Judge Yourself

Outlook

Imran is scathingly critical of those equivocating on the issue of boycotting elections. "Look at Benazir," he says sarcastically. "She's putting pressure on Sharif to take part in the election and at the same time using this 'united front' to blackmail Musharraf to get a better deal from him. Sharif, in turn, only wants a collective decision."

There are many in Pakistan who feel the Musharraf regime has gone soft on Benazir to split the opposition. Last week saw the election commission rejecting the nomination papers of Nawaz Sharif and his brother Shahbaz, arguing that they were convicted in criminal cases. In contrast, the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) granted amnesty to Benazir. Obviously, it was Washington's gameplan—get the military to share power with moderate leaders—that persuaded Musharraf to issue the NRO and allow Benazir back into the country.

Dr Shireen M. Mazari, director-general of the Institute of Strategic Studies, asks why then has Sharif not been provided a level-playing field? "I still feel he has a more indigenous feel for this nation than Benazir who looks first to Washington and the West before casting a condescending eye on her nation." The answer to her question is simple: the US doesn't trust Sharif, apprehensive as they are of his proximity to religious parties.

It helps also that Musharraf too does not want Sharif in the field. As The Nation wrote in an editorial, "It is alleged that this is on the insistence of the PML(Q), whose votebank can be seriously eaten into by the PML(N). The appearance of a clear distinction between the way the PPP and the PML(N) is treated might also be a larger plan to divide the Opposition." Musharraf, obviously, wants the PML(Q) to return to power, quite pleased as he was by the party's willingness to do his bidding in the last five years when it ruled.

From his hospital bed where he is being treated for renal failure (diagnosed during detention in Attock jail), Muneer A. Malik, former president of the Supreme Court Bar Association, wrote, "I am an optimist but I'm not a fool. The elections will be rigged. The ruling party shall be returned with a thumping majority in parliament." His advise: boycott the elections, don't fall into Musharraf's trap.