Pakistan finally overcomes Musharraf
February 20th, 2008 by ashish
Who would have thought that such a day would come when Pakistan would consider the former, all-powerful army head, Musharraf as a has-been; well, this is precisely what seems to have happened. The long-awaited Pakistani General elections have come and gone, and brought about an upheaval in Pakistani society. The elections caused the total failure of 2 main parties whom Musharraf has depended on in the past: namely the splinter of the Pakistan Muslim League that supported him (called the PML(Q - also known as the King’s party) & the second such party was the religious combination that suffered a major disaster (something seen as good for Pakistani society). But Musharraf seems to be calculating that the victorious parties of PPP and Muslim League will have their own teething troubles and will not bother him too much:
Pakistan’s president will not step down as head of state and intends to serve out his five-year term, his spokesman said, despite a sweeping victory by his opponents in an election that President Bush on Wednesday judged to be fair. Final results from this week’s parliamentary poll were expected later Wednesday, but with the count nearly complete, two opposition parties have won enough seats to form a new government, though they will likely fall short of the two-thirds needed to impeach the president.
Pakistan’s new leaders also must decide how to deal with Musharraf, who seized power in a 1999 coup and went on to become a key ally in the U.S. war on terror, an unpopular decision in the Muslim nation of 160 million. Musharraf’s spokesman Rashid Qureshi said Tuesday the president intends to work with the new government and will serve out his term that expires in 2012 — rejecting opposition calls for him to resign. “The people on Monday didn’t vote to elect a new president,” he said. “In fact, they participated in the elections to elect the new parliament.”
In a sense, this election was almost like a referendum on President Musharraf, and the voters have decisively shown that his being a major factor in the country’s policies and politics should be a thing of the past. What actually happens is something that will roll-out in the next few months.
