Boston Globe Editorial - Musharraf's choices
Boston Globe Editorial - Musharraf's choices
Copyright by The Boston Globe
Published: August 20, 2007
President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan faces daunting obstacles in his quest for another five-year term. Because the Bush administration has backed Musharraf as a pragmatic partner in a dangerous region, the United States has a stake in the choices Musharraf will make and may be tempted to weigh in on his side. But the United States would best serve its own and Pakistan's interests by supporting the rules of the democratic game, not any particular party or candidate.
Musharraf has hardly been an ideal ally. As a recent national intelligence estimate warned, Al Qaeda has been able to regroup within Pakistan. And as illustrated by recent protests against Musharraf's failed effort to suspend the chief justice of Pakistan's Supreme Court, Musharraf has alienated precisely those sectors of Pakistani society that ought to be most favorable to the values Washington preaches: rule of law, independent judiciary, and civil liberties.
Yet even Benazir Bhutto, the exiled former prime minister and leader of a key opposition party, justifies her recent efforts to negotiate a deal for political cooperation with Musharraf by acknowledging his moderation.
"We have problems with General Musharraf because he's a coup leader," she told the Council on Foreign Relations in New York last week. "But on the other hand, General Musharraf says and has committed himself to Pakistan following a moderate path."
Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher, in Islamabad for talks with Musharraf, was properly discreet in saying that the general and Bhutto would "make their own choices based on their own calculations." Offstage, though, the administration has been urging Musharraf to make a deal with Bhutto; she would be allowed to return and lead her Pakistan People's Party in general elections later this year, and, presumably, she would then support his re-election.
Musharraf needs all the political help he can get. He has incurred hostility not only among lawyers and the secular parties but also from Islamist groups. And unless he institutes emergency rule - as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice advised him not to do recently - his bid for another presidential term will almost certainly depend on decisions of the Supreme Court and its reinstated chief justice, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.
That court will be asked to decide whether Musharraf can run while still chief of the army; whether Pakistan's Constitution bars him from seeking what may be considered a third term; and whether he can seek election by the current Parliament, as he wants, or must wait until the new Legislature is chosen this autumn. These are questions that should be resolved by an independent judiciary. The United States should clearly oppose any fresh attempt by Musharraf to circumvent the laws of his country or the workings of democracy.
Copyright by The Boston Globe
Published: August 20, 2007
President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan faces daunting obstacles in his quest for another five-year term. Because the Bush administration has backed Musharraf as a pragmatic partner in a dangerous region, the United States has a stake in the choices Musharraf will make and may be tempted to weigh in on his side. But the United States would best serve its own and Pakistan's interests by supporting the rules of the democratic game, not any particular party or candidate.
Musharraf has hardly been an ideal ally. As a recent national intelligence estimate warned, Al Qaeda has been able to regroup within Pakistan. And as illustrated by recent protests against Musharraf's failed effort to suspend the chief justice of Pakistan's Supreme Court, Musharraf has alienated precisely those sectors of Pakistani society that ought to be most favorable to the values Washington preaches: rule of law, independent judiciary, and civil liberties.
Yet even Benazir Bhutto, the exiled former prime minister and leader of a key opposition party, justifies her recent efforts to negotiate a deal for political cooperation with Musharraf by acknowledging his moderation.
"We have problems with General Musharraf because he's a coup leader," she told the Council on Foreign Relations in New York last week. "But on the other hand, General Musharraf says and has committed himself to Pakistan following a moderate path."
Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher, in Islamabad for talks with Musharraf, was properly discreet in saying that the general and Bhutto would "make their own choices based on their own calculations." Offstage, though, the administration has been urging Musharraf to make a deal with Bhutto; she would be allowed to return and lead her Pakistan People's Party in general elections later this year, and, presumably, she would then support his re-election.
Musharraf needs all the political help he can get. He has incurred hostility not only among lawyers and the secular parties but also from Islamist groups. And unless he institutes emergency rule - as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice advised him not to do recently - his bid for another presidential term will almost certainly depend on decisions of the Supreme Court and its reinstated chief justice, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.
That court will be asked to decide whether Musharraf can run while still chief of the army; whether Pakistan's Constitution bars him from seeking what may be considered a third term; and whether he can seek election by the current Parliament, as he wants, or must wait until the new Legislature is chosen this autumn. These are questions that should be resolved by an independent judiciary. The United States should clearly oppose any fresh attempt by Musharraf to circumvent the laws of his country or the workings of democracy.
posted by Carlos T Mock at 10:26 AM
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