Editorial
A new, controversial term for Musharraf
It is clearly a hollow victory
Pakistan's military ruler General Pervez Musharraf was on Saturday voted to yet another term of office with the opposition parties, which make up 30 percent of the electoral college, resigning or abstaining from participating in the elections. The elections witnessed violent anti-Musharraf protests at least in two of the country's major cities, Karachi and Peshawar, dashing Musharraf's hopes for a smooth and peaceful election. And now the military ruler also has to await a decision by the Supreme Court of the country on the results. Pending a decision on the appeals against the eligibility of the election, which may not be forthcoming before 17 October, Musharraf cannot be sure of his victory.
In such circumstances, the general, in order to give a semblance of legitimacy to his scheme of things went to the extent of granting amnesty to Benazir Bhutto, one of his key opponents, on graft charges that could also pave the way for a power sharing deal with her. Pakistan is famously known for being in the grip of its military rulers for much of its existence since its coming into being 60 years ago. Although it has become a common phenomenon in many of the underdeveloped countries, the situation in Pakistan is of critical proportions with no visible signs of its return to proper democratic rule any time soon. Pakistan's legacy of military rule is also driven by both internal and external forces. Whatever the compulsive factors may or may not be, one thing for sure is that practices in statecraft and state management as they exist in Pakistan today do not augur well for the future of the country.
Democracy is just that, democracy. No country worth its name can claim to have done well for itself by opting for dictatorial rule. General Musharraf has certainly won a victory, but a hollow one that does the people of Pakistan little good. At another level, the activities of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto toward a power-sharing arrangement with Musharraf have done her little good and have actually thrown up an image of her as being guided by narrow, selfish political ambition. A beneficiary of these recent events may well be Nawaz Sharif, the former premier now in his second spate of forced exile in Saudi Arabia.
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