Pakistan’s Recyclable Commodity
RABEA CHAUDHRY
As the effects of global warming force us all to consider more sustainable lifestyles, we should give credit where credit is due and acknowledge Pakistan’s demonstrated commitment to squeezing every last ounce of utility out of even the most expended of resources. After all, last month’s resignation of Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf and the subsequent ascension to power by Benazir Bhutto’s widower, Ali Asif Zardari, serve as proof positive that there is hope for the recycling and reusing of even the most overused, tainted and tarnished political leaders.
Over the past two decades, Pakistan has ousted and reinstated the same marred political leaders in what has amounted to nothing more than a game of Duck Duck Goose played by Pakistan’s Big Three – the Bhuttos, Nawaz Sharif, and Pervez Musharraf. Over and over again the three have engaged in finger-pointing, chasing each other into exile and back again, and massive corruption while threatening the others with charges of treason. Despite the theatrics, political power has remained in the hands of these select, indicted few who have demonstrated that they have no more interest in improving the quality of life of Pakistanis in country than they do of holding themselves or their compatriots accountable for the havoc that they have wreaked on their countrymen.
Zardari will now be leading the same constituency that, not so long ago, pilloried him for reportedly receiving upwards of $100 million from foreign companies doing business in Pakistan while his wife was Prime Minister. Despite spending years in jail on corruption and murder charges, it seems that Pakistan’s People’s Party’s Asif Ali Zardari has been absolved of his past sins and is now trusted by the people of Pakistan to lead the country through the economic, political, social and religious challenges it faces. Fears of Zardari’s mental competence also seem to have been allayed even though earlier this year, while fighting a suit in the UK that was brought against him by Pakistan alleging that he engaged in corruption in his homeland, Zardari relied on medical documents to prove that he suffers from the mental illnesses dementia and post-traumatic stress disorder.
As if Zardari’s criminal record and mental health aren’t enough to cast doubt on whether Zardari is fit to lead a nation on the brink of social and economic collapse, Zardari’s recent refusal to make good on his word to reinstate Pakistan’s judges can be blamed for the falling out of the coalition government. While Nawaz Shareef of the Pakistan Muslim League pushed to bring the judges back as per the terms of the coalition government’s Murree Declaration, Zardari resisted, claiming that a Constitutional amendment was needed first. Although three of the ousted Supreme Court judges have now returned to their posts, Zardari and his party have yet to honor the Declaration and reinstate the remainder of the judges, including ousted Supreme Court Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry. One must wonder if, because of Chaudhry’s public disapproval of then-Prime Minister Musharaf’s agreement to dismiss the long-standing corruption charges against Zardari and his late-wife
Bhutto, Zardari will ever make good on his word to bring Chaudhry back. And, yet again, because of their leader’s own selfish motives and desires to remain unaccountable to the masses, Pakistan’s democracy will be dealt another fatal blow. For a true democracy must honor and preserve its independent judiciary, not punish its judges for taking a stand against the wrongs of their leaders.
The people of Pakistan have suffered for decades at the hands of the same leaders who, turn by turn, have done their part to further devastate the country’s economy and further embolden domestic terrorism. Pakistan needs an effective plan to counter terrorism and restore order to the country. Electing another corrupt politician to office is just not the answer.
As the Big Three have taken turns at the driver’s seat, the Pakistani people have been arrived at places they neither wanted to go nor want to be. There are power shortages, food shortages and fuel shortages undercutting the social stability of Pakistan, the Taliban have stepped up attacks in the country, the tribal areas remain uncontained and dangerous, and the growing presence of American military in Pakistan is further fueling anti-Western sentiments. As this week’s failed assassination attempt on Pakistan’s PM and angry outbursts at the US-led attacks in the Frontier illustrate, the country is closer to erupting into pervasive chaos than it has ever been.
America must guide Pakistan towards palpable, sustainable domestic policies that will finally begin to restore order to the country and begin to counter the growing influence of terrorism in the region. America must do its part to ensure that the Pakistani people never again have to choose another recycled political leader to stand at the helm of their country and lead them through these trying times. Don’t the Pakistani people deserve as much?
Rabea Chaudhry is a Pakistani-American currently serving as the Middle East Program Manager at Democracy Council. She has a BA in Comparative Literature from UC Berkeley and a J.D. from the UCLA School of Law.
