PUBLICATION Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung e.V. PAKISTAN DR. BABAK KHALATBARI Parliamentary elections 2008 AUTHORS DR. FISCHER/ DR. KIESSLING Democracy in Pakistan on the ad- vance? June 2008 www.kas.de/pakistan In the history of Pakistan, there were few against terrorism that had also affected Pa- www.kas.de events, like the elections of the 18th kistan in the recent past. However, at the February 2008, which offered the political latest since March, 2007 there emerged new elites of the country a real chance to start heroes: Firstly, in the person of Chief Justi- anew in the politics. In the retrospective ce of Pakistan, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudh- view of the events before the elections ry, who was sacked and turned out of his and - as their logical consequence - the office by Musharraf, but he was reinstated elections caused a downright euphoria to his post under the guidance of his coun- over the "dawn of a democratic new be- ginning" among the population and in the sel and prominent PPP-member of the parli- media, the question strikes one’s mind ament Aitzaz Ahsan, lawyers’ community of whether in all that the essential pre- the land and civil society and secondly, in requisites for a political change were al- the leading politician of the PPP and PML (N) ready created. who returned to power in February, 2008. It was forgotten that many of the bearers of In the first instance the dramatic defeat of new hopes had distinguished themselves in the ruling parties: PML-Q, MQM and MMA in the past in both political camps, more by the elections generated expectations, which misuse of their offices and shameless cor- shall barely be satisfied in view of the per- ruption than through qualities of states- sonality profiles of the new rulers and the manship. situation of Pakistan in multi-layered crises. Here the election losers, including the Presi- The deal that was mediated by Americans dent and ex-General Pervez Musharraf, pin- between Benazir Bhutto and Pervez Mushar- ned their hopes to a failure of their victori- raf is pushed aside for the time being, but ous opponents. not forgotten, as was expressed on 6th Oc- tober, 2007 in the Presidential Order under The military dictator was defeated. Politici- the caption: “National Reconciliation Ordi- ans, columnists and the majority of the Pa- nance (NRO) - 2007.” Gist of the NRO is kistanis rejoiced on his defeat. The eight- setting aside all court proceedings, which year-old regime of Musharraf was condem- had been initiated during the time period ned in the comments and group discussions between 1985 and 12th October, 1999 (the on media and an immediate resignation / day of seizure of ruling power by Musharraf) retirement of the President was demanded. for political reasons. Beneficiaries of the This had stunned the political leadership decree were above all politicians standing created by Musharraf. Nevertheless, they under the suspicion of massive corruption, had approval of the majority of the people like Benazir Bhutto, her husband Asif Ali till the beginning of 2007. Moreover, for the Zardari, the brothers Nawaz and Shahbaz international community the President of Sharif as well as other party leaders of the Pakistan was the main bulwark in the war 2 Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung e.V. PPP, PML (N) and MQM. In return for this still controversial Operation Silence started lump-sum acquittal from the corruption in July, 2007 at the centre of the capital ci- PAKISTAN charges, the above named parties were ex- ty of Islamabad followed by the persistent DR. BABAK KHALATBARI pected not to oppose a re-election of Gene- crisis of judiciary, existing till this day, the ral Musharraf to the office of president. suppression of the extremist Madrassa stu- AUTHORS dents entrenched in the red mosque (Lal DR. FISCHER/ DR. KIESSLING However, legitimising of the NRO by the Masjid) through military action, which left Supreme Court is still outstanding. The NRO behind more than 100 people dead. The Ji- June 2008 made possible the unobstructed return of hadi organizations took this action to the the politicians to Pakistan, who had fled into occasion, in particular the Pakistani Taliban, foreign countries for fear of prosecution. to provoke a series of suicidal attempts and Their return into the routine politics in Pa- attacks with car bombs which continue till kistan awakened general hope among the this day and have claimed several hundred people for better times. And that was deaths among the security forces and the comprehensible, since a flood of undemoc- civil population. ratic events poured forth during the year 2007 over the population in the political life After a little while, in August, the Supreme of the country, accompanied by incising Court ordered reinstatement of the Chief economic problems on one hand. On the Justice Iftikhar and quite subsequently af- other hand, the possibility was opened to terwards a judgment was prepared under focus the strength of once hostile parties on his presidency which was supposed to dec- a politics of the national consensus in coali- lare a renewed candidature of Musharraf for tions on national and provincial level until the office of President as unconstitutional. now and that to revive the criminalised and Musharraf saw the only way out from this incapacitated civil society under Musharraf threatening situation to use his full authori- and to tie them into the democratic process. ty accumulated in eight years by imposition That necessitates a common, clear formula- of the state of emergency on the 3rd of No- tion of the national interests and establis- vember, 2007. Precisely 42 days later, he hing a political atmosphere that guarantees had to surrender and feel constrained to economic and social upswing as well as the take off his uniform and hand over exerci- consolidation of the political unity and sove- sed function of the army chief (Chief of Ar- reignty of the country. my Staff) to his successor general Kiyani and continue his personal union with the In this complex situation Pakistan expects presidential office. political moral as well as economic support of the international community, indeed, The sentiments and resentment directed without interference in its internal affairs. against Musharraf in the land further inten- sified. The Chairperson of the Pakistan Peo- 1. The Paradigm of 2007 ples’ Party (PPP) and former Prime Ministers As army chief and president, General Mus- Benazir Bhutto returned to Pakistan after harraf removed the senior most judge of several years in exile and she was murde- the country: Chief Justice Iftikhar Muham- red after an election rally in Rawalpindi on .1 mad Chaudhry from his office on 9th March, 27th December 2007 through an unconstitutional act. Against this unlawful step of the President an avalanche of the civil, social and democ- ratic counteractions was unleashed, which 1 See Zaib Nisa and Babak Khalatbari, 2008 brought the General almost a year later to Parliamentary Election - Pakistan at the the end of his political way and power. The crossroads, www.kas.de/Pakistan 3 Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung e.V. More than seven years after General Pervez national self-confidence of Pakistan, so that Musharraf had captured power in Pakistan many people were ascertained as disap- PAKISTAN through a coup in October 1999, his policy pointed in the approach of the elections. DR. BABAK KHALATBARI demanded restitution of domestic discussi- The only certainty in the land exists nowa- ons which could exert influence on parties days is the uncertainty. They accused the AUTHORS in the coalition government in view of Musharraf Regime of by passing the parlia- DR. FISCHER/ DR. KIESSLING forthcoming parliamentary elections in the ment, in giving up a major part of national end of 2007. The elections were postponed sovereignty in the war against terror and June 2008 till 18th February, 2008 after the murder of just to have it neglected under the pretext Benazir Bhutto. If he had been able to con- of handling in the national interest. tinue to present himself, as he did in the The differences between four provinces of beginning, to be relatively plausible as a Pakistan could not be resolved in a democ- popular alternative to the previous corrupt ratic way. The military action against the civil governments, but he had soon exposed head of family and former governor of Ba- himself after the parliamentary elections of luchistan, Nawab Bugti, and, in the end, his October, 2002 by issuing numerous presi- liquidation endangered the federal state dential decrees and manipulated constituti- system of Pakistan just as the operational on for his / insatiable lust for power. engagement of the army in the South of the The events of the year 2007, like natural North Western Frontier Province without disasters (floods in the province Sindh), agreement of the provincial government. At strikes against sensational shortages of the same time Musharraf intensified the de- food and fuels and the unpopular measures cades old dispute between Punjab and taken by the Government like operational Sindh on their share in the water resources engagement of approximately 70.000 sol- because of his mega project of a dam. The diers in the "War Against Terror" in Tribal best example is that of the Kalabagh dam, Areas, the action against the extremists in which has been conceived for 20 years and the Red Mosque, the deposition of "unplea- which is politically used as an instrument sant" judges and also the gagging of the over and over again in this or that direction media led step by step to the accountabili- by interested forces. Therefore, the new ty of the politics of the President by the government has decided to put this project people on the basis of those seven promi- in cold storage for the time being, though it ses, which he had made at the beginning of is economically very necessary and urgent his taking over the power.2 for producing energy resources and preser- vation of water.