In what could be described as a big set back for President Pervez Musharraf and his United States backer, but good news to the people of Pakistan, two Pakistani opposition parties have agreed to a coalition government after they won most seats in the country’s parliamentary election. Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) led by Asif Zardari, the husband of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto and Pakistani Muslim League Nawaz (PML – N) led by Nawaz Sharif another former prime had announced a new alliance which gives them not only control of the country’s main legislature but also opportunity to form the new government. This development which most Pakistanis welcomed would certainly put pressure on president Pervez Musharraf a former military dictator who had plunged the country into serious crisis following his iron-fist rule. Musharraf had seized power from then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in a military coup in 1999, resigned from the army without vacating office and got himself manipulated into the presidency in October last year in a parliamentary vote boycotted by the opposition because of its unconstitutionality. The dictator had colluded with a faction of Pakistani Muslim League called (PML – Q) to railroad his sham election.
Musharraf is a long term ally of the United States and had since his take over of government in 1999 come to be seen as the most dependable of all the Pakistani leadership elites in the fight against terrorism in the India sub-continent and Asia generally. As a result, the Bush administration, to the dismay of people of Pakistan and the international community has shut its eyes to the dictatorial excesses of Musharraf. The General sent his country on the boil last year when he sacked the country’s Chief Justice and other Supreme Court judges for refusing to cooperate in an attempt to civilianise himself. This particular action among other anti-democratic policies sent the country’s opposition parties, human rights groups and civil society against his rule and the resultant violence was exploited to declare a state of emergency. It was also part of his divide and rule tactics against the opposition that made him fraternise with exiled ex-prime minister Benazir Bhutto who was eventually assassinated on her return home during a political rally, an incident that observers believe was Musharraf’s government’s handiwork.
The international outcry that followed Bhutto’s assassination forced Musharrat to relax the emergency rule and allow the parliamentary election in which he and his collaborators in PML –Q have now been worsted. Both Zardari and Sharif’s parties now have more than half of the new parliament’s seat. With other small parties they may now be able to have a two-thirds majority, enough to call for president Musharraf’s impeachment. The president has announced that the National Assembly would soon convene during which a new prime minister to be nominated by Pakistan People’s Party would be installed. The lawmakers are also expected to debate Mr. Musharraf’s fate, but it is uncertain whether they can muster the necessary votes to force him out of office which is what the majority of Pakistani people have always wanted. And if this does not happen soon, then General Musharraf would continue to remain a big albatross to the democratization process in the country. With him in the saddle, it is unlikely that the tension his rule has generated will abate which has a serious implication for a country possessing the nuclear weapon in a long troubled region.
In the meantime, the new coalition government must seize the momentum created by their parliamentary victory. The restoration of the deposed judges which the coalition has pledged to bring about through a parliamentary resolution within 30 days of formation of new government must not be reneged on. This and the restoration of civil liberties in general will help ease tension and civil strives. The Coalition must also be wary of Musharraf’s antics, as he would want to divide them for his own selfish ambition and that of his American backers. They must work together in the interest of the country and its people. The greater challenge therefore is how to contain the former general and how to steer the country away from the path of violence that has consumed the nation’s former leaders and many ordinary Pakistanis. Peace and democracy in Pakistan can only be achieved if the opposition remains together and not get consumed by private partisan interests
