Zardari Must Act Before It’s Too Late

Pakistan continues to totter from crisis to crisis. But this crisis is different in that it appears to be the harbinger of a dawn of hope for the Pakistani democracy and civil society. Whichever way these developments take Pakistan, the 
country will emerge stronger and rejuvenated out of this ordeal.

As we write this, Pakistan is rocked by protests and demonstrations pressing for the restoration of judges deposed by the former president Musharraf. Tens of millions of people have come out on the streets, from Karachi to Khyber, as part of the long march to capital Islamabad defying government restrictions and curbs.

While the government has put top leaders of the lawyers movement under house arrest, this caravan cannot be checked or derailed by such tactics now. It’s turned into a powerful movement, gaining its own momentum. Seems nothing and no one can stop it now from reaching its goal post: That is, the restoration of judiciary and rule of law in the country.

This is the writing on the wall that everyone - opposition parties, civil society groups, the media and ordinary people - but the government seems to see. Even many in the ruling Pakistan Peoples’ Party appear to realise the powerful nature of the movement - unprecedented in the country’s eventful history.

No wonder all political parties have joined the movement for justice embracing it as their own cause. They have seen and felt the way ordinary Pakistanis have responded to this movement. In fact, both PPP and Pakistan Muslim League (N) led by Nawaz Sharif were given the mandate for change and rejected Musharraf largely thanks to the justice movement.

Sharif, wiser after his exile, is conscious of this reality. Which is why he’s leading the long march despite house arrest orders against him. Other top politicians, from Qazi Hussain Ahmad of Jamaat-e-Islami to Imran Khan, are already 
in Rawalpindi, the twin city of capital 
Islamabad, waiting for the showdown today (Monday, March 16).

There are reports of police fighting street battles with lawyers and opposition activists across Pakistan. Hundreds of politicians and civil society activists have been rounded up.

Which is a tragic irony but not unusual for the rough and tumble of Pakistani politics. The current dispensation in Islamabad came to power with a mandate for change and restoration of judiciary, the rule of law and genuine democracy in the country. President Asif Ali Zardari and his late wife Benazir Bhutto, both of whom suffered a great deal under the previous regime, repeatedly urged Musharraf to restore the deposed judges. In fact, this was one of the main poll planks of the ruling party in the campaign last year during which Benazir was assassinated. After the poll victory, Zardari and PML(N) chief Sharif 
signed accords promising to keep the promise on the judiciary.

This is why President Zardari must intervene to defuse this crisis before it’s too late. By sending the deposed judges back to their courts, he’d not just be restoring the judiciary but restoring Pakistani people’s confidence - and that of the world community’s - in their nation’s future.