Back in Business
After February I lost interest in continuing this blog and took a long break. I decided I wanted to stop writing due to fatigue, work-related stress, and other factors, but now that I have some free time this month I decided to add more entries to my blog. The biggest impetus has been a recent comment on an old post, to which I responded. This shows that some people must still be reading my blog, or discovering it, so that is an encouraging sign. Why don’t I comment on the political situation first, and then comment on other stuff in further posts.
Elections went ahead without a hitch, and amazingly, the Musharraf backed PML-Q lost. His hold on power has decreased – now that he’s no longer head of the military – to the point where he even said he would accept resigning from his post, if that was the will of the people. The elected administration is a coalition government between the PTP (Benazir’s party) and Nawaz Sharif of the PML-N (Pakistan Muslim League: Nawaz-group, his splinter from the party headed by Pakistan’s founder, Jinna, i.e. the Quaid-e-Azam). Nawaz’s party has a majority in Punjab, the most populous and wealthy province in the country (most of the military establishment is from there). The PPP has a majority in the Sindh province, and in the popular vote, I presume. FATA (federally administered tribal areas) has its own local administration, and this is important because it’s where all the major trouble has been brewing for the last few years.
Apparently, the elections ended in a tie, although I still don’t understand how that’s possible, and the press coverage has been confusing, to me at least. Most Pakistanis I ask about this are as confused as I am, but just go about their business as usual (hey, what you can expect, this is Pakistan, they say). The new Prime Minister is Raza Gillani from the PPP, and he functions like a president. Gillani is well-liked, but has a reputation for being a timid diplomat rather than a strong leader. The PML-N has the most seats in the multi-party National Assembly (a wing of the Parliament) who nominate administrations based on the popular vote. Nawaz Sharif went from being in asylum, and nearly being jailed, to being in power again. While I was never a big fan of Musharraf, I think Nawaz is worse (Nawaz was on board with the military’s agenda until a disagreement caused him to eliminate dissenters, among them General Musharraf, who managed to outmaneuver him at an airport takeover in a counter-coup de tat). Just because he’s “democratically (re)elected” doesn’t make him democratic. He initially protested elections, but PPP head Ali Zardari invited him back and he accepted.
As of May 12th (the anniversary of the slaughter of judge Chaudrey supporters in Karachi) Nawaz has quit the government to protest the failure of the government to reinstate all of the fired Supreme Court judges, and is active in the lawyer protest movement.
It’s been pretty much a dead-locked administration, as it seems little has been accomplished. The economy is still sinking (mostly in relation to the world food crisis, the problems with the dollar and the American economy, and the rising price of oil). Suicide bombing within the country has decreased in 2008 compared to 2007, but the year is only half over, and it has yet to be seen if the strategy of negotiations with the tribal leaders/militants is really working. There are still attacks on military barracks, on civilian areas up north, and cross-border attacks in Afghanistan against their government, civilians, and NATO forces. Moreover, the Taliban/Al Qaeda militant bases are growing.
