Explaining what is happening in Pakistan, and why, is never easy. Never has it been more difficult than it is now. Talking earlier today to the National Public Radio show Here and Now, it struck me again how difficult it is to articulate any explanation of Pakistan’s politics – not only to non-Pakistani audiences, but to Pakistani audiences too.
Consider the recent news stream. Suicide bomb blasts by extremists kill another 30 in Lahore in yet another dastardly attack. Gen. Musharraf calls the National Assembly to meet on Monday, March 17. Supposedly Nawaz Sharif and Asif Zardari come to an agreement on the government formation but it is no more clear today who the next Prime Minister will be than it was before the meeting. They also insist that they will “restore” the judges but speculations remain rife on just which judges and just how “restored.”
Depending on who you speak to, you are told that Gen. Musharraf is playing games with the parliament by trying to call the opposition’s hand before they have decided on the Prime Minister issue. Others tell you that it is the politicians themselves who are playing games not only with the cat and house of Prime Ministerial candidates but also with the judges and the lawyers movement. Meanwhile, the extremists continue their deadly game of murder and mayhem as they did in Lahore.
At the end of the day the real losers are – as they always are – the people of Pakistan. It is they who suffer the instability. It is they who are killed. It is they who languish in uncertainty. The costs of uncertainty are never trivial, but it becomes particularly horrendous with suicide bombers blowing themselves up.
What is most disturbing and truly dangerous is that as Gen. Musharraf keeps fighting for his personal survival and position and as the politicians keep fumbling in their indicisive daze, it is the extremist forces that stand to gain by playing simultaneously on the citizen’s dislike for Gen. Musharraf and distrust for the main political leaders of our time.
No one is clear on who will rule Pakistan tomorrow. But it is clear that uncertainty rules Pakistan today. And that is not good for anyone except the extremists who seek to destabilize the country and breed anarchy and chaos.
ATP Friends,
I agree these are uncertain times as we are in unchartered territory but I do believe it is important to state again that all of this new renewed hope is a direct result of the sacrifices of the lawyers movement.
I am confident that as a nation and as a people we shall prevail and the judges will be restored and this will usher in a new dawn for a new Pakistan. My post saluting the lawyers movement is worth a read:
http://www.otherpakistan.org/saluting-the-lawyers- movement.html
Feimanallah Pakistan
Wasim
@ zia m
I am very sure this image is very emotionally disturbing. This is what our media and politicians are expert of , They know how to play with emotion of people. But what media and every body need to do is humiliate these extremists 24/7. This might help decrease in the images of babies like the one you saw.
Aaaj jang akhbar mein aik baachi ki tasveer thi.
aap ne bhi dekhi hogi.
uskay zakhmi chaharey ko dekh kar.
mujhe to apni baachi ki shakal nazar aie.
I wonder what has gone wrong with us. There are many who condone violence just because it is done in the name of religion. Whereas, I think if we knew the religion we would condemn it.
I agree with the ultimate statement of this post – that uncertainty currently reigns in Pakistan. In the aftermath of the Lahore bombings, the people took to the streets chanting slogans against Musharraf (one media source noted that one slogan was, “Musharraf is a pimp!”) – how interesting that we can are united against the president of this country (not that it’s not surprising given the stream of events in the last year) but yet cannot unify to say one word against the terrorists that committed such atrocities? I understand the polarization of perceptions against Mush, believe me, but in our effort to get him out of power, we have turned a blind eye to the crux of the security problem. For militants viewing the aftermath of the blasts – the slogans against Musharraf is a victory for them – they want to breed instability, and more importantly, they, too, want this leader out of power.
Has Mush visited any of the blast sites yet?