PML-N’s moment of truth

If 86 percent of Pakistanis feel (vide IRI survey) that Pakistan is headed in the wrong direction, who is to blame for it? Eight years of institutional collapse has taken its toll. A military ruler and his camp followers had had their day. Pakistan could boast of a fake democracy, a farce of a parliament, a battered and tamed judiciary and a demoralised civil service.

The people, under international pressure, got a chance to speak their mind. Earlier this year, they gave their verdict against the ruling regime. They wanted change and asked for it. Expectations were raised. In the euphoria generated by the triumphant return of the two leading political parties, it was forgotten that elections had been held under the shadow of a guarantee extracted from the leader of the most popular party. After Benazir’s assassination, it fell to her spouse to grab power and stick to the pledge given to the retired general. He has played his cards well. After installing himself into power on the basis of a Will, he has been in touch with the establishment on the one hand and also in close personal contact with the PML-N chief, on the other.

Nawaz Sharif’s Muslim League contested the February elections on the stand that the deposed judges must be restored. Zardari in the name of reconciliation lured Sharif into a coalition partnership committing himself in writing to restore the judges within 30 days. Right from the start Zardari had no intention to do any such thing. For months, he has been befooling the PML-N, dragging his feet and in the meantime consolidating his position by placing his cronies in key positions. Besides Rehman Malik, Salman Faruqi, Naek and Taseer he let Musharraf’s men (who held important jobs) like the Attorney General Qayyum Malik continue to serve their master. He even accepted Musharraf’s protégé, Lt General (retd) Durrani to hold the strategic office of security advisor to the prime minister.