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Journalism of Courage
Pakistan had been so fearful about how election day this week would turn out that it is dangerously easy now to slip into a countdown to the country8217;s immense challenges. Pakistan, and all those around the world keenly scanning the results, need to stay with this moment a considerable while. Tomorrow will bring a roster of questions about government formation, its agenda, possibly its limitations. To negotiate them, the new federal and provincial governments could return to the democratic triumph today to spot the ingredient that makes them better endowed to lead Pakistan than their predecessors. This has been by all accounts one of Pakistan8217;s freest and fairest elections. By that virtue alone, the next government in Islamabad will have unique legitimacy. The men and women in the regime 8212; as too other centres of the power establishment 8212; must remember this. And those worldwide with a perceived stake in Pakistan8217;s stability must celebrate it.
The erstwhile opposition parties 8212; the Bhutto clan8217;s PPP, the Sharifs8217; PML, and the mohajir MQM 8212; have predictably done well. The politics of Pakistan is now firmly with Asif Zardari and Nawaz Sharif. As our columnist points out, they will have to apply themselves to making the cohabitation work. But the obverse side of their probably difficult cohabitation is the rout of all the president8217;s men. Most spectacularly, the kingmaker of the Musharraf years, Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, has lost his election. Musharraf perhaps erred tactically in predicting on election eve the victory of his political allies. Or perhaps the utterance was Freudian. He knows it is he who was up for a vote on February 18. Coming days will demand for Pakistan8217;s sake an order of grace and humility from him that he has so far shown no evidence of possessing.
