Pakistan Rivals Join to Fight Musharraf
The New York Times reports that “[t]he leaders of the two major political parties, in an unexpectedly strong show of unity against President Pervez Musharraf, agreed Sunday that they would reinstate judges fired by the president and would seek to strip him of crucial powers.” In other words: his political opponents have declared (political) war on Musharraf.
The power sharing deal, announced by Asif Ali Zardari, the leader of the largest party, the Pakistan Peoples Party, and Nawaz Sharif, the head of the Pakistan Muslim League-N, represented another tough challenge to the already waning authority of Mr. Musharraf, a favorite ally of the Bush administration.
The two men, appearing at a news conference together in the resort area of Bhurban, said they would seek to remove the president’s power to dissolve the Pakistani Parliament and his power to appoint the chiefs of the military services. Together, the two parties control just shy of two-thirds of the Parliament after an election last month in which Mr. Musharraf’s party was routed.
Some, like myself, hoped that the different parties would find a way to rule with each other. It’s difficult to be a fan of Musharraf, but he’s not as bad as the American left seems to think, especially not from the perspective on the war on terrorism and, therefore, the national security of Western countries.
On the other hand, perhaps recent developments should be interpreted as signs that Pakistan is maturing. Imposing democracy on a people isn’t going to work, but the Pakistani people seem to choose it. And, at this moment at least, they’re electing fairly liberally minded politicians. Or, at least, not Islamists.
Only remaining question: Is Musharaf a lame duck or a dead duck?