Mr Nayyer Ali’s observations are quite accurate. Even though I would like to add that it was not only the political parties that took part in this anti-Musharraf movement, but the lawyers (or politically motivated lawyers) also chanted anti-Musharraf slogans and turned it into an anti-Musharraf movement.
The rhetoric after the verdict has been interesting and slightly confusing even if we only consider the CJ’s core legal team. Aitzaz Ahsan joined the CJ at his residence to congratulate him and said that it was a big blow to the dictatorship while Munir A Malik said that he would have no contact with the CJ since he was now the CJ and not his client. However, Ali Ahmed Kurd said that he would have no contact with the CJ as lawyers and the judiciary were to maintain a professional relationship, but also said that they would continue the struggle to bring Musharraf down.
Different people had different reasons to join in this movement, but as Mr Ali rightly points out most Pakistanis were in this so as to see the judiciary establish its independence and to see a military ruler bow down in front of the rule of law for the first time. Once that was done they started celebrating, not as if a battle had been won, but rather as if a war had ended.
It is interesting in this whole episode to examine exactly what were the key priorities of the public. Clearly, there was a massive groundswell of support for the independence of the Supreme Court and for freedom of the media, but when the political parties have tried to extend this into an anti-Musharraf movement they have been remarkably unsuccessful. It appears to me that the public wants an impartial judiciary and a free press, but they do not trust the politicians enough to want Musharraf gone. The public is willing to accept Musharraf in power as long as he is constrained by judges and media. In this there is an opening for Musharraf to survive this episode.
It is paradoxical, but the political errors that Musharraf made, first the dismissal of the CJ, and second the attack on the private TV stations, have vastly strengthened the two pillars of a real democracy, far beyond anything else he or any politician could have done. He deserves credit for accepting defeat in these two areas (and he had already signaled a few weeks ago that the CJ would be reinstated).
Nayyer Ali
Photo Credit: Sabir’s Cartoon taken from DailyTimes.com.pk of July 21 2007. The other two images have been taken from flickr.com and are by *abro*
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