Editorial
Gathering crisis in Pakistan
The ball is now in Zardari's court
What has lately been happening in Pakistan is saddening and deeply disquieting. As if the country's troubles with Islamic militants in places like Swat valley were not enough, there are now all the signs of its fledgling democratic politics collapsing in a heap. And if blame were to be pinned on anyone, it is clear that President Asif Ali Zardari is to be held responsible for all the turmoil Pakistanis are going through. There are enough reasons to think that the president has today brought his country face to face with new dangers. In the first place, he has gone back on his deal with former prime minister Nawaz Sharif on a curbing of presidential powers. In the second, he has almost brazenly backed out from an agreement to have the judges, dismissed earlier by now departed president Pervez Musharraf, reinstated in office.
It is these issues on which the opposition has been organising its campaign of protest all over Pakistan. Not surprisingly, the message is being heard in the country and President Zardari is increasingly developing the bad reputation of truly being a successor to General Musharraf rather than his murdered wife Benazir Bhutto. Again, there are the obvious reasons for such an odious comparison. Like General Musharraf, Zardari has ordered all private television channels off the air clearly because of the critical way his government's activities are being reported. The country's most popular and credible television channel Geo News is today the object of presidential wrath just as it was in the last days of Musharraf. Add to that the move by a pliant Supreme Court, which in earlier times enjoyed a reputation for independence, to have Nawaz Sharif and his brother disqualified for elected office. The president has imposed governor's rule in Punjab. That has only inflamed passions. And, reportedly, Information Minister Sherry Rehman, a close aide to Benazir Bhutto, has handed in her resignation to Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani.
Pakistan needs to get back on track in the interest of democracy and its long-term future. It is sad that Zardari and Sharif, having struggled together to free Pakistan of the Musharraf dictatorship, have now fallen out. Sharif, of course, has not ruled out working again with the president provided the latter fulfills his part of the bargain made earlier. The ball is now in Zardari's court. One hopes he will prove equal to the task of rekindling Pakistan's democratic aspirations. We wish Pakistan's people well in these difficult times.
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