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Musharraf, Bhutto, Sharif: self before Pakistan
Published on Sat, Oct 06, 2007 at 21:01 in 
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POWER PLAY: Bhutto went about giving interviews that would help US put pressure on Musharraf.
Other stories in the section:
I have no personal vendetta against Musharraf: Nawaz
CNN-IBN speaks exclusively to PML(N) chief, Nawaz Sharif.
I feel really sorry for the people of Pakistan. What is unfolding there is a complete political sham where every leader has let them down. The events of Saturday’s polls only reinforce that perception. Let’s look at the main dramatis personae.
General Musharraf:
He desperately wants to be Pakistan’s beloved leader, next only to the Quaid (Jinnah). So he’s willing to give up his uniform and consider being an elected civilian president, although at a time of his choosing.
He simply does not have the guts to give up his uniform first and seek an election next. After all, as a man who led a coup, he knows best that real power in Pakistan vests with the Army, of which he is the Chief.
I had the opportunity to watch him in a more than an hour-long interview on Geo TV, a couple of days before election day. He did not show any signs of having changed for the better to transit into being a democrat. And you just couldn’t believe him.
He spoke of how even Nawaz Sharif should benefit from his so-called Ordinance of National Reconciliation. Yet, when it comes out, it does not apply to Nawaz Sharif.
When pressed if he will certainly give up his uniform, he would only say, he will see once he becomes President and anyway, he can keep the post till November 15.
When pressed that the action of the police against the media was very highhanded on the day of filing nominations, he said yes the police are very “stupid” but then what do you expect if people violate orders and block the road up to the election commission?
When asked what was the need to have policemen in plain clothes, with their pockets filled with stones, hurling them at the protesters on that day? He immediately said, yes that is wrong but nevertheless why should a Superintendent of Police’s arm be broken by this unruly mob? He wanted to have his cake and eat it too.
As I have said earlier in another article, he may well become a civilian president, but he certainly won’t be a beloved democrat of the people of Pakistan. It’s a pity the US Government thinks a combination of Musharraf and Benazir would be good.
Benazir Bhutto:
All she wants is that cases against her be dropped. She’s got that with the promulgation of the present Ordinance. Is she truly interested in the transition to democracy in Pakistan as she claims? Certainly doesn’t look like it. Consider what happened on election day:
Her party decides to abstain. Her party members all walk out of the National Assembly, led by the man who is running for President against Gen Musharraf, Makhdoom Fahim. How very convenient. Her party members do not resign, as other opposition parties do. They wait till the eve of polls when the Ordinance is promulgated and then they ‘abstain’. On the face of it, it seems like a protest against Gen Musharraf, but here is the sleight of hand.
If the Supreme Court rules against Gen Musharraf then it’s the second person past the post that will be declared President, as per the constitution. Who will that second person be?
Of the five who are standing, the only other person who is likely to get some amount of votes is the PPP’s Makhdoom Fahim. After all, the PPP has the largest number of seats.
With the abstention of the PPP, neither Fahim nor his cover candidate, Faryal Talpur can come second.
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