It comes as no surprise that there is tremendous pressure on the Election Commission to hold the elections on time but the ruling elite know such a decision is doomsday for each one of them. Today yet again the spokesman for the Election Commission of Pakistan said that holding parliamentary elections as scheduled on January 8 “looks impossible. and the elections can be delayed. Kanwar Dilshad mentioned a deteriorating situation in 13 districts across Pakistan where there were security problems following the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.
A POSSIBLE SOLUTION
There is now no doubt that the United States of America will be hounding the present regime to announce the general elections on time, it can be recalled that Condolezza Rice had called up Asif Zardari urging him to take part in the Jan 8th elections. It is now possible that the changing circumstances has now brought about some confusion within the minds of US lawmakers, on who to support. In all fairness I feel the onus lies on the United States to ensure a free and fair elections. It about time they stop patronizing Musharraf and remove him from Pakistan with immediate effect, install an independent caretaker government entrusting them the powers to form an independent election commission & hold free and fair elections. It is beyond certainty that the PPP will emerge victorious as the sympathy vote will over run them through into the parliament also feeding the American desire for a moderate ruling party. An elections with PML-Q and Musharraf watching over it would mean a Florida chad-like fiasco with an adamant government not willing to accept the results and the ECP fully in toe declining to declare the results, so its important to rehash the commission without Musharraf and Chaudhry’s watching over them.
The people who will loose out on this formula will be Musharraf, PM-Q, JUI-F and a slight dent on MQM, while the winners will most likely be PPP, PML-N & PTI. This plan maybe idealistic but this is the perfect opportunity for the US to mend the wounds of a bleeding country, egos will definitely go down hard but the right people will come into power. PPP is at the moment standing daggers drawn for coming onto the streets if the elections are delayed I think they can be coaxed to stand down with a little convincing , offering them an independent Musharraf free election it might make it all the more sweeter
Update: Barely five days back this blog had published a letter from Naeem Sadiq titled What Choices do We have, which outlined the same ideas as follows:
- Musharraf must resign and be made accountable for constitutional violations before a court of law.
- The 1973 constitution as it stood on 12 October 1999 be restored.
- The pre November 3 judiciary must be restored and all PCO judges removed.
- A new neutral and caretaker government and an independent election commission be appointed to hold elections within 3 months.
Comments
5 responses to “A Possible Solution to the Mess in Pakistan”
A similar news on another blog.
http://pkpolitics.com/2008/01/01/election-announcement-delayed-again/
impulsive on January 1st, 2008 9:12 am
Well the latest news in Pakistan is that Musharraf is being forced to resign. He is going to speak to Nation tomorrow at 8pm and announce the elections for 11 Feb and he has promised to leave the office by end of Feburary. This news is being sent by SMS messages throughout Pakistan and GEO has confirmed tomorrows press conference.
While I agree with and results in the plan, do you really want to be advocating that the USA come ‘in to the rescue’? I know that many argue that whether or not anyone likes it, they’re behind the scenes controlling things… but isn’t that exactly what we should be arguing against? Arguing for America to come and save the day reminds me of the same sentiment that led many NGOs and civil society to breathe a sigh of relief and support Musharraf when he overthrew Sharif in 1999. Any government that is directly appointed by the USA will be distrusted by the majority of Pakistanis and the long-term, if not the short term.
A thought from the USA. First of all, I love your blog–very insightful and interesting. Although we live in a global society, I am uncertain that the USA needs to continue intervening in other countries’ internal politics to inflict its brand of democracy. The USA was founded upon the principles of democracy–we came to it through strife but with consensus. Each nation has the right to determine how it will be governed and follow the path that gets it to the final choice. We in the USA continue to muck things up because we think every other nation can overcome centuries of history and become like the USA. Our nation was literally born over-night with peoples from all over the world melding into one pot. Our nation was also formed because our ancestors were all fleeing from tyranny from other nations. In those earlier years, we all desired change and as a group worked toward this goal. This is vastly different from trying to get consensus from various provinces in which all peoples argree on how to govern a widely diverse nation. We in the USA just don’t get it.
USA was found of basis of democarcy.
But USA has proved iteslef to be the worst patriot of dictatorship in world.
Every dicattor in world (you name it) florished under blessings of USA.
Musharaf is one of these traitors of their own nations and a pet of USA.
Well, as regards his resignation, I dont think he will resign and submit himself to some international body for questioning, its not the mind set in our “defenders” ie; Pakistan Army.
I wish I would have seen a single and again a single man in uniform in Pakistan army to stand and say that I am going to resign on removal of CJ or hundreds of incidents in Pakistan.
None of them can show what Judges did, at least one would have resigned, told dictator to put him on Court Marital, If there is not a single “ghariat mand” in entire army then their head would never step down.
I agree with Justice. The USA has a history of aligning itself with a dictator all in the name of “the lesser of two evils” and always makes a wrong decision in aligning itself with “someone”, dictator or not. The USA has a misguided belief that its “my way or the highway” and acts without taking into account a nation’s history, culture, religion, etc. For example, with regard to Iraq, the USA did not have a clue that not every Muslim holds the same belief on succession of the prophet. All this may sound like I am seditious but in actuality I am brutal supporter of the right to self-govern. In my humble opinion, Pakistan stands in the doorway of history; unite in self-government and continue into the prosperity of the 21st century. Or permit another nation (USA or Iran) to determine how history will view Pakistan.