Benazir Bhutto of the PPP, it is increasingly clear, is colluding with the now retired general who is hell bent on ruling Pakistan as his private fiefdom. In the same boat with Bhutto is Fazl-ur-Rehman of the Seventeenth Amendment fame.
The All-Parties Democratic Movement (APDM) does show some promise, but they also show signs of low self esteem; they are predicating their key decisions on Bhutto’s concord.
Non-politic of you, Sharif; you are stacking up Bhutto’s bargaining power vis-à-vis the establishment, which she will only use to extract concessions for her person, and deliver everything they need on a platter.
All in all, were we to pin our hopes of change on the political parties, former general Musharraf would look set to continue in power for a long time to come. Thankfully, there are other glimmers of hope; students, lawyers, the non-profit sector, and media people – in that order.
Students, in particular, have given the nation reason for hope. As of Friday, 30 November 2007, “they will be taking their movement outside of their universities, computers, cellphones and into the streets”, across Pakistan and worldwide.
And they are holding the light to the politicos. Below we excerpt from a letter from the Student Action Committee Lahore to the country’s political parties.
“Collectively, we have demanded the lifting of martial law, the reinstatement of the judiciary, the restoration of the constitution, the freedom of the media and the release of protest prisoners before we can even consider the upcoming election to be free and fair....
“[U]nless the aforementioned are undertaken, we shall advocate a complete boycott of the elections and attempt to mount a movement for the fulfilment of this struggle.
“This letter is a call to you with a single agenda – a boycott of the scheduled elections – for we must lend no legitimacy to any course that the present executive takes to justify the imposition of martial law against the judiciary and the citizenry of Pakistan. Therefore, in this appeal to your party leadership, we call upon you to stand by your own manifest cause – the restoration of democratic rule to Pakistan.
“What is vital today is that we stand together for the judiciary, who had begun to take the first steps to uphold our constitution. The restoration of the judiciary to its position as of the 2nd of November 2007 must be a pre-condition before extending any degree of participation in the electoral process. These elections are a slight to democracy and all its advocates.
“Therefore, we make this call to your alliance to stand steadfast for once: for we have oft seen you waver since your creation. We need our political leaders to stand together for the cause that they have oft championed.
“If you do stand steadfast and withdraw from the upcoming mockery (the elections) then we do promise that we will do our utmost to stand by you in protest and, perhaps, even, stand ahead of you for this country, in our united struggle for the institution of true democracy in the country.
“Our task is simple and needs no elaboration: the restoration of people’s rule to the citizens of Pakistan. If, indeed, you be ready to stand by the people of this nation, then, we shall commend you and respect you and struggle alongside you for the sake of our future.
“However, if you too give in to the imperatives of short term power then unfortunately, you too shall stand as an affront to our cause.”
1 comment:
Excellent ! Thank God the flare is still there.
Total boycot of elections ! No matter who participates in it. No matter what.
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