Pakistan: chequered progress

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Despite his success at coalition building, Mr Zardari has lamentably failed to improve governance, with gas and electricity shortages, and inflation. 

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | UK Desk
Source/Credit: The Guardian | UK
By Editorial | April 7, 2013

Next month's elections in Pakistan signal progress for the country. Alas the good news peters out there
 
Take the long view, and there is progress to be found in the fact that elections are taking place in Pakistan on 11 May. It will be the first transfer of power from one democratically elected civilian government to another in the 65-year history of the country. Further, the frontrunner to become prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, is now committed to the idea of keeping the military out of politics. In opposition, he allowed the deeply unpopular Pakistan People's party (PPP) government to live out its full mandate. The likely loser, Asif Ali Zardari, who as serving president cannot campaign as leader of his party, has proved to be an adept transitional leader. Under him, there has been no political victimisation, and parliamentary political culture is the stronger for it.

Alas, the good news peters out there. Strong winds of religious conservatism are blowing among political stakeholders. Pakistan's self-propelled judiciary has taken upon itself the task of weeding out political candidates by applying two controversial provisions of the constitution, whereby candidates have to be righteous, truthful and good Muslims. As there is no agreed way of verifying this, some candidates have been given the Orwellian task of reciting prayers as proof of religious belief. Arbitrary hurdles are also erected by applying a Pervez Musharraf-era clause whereby holders of office must hold a degree.

Punjab's provincial government, controlled by Mr Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), has also had a less than glorious record with Islamist militant groups, on whom the PML-N depends for its seats. A pogrom on a Christian neighbourhood in Lahore on 9 March was triggered by allegations of blasphemy against one man. The PML-N has also been accused of making cynical electoral deals with a Sunni extremist group, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, thought to be responsible for the bombing of apartment blocks in Karachi that killed 48. The PML-N's counter argument is that only it can deal with the militants. We will see. Further still to the extremes, the Pakistani Taliban have overtly sought to influence the outcome of the election, by declaring that election rallies of the PPP, the Pashtun nationalist ANP, and the Karachi-based MQM are legitimate targets for attack.

The playing field is far from level. Even so, the PPP deserves a period in opposition. Despite his success at coalition building, Mr Zardari has lamentably failed to improve governance, with gas and electricity shortages, and inflation. Paradoxically, his best hope lies in Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, which is competing for votes on Sharif's home turf. But the fear is that an inconclusive result will leave a weak coalition – democratically elected but unable to take decisions needed to improve life for the majority of the people.

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