The News : Taking the right line

Taking the right line

By Dr Masooda Bano | November 30, 2007

Finally, the General has shed his uniform but not his ambition to stay on in power. As General Musharraf takes the oath of the civil president, the problems with his presidency are all the more obvious. What legitimacy does a president have who has been elected by an outgoing parliament -- a parliament whose credibility remained contested till the end? The ball is now in the court of the political parties, do they validate this system, which has no legitimacy or do they continue the struggle for the restoration of the constitution and the re-instatement of the pre-emergency judges as a condition to join the elections. The choice should clearly be the latter. The signs from PPP are mixed. But, if Nawaz Sharif and Imran Khan stick to this demand as they are doing right now, if nothing else they will fully expose the ideology bankruptcy of PPP's leadership.

How can Benazir or the top PPP's ranks not be clear that the reinstatement of the judges must be made the top priority in deciding on whether or not to participate in the elections? An independent judiciary is the key to genuine institutional reforms in Pakistan. The billions of dollars taken in development aid and loans in the past seven years for so called institutional reforms have delivered nothing. But, a home-grown lawyers movement, run not though paid development professionals but the personal sacrifices of the lawyers and the judges has provided Pakistan the historical opportunity for a genuine institutional reform: a leadership among judges has emerged at the Supreme as well as the High Court which has agreed to live up to certain principles rather act as a rubber stamp to the decisions of the executive and the army. If the Pakistanis fail to seize this historical opportunity for institutional reform after coming so close to it we are indeed a sad nation.

It is therefore heartening to see Nawaz Sharif living up to people's expectations. His clear position on the demand for reinstatement of pre-emergency judges is most promising. He should rest assured that he will become more prominent a leader if he sticks to this demand. It is interesting how so many of us who in the 1990s, were on the PPP's side and viewed Nawaz Sharif as a product of the military are now disgusted with the PPP's behaviour. There is clear consensus that while Nawaz Sharif over time groomed himself, Benazir on the other hand lost her democratic credentials. Even now to think that the struggle for reinstatement of judges is threatened because the PPP is not willing to prioritise it and boycott the elections is pathetic. The PPP should be the party out in the streets with this demand. Yet, the PPP is the party right now, which is the biggest hurdle in the way of this demand. What could be sadder?

Given that Benazir has been very open in her association with the US since this summer, it is difficult to know why exactly she is so reluctant to ask for reinstatement of the judges. Is it that like Musharraf she wants a tamed judiciary rather than an independent one if she was to be elected? Is it that the negotiators of her deals in the US are telling her that they want the pre-emergency judges kept out of the system so that they can keep pursuing any kind of illegal action in the name of war on terror in Pakistan, with no institution left where the aggrieved could ask for justice. After all, the missing peoples' cases prioritised by Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry have been put on the back burner under the new set up? Or is it that she worries about the fate of the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO), which closed the corruption cases against her, if judged by independent judges. Needless to say, whatever the cause, it is not impressive.

It is critical that General (r) Musharraf's civilian attire does not lead to a culmination of the lawyers' movement and weakening of public demand for re-instatement of the judges. It is a clear success of the lawyers' movement that weakened General Musharraf control to the point that eventually he had to concede to the demand of giving up his uniform. This should make bolder not weaken the struggle for independence of judiciary. People should rally behind the political figures like Imran Khan and Nawaz Sharif, which are very clear in their demand for reinstatement of judges. We all know that Imran Khan has shown the character to stand for his principles whether or not people come out to support the cause, so we can be sure he will be there to lead this demand in coming weeks. Nawaz Sharif has built much credibility too by staying steady in his critique of the military government and prioritising the demand for the reinstatement of judges, but given that his is a bigger party, with higher pressure to bear, it is important that people should express their support for this demand to keep him committed to it.

Meanwhile, in the US, concerns are being expressed about Nawaz Sharif not being a liberal like Benazir and for not giving US full assurance to fight its war on terror in Pakistan. Apparently for the US, liberalism in Pakistan means following the US dictates even if it means killing civilians through aerial bombings. It is high time that the US administration understands that the way to fight terrorism does not rest in the use of force. Pakistan is not a militant nation. The underlying causes of militancy in Pakistan can only be addressed through negotiations and establishment of a just society, and that is why the reinstatement of pre-emergency judges should be a priority. Much of the current resistance in Pakistan is of a reactionary nature. If democratic channels exist to channel this dissent, the militancy will come down.

The writer is undertaking post-doctoral research at Oxford University. Email: mb294@hotmail.com