Deal markers

It8217;s a 8220;deal8221; not everyone is still admitting to. On Friday, Dawn reported from Faisalabad: 8220;President Gen Pervez Musharraf has ruled out any deal or power-sharing with the Pakistan People8217;s Party

It8217;s a 8220;deal8221; not everyone is still admitting to. On Friday, Dawn reported from Faisalabad: 8220;President Gen Pervez Musharraf has ruled out any deal or power-sharing with the Pakistan People8217;s Party, saying it will be the rival of the ruling PML in the general elections8230; The president said he would be re-elected president in uniform as the constitution allowed him.8221; A day earlier the paper carried a report from New York of Benazir Bhutto8217;s talk midweek at the Council on Foreign Relations: 8220;Saying that she has staked her political future in holding talks with President Musharraf, Bhutto asked the general to put in place necessary reforms to hold free, fair and transparent elections.8221;

To put all this in context, on Friday, a Daily Times editorial alluded to a recent BBC poll in which Nawaz Sharif was named Pakistan8217;s most popular leader, followed by Z.A. Bhutto and then Benazir. The newspaper8217;s Ejaz Haider wrote in an accompanying analysis: 8220;Benazir Bhutto may be about to pay a heavy price for doing the right thing within the current context. Here8217;s why. The opposition blames her for breaking ranks and giving a new lease of life to General Musharraf; people think she is dialoguing to get the cases against her husband and herself quashed; her own party increasingly thinks she has played the wrong hand; and, for going to all this trouble, what might she get: Musharraf may be about to cut the ground from under her feet.8221; He writes that while Bhutto has distanced herself from extremist elements in the opposition in an effort to bridge the civil-military divide, 8220;Musharraf appears to think that he has scored a victory over the PPP by getting Bhutto to break away from the opposition without having to give her anything in return.8221;

Sharif, meanwhile, scored an early legal victory on Thursday. The Supreme Court turned down a request from the government that it adjourn proceedings on the petitions of Nawaz and Shahbaz Sharif for their return to Pakistan to participate in elections. Daily Times, August 17.

How much democracy?

August 14 was Pakistan8217;s independence day and editorials took stock of the past 60 years as reflected in today8217;s political crossroads. In The News: 8220;Many think that to demand democracy is a more abstract line of thinking and hence not of much utility when over half the population has no access to clean drinking water or sanitation. However, this is a dangerous argument because it overlooks and brushes aside the strong link between better governance and democracy. A government that is representative in nature and operating in a dispensation where free and fair elections are held on time and where the military guards the frontiers and does not itself indulge in politics or become a key corporate player in the economy can be held accountable by voters and hence will be more receptive to the needs of

the electorate.8221;

In Dawn: 8220;If at all Gen Musharraf wants to give a gift to the people of Pakistan celebrating the 60th anniversary of their country8217;s independence, it should be unfettered democracy in the form of a truly free and fair election later this year.8221;

The Daily Times, however, struck a cautionary note: 8220;Pakistan must not become internationally isolated and Pakistan must fight terrorism growing out of its political-ideological mismatch in areas where the writ of the state is either non-existent or weak. Democracy is predicated on a normally running state, not on a state where constant loss of territory actually mandates war, not normal governance. In the days ahead our political leaders need to tread carefully in their march towards democratic rule.8221;

Fun and wheelies

In an editorial on August 16, Dawn shed light on Lahoris8217; unique way of marking the anniversary of independence: 8220;It is common for motorcyclists to remove the silencers from their bikes and speed up and down roads doing 8216;wheelies8217; or just being loud.8221; The human cost this year: at least five persons died and another 180 were injured. But the editorial was empathetic: 8220;A certain amount of caution needs to be exercised. For example, must drag races occur at major road junctions late at night, especially as these cause so much noise pollution and hazards?8230; Authorities need to ask what else people can do to celebrate this, and other, holidays and more importantly how to encourage fun within reasonable limits. Restricting celebrations to certain rituals is not an option, for people will then go all out to find ways to do whatever they are being prevented from doing.8221;