Change it is

Democracy has its own way of taking revenge as it happened after emergency in India...

8226;Democracy has its own way of taking revenge as it happened after emergency in India and now in Pakistan, where the PPP and PMLN have made a winning combination against the king8217;s party, PMLQ. Hopefully, the two parties will learn a lesson or two from India, where the principles of coalition dharma have been well enunciated. Our Election Commission should emulate the way Pakistan has been able to declare results well within 24 hours after the elections were over with paper ballots, while our election process holds the functioning of the states in limbo for two to three months.

8212; Raghubir Singh

Pune

Wary days ahead

8226;The people8217;s mandate in Pakistan has decisively gone against Pervez Musharraf and his rule. But, it is too early to say that things are smooth and settled. Pakistan8217;s history tells us that irrespective of whether it is a military regime or a civilian one, the army has all along played a decisive role. Since the PPP and PML-N and like-minded parties can muster a two-thirds majority to impeach Musharraf, the army chief, Ashfaq Kayani, a Musharraf appointee, may well step in to bail him out. Any such attempt to sabotage the people8217;s mandate would have disastrous consequences and even the pre-poll warnings of a civil war may come true.

Instead of trying to still stick to power, Musharraf should step down on his own to spare himself the embarrassment of impeachment.

It is in their own interest that Musharraf and Kayani facilitate smooth transition of power to the people8217;s elected representatives and let the new parliament set right the wrongs Musharraf has done to the constitution and the institutions and elect a legitimate president.

8212; M.C. Joshi

Lucknow

Many more tasks

8226;Your editorial 8216;More than Musharraf8217; together with Ejaz Haider8217;s and Hussain Haqqani8217;s articles made excellent reading. Yes, wonders never cease, and that is what Pakistan8217;s electorate did. Democracy has made a grand entry into Pakistan. As Haqqani so eloquently put it, 8220;In its 60 years of independence, Pakistan has never changed its government through an election.8221;

Now the tough challenges for the two principal winners. Their agendas, post-election, must converge on such basic issues as restoration of the judiciary, which, in other words, is to reinstate the sacked judges of the supreme court and the high courts so that there is an independent judiciary breathing free. Then, there is the terrorism from Al-Qaeda and the Taliban, which have been sustained by the current military regime, forgetting that they have played havoc with the lives of ordinary people, besides claiming the life of Benazir Bhutto.

8212; M.K.D. Prasada Rao

Ghaziabad

Time up, dictators

8226; This is Pakistan8217;s best chance to establish democracy, which would be in the country8217;s interest if it is to march towards progress and sanity. A democratic set-up in Pakistan would also help India maintain peace with our hostile neighbours and improve relations in the coming years. The US is more comfortable with Musharraf at the helm, he being a White House puppet all these years. Democratic nations around the world should see to it that democracy returns to Pakistan and dictators have no place in today8217;s world.

8212; S.N. Kabra

Mumbai