Word: musharraf
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President Pervez Musharraf lifted Pakistan's state of emergency Saturday, but the move was less momentous than it sounded: leading members of the judiciary remain under house arrest, restrictions on reporters are still in place, and the country is headed for an early January poll that many opposition activists and political observers fear will be rigged. Musharraf declared emergency rule six weeks ago, just as the Supreme Court was about to decide whether his election to another term as President was legal. The President, who came to power in a bloodless military coup in 1999 and finally stood down...
...unified support from the opposition, a boycott by Sharif's party would have been meaningless. On Sunday, Sharif acceded to that reality. He said that he has decided to fight the system from within: "We came to the realization that we must participate in the elections to block Mr. Musharraf's unconstitutional actions...
...first glance this seems to be a victory for Musharraf, who can now claim that January's elections are legitimized by nearly full party participation (several smaller parties, including that of Imran Khan, another politician with premier ambitions, have not yet decided if they will contest). But now Musharraf's smaller party, which split off from the Muslim League when Musharraf overthrew Sharif in 1999's bloodless coup, faces serious competition from both the Bhutto's People's Party of Pakistan and Sharif's party, which have wide national support...
...Musharraf cannot afford less than a landslide for his party; otherwise he risks facing an opposition in parliament that could invalidate his extra-constitutional declaration of emergency rule. At the very least a two-thirds majority could unseat him. A two-thirds majority in parliament could also call for the reinstatement of the original Supreme Court, which Sharif says is his party's primary goal. That reconstituted high court could then rule that Musharraf contravened the constitution by dismissing the judges in the first place and declaring emergency. And, what is most worrisome for Musharraf, working outside the constitution...
Given what is at stake for Musharraf, few in Pakistan believe that the upcoming elections will be free and fair. But even if they are, talk-show host Haq has little faith that the parties would be able to unite to oust Musharraf. "No one will have the majority to be able to do this," she says. "It calls for tremendous amounts of integrity and political will, which I see lacking in all political parties." But with Sharif now in it, the Pakistani political drama is making for a challenging game of chess for Musharraf...