14 February 2008 Edition

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INTERNATIONAL : Ruling Musharraf party's support at all-time low

Pakistan goes to the polls

IT IS expected that general elections will be held in Pakistan on 18 February 2008 but this is an election that nearly wasn’t. In last November, and in the middle of a constitutional crisis and state of emergency declared by Pakistan’s president, Pervez Musharraf, elections were ‘on the back burner’ with no date set. Five days later, on 8 November, Musharraf announced the election would be held by 15 February. Then, the Pakistani president changed his mind again, and suggested 8 January. After the killing of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, at a rally on 27 December, the Election Commission announced that the election would be postponed till 18 February.
So, finally, the time has come. However, the campaign has not so much been characterised by political statements as for increasing violence. As an example, on 9 February, a suicide bomber killed at least 25 people inside a hall where about 200 supporters of the Awami National Party – a secular, ethnic Pashtun group – had gathered in the town of Charsadda in the turbulent North-West Frontier province
In the past year, Pakistan has suffered its worst violence since the riots that followed its founding in 1947. In the past six months, it has gone from one political and constitutional crisis to another, none of which may find a solution in the elections. Suicide bombings, insurgency in the west, the lawyers’ protests, the legal challenge to the regime’s legitimacy, the killing of Benazir Bhutto – these are some of the expressions of the political and social instability of Pakistan.
Among all this mess, Musharraf remains the favourite option for Western leaders. US President George W Bush, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown want to see him win. Their support has been essential in presenting an image of modernity in control that has quickly faded to reveal the problems that his regime has not managed to solve. His strike against the country’s former allies, the Taliban, has opened an Islamic war from within Pakistan. His economic reforms have failed to improve the lives of the majority of Pakistan’s population.
Though media reports maintain he has not succumbed to monetary corruption, he is another victim of the kind of corruption that makes leaders want to remain leaders even when his people do not want him anymore.
His hold to power has meant that he has become deeply unpopular. He has been accused of planning Bhutto’s death, rigging the elections in advance and of turning a blind eye to the Taliban insurgency in the country.
His standing further deteriorated in the wake of his action against the Supreme Court, whose Chief Justice he fired when it became clear they were blocking his aspiration to remain in power. When the charges he brought against the Chief Justice were dismissed by a panel of 13 judges – including five he had personally hand-picked – he declared a national emergency and fired another 60 judges of various superior courts. When lawyers protested, he arrested their leaders. TV stations were closed and only allowed to reopen after signing a ‘code of conduct’.
His struggle to remain in power has brought Musharraf to alliances that are not very comfortable for his Western allies. His actions have lost him civil society support, so he relies on the military, feudal politicians and friendly fundamentalists. This is why the United States and Britain were banking – and pushing – for an alliance between Musharraf and Bhutto that would have seen the former remain as president while the latter would have taken the position of prime minister. Bhutto’s death has not only ended this ‘dream ticket’ for the West but has made impossible any alliance between the late Bhutto’s party and Musharraf’s.
Political commentators in Pakistan and the US believe that if the election is not rigged, Musharraf’s party will do badly.
A US-based poll showed that 75 per cent of respondents wanting Musharraf to immediately resign.
His Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid party trails far behind the country’s other main parties with only 14 per cent support. Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party led with 50 per cent, followed by fellow opposition leader Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz with 22 per cent.
Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party – now led by her widower, Asif Ali Zardari – may be leading a National Assembly run by opposition parties. This may turn Musharraf’s hold on power even more violent and repressive.

 

 News in Brief

Basque ex-MEP arrested

ANOTHER good friend of Ireland, Herri Batasuna’s former MEP, Karmelo Landa, has been arrested by Spanish police in the Basque Country.
His was one of the fourteen warrants issued by Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzón against Basque pro-independence activists. Garzón has also banned the activities of two Basque pro-independence parties, ANV and EHAK, despite the Supreme Court’s opposition to such a move.

East Timor president shot by rebels

JOSE Ramos-Horta, East Timor’s president, has been taken to Australia for emergency treatment after he was wounded by rebels in a pre-dawn attack on his home in Dili, the country’s capital, on Monday, 11 February.
On his arrival in Darwin, he underwent surgery and is now in an induced coma. He is reported to be still critical but in a stable condition.
Xanana Gusmao, East Timor’s prime minister, has declared a state of emergency for 48 hours, with a curfew to be imposed.

US sniper jailed for killing civilian

A US ARMY sniper has been sentenced to 10 years in jail for killing an unarmed Iraqi civilian and then planting a gun on his body.
At a court martial on a US base near Baghdad’s airport on Sunday, 10 February, Sergeant Evan Vela was found guilty of murder and making false official statements.
He had admitted shooting Genei Nasir al-Janabi after he stumbled upon the hiding place of Vela and his colleagues during an operation last May near the town of Iskandariyah, 40km south of Baghdad.

Chad refuses Darfur refugees

CHAD has refused to accept any new refugees from neighbouring Sudan’s Darfur region.
Prime Minister Nouradine Coumakoye threatened to expel refugees if the international community does not send them home or find them a new host country.
“We can’t allow more refugees to come and create problems for us,” he said. “Let the international community, which is so soft on [Sudanese President] Omar Hassan al-Bashir seek another country to shelter them.”


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