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Well I suppose this is a kind of victory for the people of Pakistan, and people's power. And in addition it is good that this victory was achieved with minimal loss of life (nobody killed) , and no physical damage to the country, in a short time span of a few weeks between the declaration of Sharif's intention and the achievement of the result.
This is all good, shabash.
The Chief justices removed by Musharaf will be reinstated hopefully without any preconditions, whether overt or covert on their reappointment of positions which were rightly theirs in the first place. That the new Chief justice will not have to be grateful to any degree, in terms of his work and toeing the establishment line as he independently goes about his work of investigating corruption across the board, and other such serious matters that makes Pakistan a failed state banana republic.
So Zardari has relented under pressure from the USA, Pak army, his own party members and of course the actions of Nawaz Sharif, and the lawyers movement. In the MoU before elections last year he promised the Chief justice would be reinstated, but reneged on this promise to Nawaz Sharif after coming to power for a year until now.........so Zardari works under threats, and nothing else.........not reason..........or logic......or what is morally or constitutionally right for Pakistan...........the man was a small time gangster whom Benazir inexplicably married to begin with, and mass political movements seems to be the only provable tool which forces him to reconsider his most undesirable policies.
So will anything change for Pakistan overall now? Not really.............the reappointment of the Chief justice; the eligibility of the Sharif brothers to contest elections in 2013; the removal of Zardari's appointees in the Punjab will solve very little in terms of addressing the fundamental problems of Pakistan, namely Zardari, his gross corruption, surrounding himself with the "birds of a feather flock together" types, and naturally and most understandably his desire not to govern Pakistan seriously, but instead go off into foreign countries all too often (in light of the "situation" in Pakistan) to cement his private money laundering deals with his foreign criminal contacts, as the President of Pakistan..................with an ever bigger smile as the situation in Pakistan goes from bad to worse.
Zardari is the most obvious overt problem for Pakistan in the short term, as he has been in power for less than a year, and behind Zardari are the geniuses in the Pakistan military and their record of interference in politics since 1951, beginning with the assassination of Liaqat Ali Khan...........in fact the military are the bigger problem for Pakistan.........and behind them the USA/UK who back them, arm them, train them, finance them, and guide them with bright ideas, false information, and false egotistical based hopes----"you will get strategic depth against India if you use the Taliban to take over Afghanistan."
But OK lets take one thing at a time.
Zardari is going to be around for another 4 years if he serves his full term. In my humble opinion even a few more months of Zardari's rule will prove to be an unmitigated disaster for Pakistan, but the small time gangster was elected on apparently fair and transparent elections. So the Pakistani opposition can't through "peoples power revolution" again, legitimately unseat him, because that will defeat the very exercise and principle they want to up hold, namely a stable democratic system, where governments, Presidents and PM's change through the ballot box, and not through "Peoples power".....Further, what is to say if another more competent government comes to power, and that the same method of agitation can't be used against them.................the most clear and closest example being Bangladesh where the party out of power calls "Hartals"..........basically closes down the country for certain times of the year, and the consequent loss of a whopping 35% of national GDP production as result, in the bad old days.
The current concession of Zardari along Sharif's demands is a clear victory for Sharif, and a clear defeat for Zardari. Maybe Sharif can use this "victory" to go to the Pakistan parliament and organize a vote of no-confidence against Zardar's government, and then fresh elections might follow, which gives Sharif the chance to be elected sooner rather than 4 years later and show that he can as a civilian politician govern Pakistan effectively for once, with a military which overtly seems disinterested in getting involved in civilian affairs.
Let me repeat that Pakistan cannot handle 4 more years of Zardari' rule, and not even a few more months. Perhaps the great Pakistan Peoples Party with their long history might wish to reconsider selecting a more able leader other than Zardari, as the head of their party..........perhaps they will earnestly reflect that had they elected a more competent leader of the party, someone who was not so overtly corrupt and administratively incompetent, the whole of Pakistan united under his leadership and party, would NOW be celebrating the effective governance of the Pakistan's Peoples Party.
Nothing pays more to have an effective, non-corrupt leader of the party, over the greasy back door wheeler dealers.
On the other hand quite obviously in Pakistan's case, a nation can avoid the drama and circus of crisis upon crisis if they do not elect small time gangsters who have done prison time to lead and shoulder the heavy burden of being President of Pakistan at such a critical and challenging juncture in Pakistani politics.
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Pakistan government agrees to reinstate judges
By NDTV.com correspondence.
It has been a huge victory for the people of Pakistan with Asif Ali Zardari-led government giving in to the demands of Nawaz Sharif. The government has agreed to reinstate all the judges, including Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhary who was removed by the then president Pervez Musharraf.
Addressing the nation on Monday, Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said," The Pakistan government has decided to reinstate the judges, including Iftikhar Chaudhary. The decision was taken in consultation with President Zardari."He also said that prohibitory orders under Section 144 have been lifted.
As the nation celebrated, Gilani said, "We will ask court to lift charges against the Sharif brothers and I invite Nawaz Sharif to work together on charter of democracy."He also said that all the lawyers and activists who were arrested will be released and the Chief Justice will take over on March 21.
Anticipating the developments, lawyers had gathered outside the deposed Chief Justice's residence in Islamabad celebrating and shouting slogans in his favour.Earlier, Gilani met President Zardari and Army chief General Kayani on Sunday night to discuss the situation.This comes a day after Nawaz Sharif defied house arrest and began leading the long march to Islamabad. Tens of thousands of people joined in, perhaps making President Zardari to reconsider the decision.
