Pakistani Prime Minister Gilani’s announcement restoring the deposed Chief Justice of Pakistan and his colleagues has been welcomed in Pakistan with very few reservations.
Pakistan’s neighbours, particularly India and Afghanistan, as well as its western “patrons” particularly the United States and the United Kingdom should have heaved a sigh of relief that a potentially explosive situation has been defused.
Roots of political instability go deep in Pakistan’s history. At its birth there was little effective political framework to carry the burden of the new-born state.
Jinnah’s rhetorical question “What is the Muslim League but me and my stenographer?” spoke much of the League’s real hold on the masses.
Civil society is of recent origin. The present movement owes much of its success to the impact of the electronic media and the advent of the internet. PPP has largely been a Bhutto party and has survived much on momentum. Nawaz Sharif was General Zia’s creation and his League has no connection with the original body. Real stability in Pakistan is dependent on new moderate political forces emerging but this could take a long time. Until then one can at best hope for a modicum of stability.
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