Adil Najam
Since yesterday the “I” word – impeachment – has begun to be thrown around a lot.
Some quarters seem to think that it just happen this time. Others suggest that it is more talk than action and the numbers needed to pull this are still not there.
Coming out of the “critical” Nawaz Sharif-Asif Zardari meetings one keeps wondering how much of this is an effort to keep the coalition going and how much is a real push to change the essential political equations of Pakistan. There are reports that Gen. Musharraf is taking this move seriously enough to cancel his trip to China (to attend the Olympics opening ceremony). On the other hand some of Gen. Musharraf’s supporters are claiming that no such cancellation has happened. We do know, however, that he is taking this challenge seriously and lining up his supporters.
All in all, there is too much noise to say what is happening. But something is clearly happening. Does the PPP-PML(N) have the numbers they need to go ahead? Does the President have the numbers he needs to stop it? And what of all the external actors and where they may lean, why and for what?
Interestingly, we had run a ATP Poll back in June asking you what you thought would have happened to Gen. Musharraf by October 2008? The majority (38%) had thought that he would be impeached by then. A significant number (31%) thought that by October 2008 we woudl be still muddling through as we are now.
We do not intend to open the Poll again, but it does seem that either of those two answers could turn out to be true again. Indeed, even our earlier Poll on the subject, from October 2007, may still be relevant in its results!
So, since we can’t make full sense of exactly what all of this adds up to, we thought we woudl ask our best source: You. What do you think? What is happening? What might happen? And why?
I really do not liek Zardari. But the fact is that this government was elected and it deserves a chance to finish its term. If they do badly, like I think they will, then let people vote them out. But the term of elected govt has to be completed.
@Ahmad,
I think Musharraf should have resigned after Feb 18 as his coalition party could not get public mandate. But we know, a person who comes to power with coup hardly thinks about the democratic norms. Yet we expect, these norms from the parties who believe in democratic process.
Ahmed Shadid
The current govt doesnt even have an economic minister or an economic policy, the result is that the economy is degenerating. Is that Mr Musharraf’s fault or that of the last eight years?
A page from my diary. Let me share it with you guys.
Today I am really sad of the experience I had with the Pakistani politician and the first family of Pakistan.. Since I started my internship in Embassy of Pakistan in Washington DC I was really excited that I will got to see the PM of our nation. Because I think that it is a honor to meet the Prim Minister . But all excitement ended when I got to see the real face of our leaders. It started with the strange experience when Senator Khawaja Came in our camp office really mad because the officer have put his name in wrong place in the hand book. He wanted the person to be fired because he said that the last government have done a lot of injustice to him, and now we are ignoring him too. He yelling at us the same way Pakistani people treat their servant. I don
Reading some of the comments here, from all side, has been disappointing. Its like the crap you find on YouTube or some of the other blogs by people just misbehaving and calling each other names. I hope that ATP will not let this continue. It will not force the more thoughtful readers go away. For many of us we come here every day as much for the regular commenters and their intellectual comments and ideas as we do for the posts. So, please, do not let these shouting types crowd out the people and ideas that makes this our home away from home.