Pakistan’s Opposition States its Demands

President Pervez Musharraf may be out of the army now, but the main opposition leaders aren’t satisfied with swapping a military dictator for a civilian one. They have been meeting this week to find a common set of pre-conditions that he must meet before they will consent to participating in the parliamentary elections set for January 8. This is the open round in what is likely to be a long series of talks.

Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party and ex-PM Nawaz Sharif's Muslim League-N [the N signifies the faction’s loyalty to Mr. Sharif – there are several others] are very close to agreement according to reports from the local media. Ahsan Iqbal, spokesman for Mr. Sharif, briefed the press saying, “We’re optimistic that we’ll reach agreement because everyone wants to pull the country out of this crisis and prevent Musharraf from rigging the elections. Despite our differences in the past, we are legitimate democratic parties while Musharraf is an illegitimate military dictator.”

The demands appear to include an end to the state of emergency, but here Mr. Musharraf has already yielded, saying that it ends on December 16. The opposition also wants the restoration of an independent judiciary and the constitution, and the creation of a neutral caretaker government and independent election commission. There is also talk of a deadline by which the Musharraf regime would have to meet these demands.

An independent judiciary is a non-starter. Mr. Musharraf declared the current state of emergency because the Supreme Court was about to rule that he violated the constitution by running for president while a member of the military. He has purged the judiciary and stacked it with his own crew. Some kind of compromise is possible, of course, but there will be no return to the pre-emergency situation. The ultimate compromise could come through some sort of restoration of an amended constitution.

A neutral caretaker government is possible so long as the demand doesn’t extend to the president himself. A neutral cabinet might actually help Mr. Musharraf with the legitimacy of the January elections. An independent election commission can do the same. The deal is there – possibly. There’s still a lot to discuss.

© Copyright 2007 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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