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| Last gasp? Policemen beat demonstrating lawyers in Lahore on Monday. The number of arrests after Saturday's declaration of
a state of emergency has exceeded 1,000. Mohsin Raza/Reuters |
Key leaders stay silent in Pakistan
Amid protests, Bhutto walks a fine line as she weighs response.
By Shahan Mufti – | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitorand Mark Sappenfield | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
from the November 6, 2007 edition
Page 1 of 2
ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN; and NEW DELHI - Two days after President Pervez Musharraf suspended Pakistan's stuttering transition to democracy by declaring a state of emergency and dismissing most of its Supreme Court, a familiar pattern has set in.
Lawyers who took to the streets were beaten and arrested by the hundreds. Meanwhile, the country's fractured political establishment waits to see what will happen next. It is a similar dynamic to the one that emerged eight months ago, when Mr. Musharraf sought to sack an independent-minded Supreme Court chief justice for his willingness to defy the government.
Then, as now, the organized political opposition has responded with caution and indecision. Yet if opposition leaders such as former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto were to turn the power of their parties to supporting the lawyers, the result could be transformative, experts agree – creating a popular movement that might persuade the Army to depose Musharraf – fearing that he could no longer govern.
But politics in Pakistan has always been personal and sometimes deadly. The threat of jail or even assassination – combined with political leaders' mutual animosities built up over decades of bitter power struggles – has often led to little action.
One leader in Ms. Bhutto's party, Syeda Abida Hussein, says she does not expect Bhutto to act for a week as Bhutto waits for the effects of Musharraf's move to become clearer. "I would not want her to do anything too quickly," she says.
On Monday, Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said that parliamentary elections would be conducted as scheduled before Jan. 15. But virtually the only major political leader who so far remains outside prison is Bhutto.
Bhutto's delicate balancing act
Publicly, she has excoriated Musharraf, characterizing his state of emergency as martial law and claiming that his dictatorial tendencies are only fueling extremism. But privately, the waltz between Musharraf and Bhutto continues – and Bhutto is still considering her options, Ms. Hussein says.
For both, the lure of a union remains – giving Bhutto an avenue to power and Musharraf a means of salvaging some popular legitimacy. The new chief justice is favored by Bhutto, and the Army general who would replace Musharraf if he were ever to drop his position as Army chief, which he holds along with the presidency, is a close ally. "[Musharraf] is making a flat-out effort to create the conditions to make her come to his rescue," says Hussein. Indeed, virtually the only major political leader who escaped the purge is Bhutto. Hussein says she is being told by Musharraf's agents not to move or cause a stir. But other Pakistani political leaders have already leveled damaging charges against Bhutto, claiming that she is colluding with Musharraf.
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