Pakistan…When People Defeat Establishment

A months-old campaign that culminated with the reinstatement of deposed judges, including Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudry, is being considered a victory of the masses over the powerful ruling establishment for the first time in the 62-year checkered history of Pakistan.

"This is a victory of justice and democracy. We can simply term it a revolution, which has set the future direction of Pakistan," Ghazi Salahuddin, a Karachi-based veteran political analyst, told IslamOnline.net.

In an address to the nation in the wee hours of Monday, March 16, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani announced reinstating independent-minded judges sacked by former military ruler Pervez Musharraf in 2007.

The decision brought to an end to a judicial-cum-political crisis that had been haunting the Asian Muslim country for the last year and a half.

"This is a victory for the masses over the ruling establishment, which has had a history of crushing popular movements by brutal use of force and coercive measures," contends Salahuddin.

He believes that the success of the judicial movement is a defeat of the psyche of power.

"This is defeat of a system which had been successful till the victory of judicial movement, whereby the country’s powerful ruling elite had ultimately used all the popular movements in their favor."

Salahuddin sees the victory of the judicial movement as a glimmer of hope for the future of Pakistan.

"This was for the first time in the history of Pakistan when political forces gathered in the form of a rainbow coalition," he stressed.

"Workers of Jammat-e-Islami and socialist party and other left-wing and right-wing parties gathered on one-point agenda; saving Pakistan."

New Power Dynamics



Mushtaq Minhas, an Islamabad-based political analyst, believes the people and their the parliament are the real winners.

"This has paved the way for supremacy of the parliament, which reflects the will of the people of Pakistan," he told IOL.

"It will strengthen the parliament and give a boost to the parliamentarians to assert their real powers."

He does not see this as a defeat for President Asif Ali Zardari, the leader of the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) of slain former premier Benazir Bhutto, or his government.

"This is neither a victory of the opposition nor a defeat of government. This is victory of democracy and the parliament," he maintains.

"We should appreciate that President Zardari has listened to the voice of people, no matter later or sooner.

"I think we should salute him for not making this issue an ego problem. I don’t think he is a loser.

But other experts disagree and insist that the crisis has weakened Zardari.

"I will call him a loser because he has acted as a tool of establishment to hamper the restoration of judiciary," said Salahuddin.

"I wish he would not have done that. He has missed a golden opportunity to steal the show. This was the promise of the slain prime minister (reinstatement of deposed judges), which has been fulfilled by her political rivals."

The reinstatement of the judges marks a significant concession from Zardari, who took over as president six months ago.

He has dragged his feet on the issue fearing that chief justice Chaudry might dig up old corruption charges against him and pose a threat to his presidency.

Salahuddin, the veteran political analyst, believes Zardari has been cornered.

"He has lost his credibility. Now, he must surrender all his powers, which are in defiance of parliamentary system, in favor of the prime minister. This is the only way he could repair his damaged credibility."

Lt general rtd Hameed Gul, a former chief of Pakistan’s powerful Inter Services Intelligence, agrees.

"He has appeared to be a week politician, who did not understand the political temperature and the public mood," he told IOL.

"He, instead of running the country and politics on the basis of principles, used non-political tactics to deal with the issue.

"If Zardari does not change his thinking about simmering issues, then he may say goodbye to the president house soon," contends Gul.

Haris Khaleeq, another Islamabad-based political observer, sees more trouble in store for the president.

"Zardari is going to face a tough time following the reinstatement of deposed judges," he said.

"If the people of Pakistan can oust a military dictator, then they are very much capable of dethroning a civilian person whose credibility has been badly damaged."

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