To polls

With the court having finally dismissed the last petition against General Musharraf8217;s presidential election...

With the court having finally dismissed the last petition against General Musharraf8217;s presidential election The Daily Times, November 23, and with seven amendments giving his emergency legal cover DT, November 22, the stage is set for him to give up the post of army chief. The question of the week was therefore: would Pakistan8217;s political parties boycott the elections announced for early January? Imran Khan8217;s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf has announced a boycott. Nawaz Sharif8217;s PML8217;s strategy will be clearer when he returns, as per reports, to Pakistan. There is still no confirmation on what may have transpired during Musharraf8217;s discussions with the Saudi authorities during his visit to the kingdom. According to Dawn, November 22, 8220;The visit set off a whirlwind of speculation that President Musharraf intended either to reach out to Sharif, or request the Saudi authorities to prolong his exile.8221; But Benazir Bhutto said her PPP candidates would file their nomination papers 8220;under protest as we don8217;t want to give a walkover to our opponents8221; Dawn, Friday.

In his Friday Times editorial, Najam Sethi emphasised the need for the opposition to contest elections, no matter what concerns they may have over the fairness of the poll process: 8220;If the elections are massively rigged, the opposition can always refuse to accept its results and boycott parliament, which would amount to the same thing as having boycotted the polls in the first place, with much the same critical consequences. But if the results are satisfactory, they can take on General Musharraf in the court of the people when he applies for indemnity from the next parliament. If they can muster a two-thirds majority among themselves, they could impeach him. If they can8217;t, they could extract a free judiciary and a free press at the very least in exchange for indemnity. In that way, they could live to fight another day in the most democratic and popular of all ways. We can8217;t afford to allow cold-blooded logic to be drowned out by passionate outrage.8221;

After the emergency

The Daily Times on Friday, meanwhile, worried about the implications of those seven amendments. 8220;The amendments lock the system set up under Emergency in place in such a way that he doesn8217;t need the Emergency any more8230; Why has he done that? He wants to clear the bill of demands sent in by the Commonwealth: removal of emergency, civilianisation of the presidency after resigning as the COAS, holding of elections on the due date, and restoration of the freedom of the media and human rights. This is also the roster of demands from the rest of the world. And this may be about to be fulfilled in letter if not in spirit.8221; Therefore: 8220;The United States and countries of the Commonwealth have to think up new 8216;conditionalities8217; to nail General Musharraf. They could consult with the opposition parties in Pakistan and demand that he leave the scene and hand over the country to a 8216;national government8217; after restoring the pre-PCO Supreme Court. But from the way President Bush has made his latest 8216;assessment8217; of the character of General Musharraf, and the way the Commonwealth looks at the situation in Pakistan, this may not happen.8221;

Death of a Baloch

A day later, the circumstances of the death of Baloch nationalist leader Nawabzada Mir Balach Khan Marri remained unclear, Dawn reported on Friday. 8220;His elder brother Nawabzada Mir Gazeen Marri has said that Mir Balach may have been temporarily buried at a secret place. He also did not name the place where his brother had been killed. However, spokesman for the banned Baloch Liberation Army Beebrag Baloch, who had informed the media about the death of Balach, claimed that he had been killed in the Marri area.8221; The Baloch government, however, said the incident did not take place in Pakistan, leading to speculation that he may have been killed in Afghanistan. The Daily Times reported that Balochistan had shut down both in protest and as a precautionary measure. In its editorial, The News noted that given the unrest that followed the death last year of Nawab Akbar Bugti, it is important that the feeling of alienation in Balochistan be immediately addressed. 8220;It is ironical,8221; commented Dawn, 8220;that leaders such as Bugti and Marri have taken part in elections 8212; obviously under the umbrella of the Federation of Pakistan 8212; won handsomely and entered the assemblies and yet found the environment such that they chose to abandon electoral politics.8221;