PoliGazette » Pakistani Victors Say They Agree on Coalition

Pakistani Victors Say They Agree on Coalition

Filed under: Asia, Asif Ali Zardari, Benazir Bhutto, Feature, Nawaz Sharif, Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf — Michael van der Galien, Editor-in-Chief on February 21, 2008 @ 8:24 pm CET

Good news from Pakistan (from a stability perspective): “Pakistan’s two main opposition parties announced Thursday that they would work together to form a coalition government. The apparent breakthrough came after the leaders of the two parties, the victors in Pakistan’s parliamentary elections, held make-or-break talks in Islamabad, the capital.”

Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said in a joint news conference: “We will work together to form the government.” Benazir Bhutto’s widower, Asif Ali Zardari, added: “We will work together to form the government. We intend to strengthen Pakistan together.”

Both leaders “said they had agreed in principle to the restoration of the judiciary that had been swept away by President Pervez Musharraf under emergency rule last November.” However, “they did not immediately say whether they would push for the ouster of Mr. Musharraf.”

Since the election on Monday, Mr. Sharif, the leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-N, which came in second to Mr. Zardari’s Pakistan Peoples Party, has been adamant about trying to bring impeachment proceedings against Mr. Musharraf, who removed Mr. Sharif from power in a 1999 coup. Mr. Sharif also argued for the immediate reinstatement of the judiciary, in particular the former chief justice of the Supreme Court, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, who has been under house arrest for three months.

To show his solidarity with Mr. Chaudhry, Mr. Sharif joined a noisy demonstration on Thursday outside the judge’s Islamabad home.

Mr. Sharif, speaking through a bullhorn to cheers, said he would make sure in the next few days that the chief justice and dozens of other judges “illegally” fired by Mr. Musharraf would be restored to the bench. Mr. Sharif then asked the protesters to disband.

Bhutto’s widower takes a somewhat softer approach but he basically agrees that, in the end, the judges will have to be restored to the bench.

The judges issue: I agree with both men. Pushing out Musharraf: disagree. Pakistan needs stability, not instability. It may not be overly democratic, but - quite frankly - in a country like Pakistan that’s irrelevant for the time being. As it is, they’re democratizing already, making haste is of no use.

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