The five-year term of the incumbent parliament in Pakistan
completes in March, 2013 and the president’s tenure in September. Preparations are a foot for the next general
elections in May, with a highly regarded ex-chief justice as chief election
commissioner who is committed to holding free and fair elections and a yet to
be announced caretaker government which is anybody’s guess. However, most
serious observers of Pakistani politics are skeptical about the fairness of the
coming election while Mr. Zardari who is also the co-chairman of the ruling
People’s Party and effectively the man who pulls all the strings remains in
office. Unfortunately Mr. Zardari is involved in a money-laundering case in
Switzerland and is cited in a number murder and other criminal cases in
Pakistan which cannot be tried due to presidential immunity. If his party which is extremely unpopular due
to gross miss-governance, rampant corruption, power and fuel shortages and spiraling
inflation over the last five years loses the next election, life may become
very unkind for Mr. Zardari. Anyone in his shoes would try to rig the elections
in favor of his party and there are indications to that effect. The office of
the Federal Ombudsman was kept vacant for the past two and a half years and thousands of complaints against civil servants were allowed to pile
up. Recently a friend of Mr. Zardari who is being tipped as the second or third
most corrupt man in the country has been appointed as Federal Ombudsman. There
is common speculation that he would be used to persuade the erring civil
servants to influence the election results in favor of PP and its allies.
In this backdrop the sudden appearance of the Canadian
resident Pakistani Muslim scholar Dr. Tahirul Qadri and his campaign of a long
march to Islamabad to press for electoral reforms seems to be really an effort
to create circumstances in which Mr. Zardari may be forced to quit the presidency
and allow free and fair elections to be held. One expects considerable turmoil
in the coming weeks but it would be a small price to pay if the desired result
is achieved. If PP wins the next general elections by foul means it may plunge
the country into a bloody and bitter civil war and revolution that may see many
landlord families under the guillotine.
Perhaps the best course would be for Mr. Zardari to resign
voluntarily. If he does that paving the way for free and fair elections,
continuation of democracy and new opportunities for progress and prosperity, the nation may feel grateful to him and forgive and
forget his past actions.
