidated. If Musharraf goes, so will all his extra-constitutional policies and powers. But the same independent judiciary could bring Sharif and Zardari to justice, both of who have cases of corruption piled against them (and against the late Ms Bhutto).
But no matter. The electorate seem have given these two men their mandate -- put Pakistan back on track and make sure Musharraf and the army steer clear of governance. The headline for Ghazala Khan's post on The Pakistani Spectator sums up what many Pakistanis feel about America's favorite ally, the "moderate" Musharraf -- 'Say Goodbye to Tyranny Forever, Lovely Pakistanis'. She writes:
President Musharraf, few weeks ago, said that he would leave when nation would want him to leave. Nation has asked him to leave by rejecting revoltingly, his hand-made Pakistan Muslim League-Quashed. Nation is rejoicing and you can sense it everywhere. Even the sun is smiling and flowers just cannot wait to come out and declare an early spring.
While the U.S. government (which has insisted that it wants nothing but a democratic Pakistan) has said it will work with whatever government comes to power, a string of reports suggest that they would much rather have the PPP cooperate with Musharraf rather than Sharif. The New York Times reported:
[...]the Bush administration has gone out of its way to express its confidence in the president as a cooperative ally in the campaign against terrorism for the last six years.
President Bush took time out of his Africa trip to call Mr. Musharraf soon after the vote, and Bush administration officials have said they would still like to see him as part of a power-sharing deal.
But that's the beauty of democracy. People will speak their minds and they may say things you don't want to hear. For the PPP to now strike a deal with Musharraf's supporters will be nothing short of a political harakiri. I think the Pakistanis have made it amply clear that they don't want him anywhere near governance.
Predictably enough, the PPP has said it will have no truck with Musharraf's supporters.
Pakistan's polls reflect what any democratic process would: a nation's desire to put its own well-being above everything else. The results give us a few pointers to where Pakistanis want their country to go next:
a) The Pakistanis first want a working democracy to be established, including all the necessary institutions like an
