Word: gilani
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...party have defected to Sharif's faction, and Bhutto's PPP is also fracturing over the prospect of supporting Musharraf. Even with Bhutto's backing, it is no longer certain that Musharraf could muster the votes to retain the presidency. "He is in a shoestring situation," says Iftikhar Gilani, the former Law Minister under Bhutto. "He needs each vote, and he doesn't have a clear majority. Once he starts counting the votes, he will realize that he will not have enough, and will have to stand down...
...more than a U.S. stooge. Meanwhile, support for Bhutto's party, the Pakistan People's Party, has been weakened by the revelation that she is contemplating a deal. "We are all exasperated. She was a symbol of democratic values, of decent values, of political and religious moderation," says Iftikhar Gilani, a Law Minister under Bhutto. "Benazir has lost credibility because of this deal with a dictator." So a pairing could end up weakening both sides rather than strengthening them...
...return would give Pakistanis angry with Musharraf an easy way to register a protest against him and his foreign backers. "They [the U.S.] can't gain anything by salvaging a dictator; there is no credible political party that supports Musharraf," says the PML-N's Iqbal. Or as Iftikhar Gilani, Senior Advocate of the Supreme Court and former Law Minister under Bhutto puts it: "I am angry at this attitude of the Americans. Of course we want good government, but it should be one of our choosing. They shouldn't be saying this name, that name, this is the good...
...Chief Justice was not above the law. Instead it unleashed outrage against the military. "That frame, of the Chief Justice sitting in front of the general, did for Pakistan what the Tiananmen Square photo of the boy standing before the tank did for China," says former Law Minister Iftikhar Gilani. "Almost every Pakistani has seen that image, and it has become a symbol of defiance against military rule...
...Pakistan," says Aitzaz Ahsan, Chaudhry's lead counsel. But many consider it unlikely that the President will back down. Islamabad these days is permeated by fear that martial law will be declared. "My worry is that [Musharraf] is about to do something really silly and really dangerous," says Gilani. Musharraf "has now developed a larger-than-life self-image," adds Iqbal. "He thinks that he is Pakistan's destiny." Certainly he was once seen as the savior of the country for taking power in a time of upheaval. Maybe Musharraf can secure that legacy by allowing democracy to be restored...