Editorial
Coalition experiment in Pakistan in doldrums
The partners must show sagacity to stay together
THE decision of Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) to withdraw their nine ministers from the PPP-led coalition government, barely six weeks old, is a major setback to the process of restoration and consolidation of democracy in the country.
The ministers quit following the government's failure to meet the deadline on how and when to reinstate the judges dismissed by President Musharraf. The issue is far from being simple, as the PML-N and the PPP are viewing it, for obvious reasons, from different angles. While the PML-N wants to go ahead with the judges' reinstatement, if only because it would be a major embarrassment to President Musharraf, the PPP has its own calculations based on the premise that its co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari himself is believed to have been a beneficiary of the Judges' dismissals.
However, what the two parties might be overlooking is the fact that consolidation of the democratic process is far more important than scoring points through tough bargaining on a specific issue. The democratic process, which at one stage looked like drifting, could be set on course only when the political forces took a united stand against Musharraf. Now, the resignations, a sure sign of a crack in the coalition government, might give the embattled president a chance to reassert himself as the arbiter of the country's political destiny -- a position he so steadfastly stuck to since 1999. This is the kind of an opportunity that Musharraf might just have been waiting for.
When elections were held in Pakistan, we thought politicians had succeeded in proving the popular apprehensions wrong as they sailed through the electoral process rather smoothly. It looked like a truly fresh beginning for democracy in Pakistan with President Musharraf finally appearing to be exhausted, after all his attempts to maintain the status quo failed.
To reap the benefits of what they achieved through the last general elections, the politicians have to demonstrate both maturity and political acumen, never losing sight of the strong adversary that they are still up against. Nawaz Sharif has said his party would continue to support the government, but that may not be enough to keep the brittle coalition together. The PPP, for its part, should see beyond its own expediencies and play a positive role in reversing the wrongs committed during Musharraf's rule.
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