Pakistan survives a crisis

What happened

Pakistan’s fragile government avoided a widespread political revolt this week when President Asif Ali Zardari reinstated the nation’s former chief justice following several days of boisterous demonstrations. Zardari was also under mounting criticism over tactics he used to suppress the anti-government marches and rallies, including hundreds of arrests and tight restrictions on political gatherings. Zardari’s decision to reinstate the popular judge, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, “brought Pakistan back from the brink,” said U.S. State Department spokesman Robert Wood.

Zardari assumed the presidency of the nuclear-armed nation in September and pledged to reinstate Chaudhry, who was dismissed two years ago by then-ruler Pervez Musharraf. When Zardari reneged on that promise, his main political rival, Nawaz Sharif, led the nationwide protest. The latest developments suggest that Sharif, who has been barred from seeking office because of past corruption charges, may be mounting a political comeback. Analysts also said that Pakistan’s powerful military may be losing patience with Zardari, widower of the assassinated former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

What the editorials said

Zardari has been humiliated, said The Economist—an outcome “for which he is mostly to blame.” Zardari has long feared that Chaudhry “would undo all Musharraf’s edicts”—including one that gave Zardari amnesty for his own corruption charges. Now that he has been forced to reinstate Chaudhry, the pressure to strip Zardari of the “swollen” powers he inherited from Musharraf will likely only increase. All this “messy business” suggests that Pakistan’s pause from chaos is “likely to be brief.”

It could’ve been worse, said The Boston Globe. Diplomatic efforts by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and special envoy Richard Holbrooke salvaged a treacherous situation. “Still, it would be a mistake for the Obama administration to place too much faith in Zardari or Sharif,” both of whom have reputations for corruption “on a titanic scale.” The U.S. would be better off trying to advance such principles in Pakistan as “democratic legitimacy, rule of law, and pluralism”—which hold the most promise “to save Pakistan from radical instability.”

What the columnists said

The unpopular Zardari has been “a colossal disaster,” said Barbara Crossette in The Nation. Sharif’s victory—“leading a huge, enthusiastic march against the president toward Pakistan’s capital”—has put him firmly in the driver’s seat of Pakistani politics. Pakistani moderates now fear that Sharif, a less secular figure than Zardari, may seek to expand his base by reaching out to Islamic parties—an ominous prospect.

The focus on Zardari and Sharif misses the most crucial point, said Sahar Shafqat in the Baltimore Sun. We’ve just witnessed the emergence of “Pakistan’s most important pro-democracy movement in a generation.” Democracy is essential if Pakistan is to succeed in its fight against extremists and establish the rule of law. This is where “the battle for the soul of Pakistan is being fought,” with Pakistan’s brave lawyers, who mobilized for Chief Justice Chaudhry, in the lead. “On their side are truth, justice—and, I hope, the American people.”

Tragically, though, democracy in Pakistan is hanging by a thread, said Patrick French in The New York Times. The government has already effectively ceded control of the Swat Valley, just 100 miles from Islamabad, to the Taliban. “Sharia law has been imposed, allowing elderly clerics to dictate the daily lives of the Swati people.” The rest of the country is sliding toward anarchy, as Islamic extremists, “seeking to destroy Pakistan as a nation-state,” gain ground. The only way out of this disaster is for Sharif and Zardari “to unite with progressive elements inside the army, and to recognize the real and immediate danger of the Islamist threat.” Otherwise, Pakistan “risks becoming a nuclear-armed Afghanistan.”

What next?

Zardari lost not only face but power in capitulating to Sharif and the protests, most analysts say. And with a weakened president, an emboldened opposition leader, and a violent insurgency at its doorstep, Pakistan’s stability appears increasingly at risk. “There’s a strong desire to do whatever we can to help Pakistan combat the Taliban and al Qaida,” said Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy. “But if Pakistan is in such a state of internal political turmoil that U.S. aid can’t be used effectively, that’s going to limit what can be done, and also how successful we are in Afghanistan.”