Pakistan at the mercy of marching lawyers

Pakistan is engulfed in its own version of the Long March, and just as that pivotal event changed the face of China in the mid-1930s, Pakistan's political landscape could be significantly altered, as could that of its neighbor Afghanistan. Thousands of black-suited lawyers gathered for the beginning of a country-wide protest that is scheduled to finish outside parliament in the capital Islamabad.
The bottom line for the protests is to rid the country of all American assets, including Musharraf, the liberal and secular government headed by the Pakistan People's Party-led (PPP)coalition, and the Chief of Army Staff, General Ashfaq Parvez Kiani.

The protests began as a move to have more than 40 members of the judiciary, sacked by President Pervez Musharraf last year, reinstated, but have evolved into a direct challenge to Musharraf's position and into antagonism towards his backer, the UnitedStates. The driving force behind the protests is the country's premier Islamic party, the Jamaat-e-Islami, and the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz group)of former premier Nawaz Sharif.

The move to oust Musharraf and reduce American influence was started by Islamist sections in the armed forces when retired Squadron Leader Khalid Khawaja and a long-time friend of Bin Laden recently filed an application to register a police case against Musharraf over the Lal Masjid incident. The court has accepted the petition for hearing and Khalid Khawaja believes that once Musharraf steps down as president, the application will be activated and he will stand trial.

At the same time, military chief Kiani, considered to be Washington's most trusted man after Musharraf, is clearly unable to position himself in favor of the "war on terror" and he seems completely overwhelmed by the emerging anti-American trends in the military. These have frozen all anti-Taliban operations in the tribal areas and, despite NATO's complaint that the military is actively facilitating cross-border movement of the Taliban, Kiani has been unable to do anything about it.

The lawyer-led protests will provide al-Qaeda with the perfect opportunity to strike, further raising the political and security temperature in the already simmering country. Economic woes add to this potent brew. A deepening power crisis could end in riots in the southern port city of Karachi. The Pakistani rupee is at its lowest against the US dollar in the history of the country and the Karachi Stock Exchange is at its lowest in nine months. Pakistan's march is indeed going to be a long and arduous one. Syed Saleem Shahzad is Asia Times Online's Pakistan Bureau Chief. He can be reached at saleem_shahzad2002@yahoo.com (Copyright 2008 Asia Times Online (Holdings) Ltd. All rights reserved. Please contact us about sales, syndication and republishing.)