Pak media laments the state of ‘bleeding democracy’

Pak SC order barring PML-N leaders Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif from contesting polls has drawn sharp reaction from Pak media.

Pakistan Supreme Court order barring PML-N leaders Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif from contesting polls has struck a major blow to the democratic process and set the stage for a confrontation that the country can ill afford,the country’s leading newspapers said on Thursday.

“One year after democracy was ushered in and stood before a wondering public,its battered body has been wheeled into the hospital,bleeding from any number of wounds,” The News daily said in an editorial titled ‘Instability Rules’.

“We are back in the territory we were in,in the early nineties,and with many of the same figures on stage. The hope that was there a year ago has faded… and the potential for significant civil disruption is lurking close by… RIP,democracy. It was good while it lasted,” the edit said.

The apex court barred former premier Nawaz Sharif for contesting polls and set aside his brother Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharifs election.

Under the judgement,both brothers cannot hold public office. Hours after the court’s ruling,President Asif Ali Zardari imposed Governor’s Rule in the politically crucial Punjab province.

The News said the decision to declare Sharif brothers ineligible for contesting polls was “almost a foregone conclusion” and that the next month would be a difficult month for the Pakistan People’s Party-led federal government.

“Almost within minutes of the announcement of the decision,rioting was reported right across the country,and Pakistan once again wades in the murky waters of political instability. That elusive goal of inter-provincial harmony will also come no nearer in the wake of all this,” the editorial said.

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It said the court’s order could cause a “now inevitable showdown” between the PPP and its allies and the PML-N as well as friction between the President and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani,who is perceived as having close to Shahbaz Sharif in recent days.

“March is going to be a difficult month for a government which has seen its popularity slide. The personal ratings of the president have not merely slid; they have fallen through the floor. If ever there was a wrong time for a fight-to-the death by the country’s two leading political parties,this is it,” the editorial said.

The influential Dawn newspaper,in its editorial,described the court’s judgement as another “dubious” addition “to the annals of Pakistan’s grim judicial history”.

“The grounds for the Sharifs’ disqualification were laid by a dictator and no one with an iota of common sense could accept that Pervez Musharraf was trying to uphold the rule of law or some elevated principle of justice by shutting the Sharif brothers out of electoral politics,” it said.