Remember how the people of Pakistan sang and danced in the streets on October12,1999, when the then Chief of the Army Staff (COAS), Gen. Pervez Musharraf,took over as the Chief Executive after overthrowing Nawaz Sharif, the electedPrime Minister?
They did so not because they liked Musharraf, but because they were fed up withtheir political class in general and with Benazir Bhutto, Asif Zardari and NawazSharif in particular. Corruption, misgovernance and arbitrary rule became theleitmotif of 11 years of political rule under Benazir and then Nawaz.
Today, the people of Pakistan are singing and dancing in the streets not becausethey are elated over the prospect of being ruled by Zardari and Nawaz, butbecause they are fed up with nine years of military rule under Musharraf.Misgovernance and arbitrary rule were as rampant under Musharraf as they wereunder Benazir and Nawaz though corruption was not.
To add to Musharraf’s woes, his co-operation with the US in the so-called waragainst terrorism proved a kiss of death. It was unpopular not only with thereligious fundamentalists, but also with large sections of the liberals, whoattributed Pakistan’s growing instability to the public anger over hisperceived closeness to the US.
Singing and dancing cannot go on for ever. They have to come to an end and theprocess of facing the ground realities has to start the morning after. What arethe ground realities confronting them?