By Rabia Zia
UK Coordinator, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf
Pakistan has been oscillating between civilian and military rule since its inception in 1947. The Military has, by far, been the stronger party with 33 years of rule notched up versus 27 years of civilian government. Many problems associated with this oscillation have reached critical mass, hampering the state's sovereignty and stability as Pakistan faces numerous issues with no quick-fix resolution in sight. President Pervez Musharraf took power in Oct 1999 as a military dictator who finally removed his uniform in Nov 2007 after having re-established himself as the civilian President of Pakistan for a 5 year period, and having declared a state of Emergency - in fact a second coup.
This illegitimate act was carried out by removing Chief Justice Chaudary Iftikhar and 60 judges of the Supreme Court who would have raised their voices against a serving Army General becoming the head of State - this is not allowed under the Constitution. After their ouster, President Musharraf's hand picked judiciary legalized him as the elected President. The elections held in February 2008 took place right after the assassination of head of Pakistan's Peoples Party (PPP), Benazir Bhutto, under the puppet judiciary and a questionable electoral commission; however the people of Pakistan still ended up fiercely opposing Musharraf's stalwart party 'Muslim League Q' (the King's party) and granting victory to the PPP, Pakistan Muslim League Noon (PML-N) and others.
The clear mandate for the ruling coalition included the reinstatement of the Chief Justice, an independent judiciary and removal of President Musharraf. Since the formation of the coalition government in Feb 2008 led by PPP, President Pervez Musharraf resigned to save himself from impeachment. It is very clear that the coalition Government has been unsuccessful on a number of fronts as it is a continuation of Musharraf policies and governance; it has been unable to implement the electorate's mandate, improve the state of economy and enhance the country's stability. We do not have an independent judiciary; there seems to be no clear center of governance i.e. parliament VS the establishment. There are external threats at the borders with ongoing fighting; there are related issues surrounding detainees/missing people. There are suicide bombings targeting the army and security forces of country as well as civilian targets.
On the domestic front, there is turmoil generated by food and oil crisis as inflation spikes and a severe energy crisis triggered by inadequate infrastructure seen in frequent power shutdowns. After nearly a year in the saddle, Pakistan's new civilian government has not been able to tackle these issues. Pervez Musharraf was behind Pakistan's compliance with the US, which includes allowing the US Government to set up bases within Pakistan. He is also behind the use of Pakistan Army's excessive force against the people of Waziristan/Bajaur. These policies had caused his popularity and that of the Army to suffer a sharp decline. Now that Musharraf has resigned, our party's stand is for Musharraf to face trial for all the crimes and irregularities committed against the People of Pakistan and the Constitution eg, missing people, judiciary etc; the war on our borders – whether it is ours or someone else's war is resulting in killing of the innocent people & making them homeless. We are still waiting for justice.
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