Pakistani People Vying for Another Change

By Brig Asif Haroon Raja – Opinion Maker 

The people got disillusioned with democracy run by politicians from 1988 to 1999 because of the lackadaisical performance of the two mainstream political parties, each having two turns. Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif instead of concentrating towards welfare of the people consumed their energies in debasing each other and in corrupt practices. As a consequence to their vindictive and anti-people politics, their tenures got restricted to two to three years. The people got so fed up of the unprincipled politicians that they welcomed Gen Pervez Musharraf when he seized power on October 12, 1999 through a bloodless coup.

PPP Jayalas distributed sweets and Benazir offered to cooperate with the military dictator. None mourned the illegal booting out of democratically elected regime of Nawaz that had gained power with two-thirds majority in February 1997 and had the honor of making Pakistan 7^th nuclear state and only one in the Muslim world. No protests were launched when Nawaz was awarded life sentence.

 

Musharraf made a good start under his well-conceived seven point program but started to drift when he held a farcical presidential referendum to get himself elected. He then carved out a King’s Party consisting of turncoats from PML-N and PPP and ensured its success through manipulation in 2002 elections. His decision to fight the US dictated war on terror after 9/11, acceptance of all the seven demands of Washington and persecution of Islamists were castigated by the religious right and conservatives. However, it was MMA which got him elected through the act of parliament in 2004 after passing 17^th amendment in the constitution. Since Musharraf held all the controls, he managed to ensure good governance and pushed forward his reform and development programs.