Strengthening democracy
October 13, 2008 12 October 1999 will go down in the annals of our political history as one of its darkest days, when Gen Pervez Musharraf staged a coup against a democratically elected government and kept the country under dictatorship for almost nine years. The day did not pass quietly as in preceding years. The leaderships of the two mainstream parties reaffirmed their commitment to strengthen democracy and frustrate the designs of elements trying to destabilize the system. President Asif Zardari told a group of senior journalists that Musharraf wanted the PPP to form a coalition with the PML(Q), and rule in the Centre and all the four provinces in return for letting him continue in the Presidency. It goes without saying that the PPP rejected this absurd quid pro quo and decided to pull together with the PML(N). But Mr Zardari will have to do a lot of explaining when he claims adherence to the Charter of Democracy and other such agreements signed by the two mainstream parties after his backtracking on the judges' issue.
