Behind the Chairman’s Door

The mood in Pakistan is cheerful - Barack Obama has just been elected president of the world’s most powerful country. Although many Pakistanis have voiced misgivings about some of his comments on terrorism, the general belief seems to be that he will pursue a more enlightened American foreign policy than his predecessor.

Then again, Pakistanis’ optimism has been dashed before.

Three months ago, after all, the mood in Pakistan was also cheerful. Pakistanis were hopeful - this time in regards to their own leadership rather than America’s. The pressures on Pervez Musharraf to step down were intensifying, and it was believed that his resignation was imminent. So, on Aug. 18, when the embattled leader resigned, jubilant crowds took to the streets of Islamabad, thinking that they had paved the way for Pakistan’s transition to democracy. Where most Pakistanis have greeted Obama’s win with cautious hope, they reacted to the initial coalition between Asif Ali Zardari’s party and Nawaz Sharif’s party with great joy.

One week later, that coalition collapsed - understandably. Zardari’s Pakistan Peoples Party and Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League (N) shared little but opportunistic opposition to Musharraf - opportunistic because they only began to criticize him in earnest when they sensed that he would soon be driven from power.

Almost any substantial charge against Musharraf - that his disrespect for human rights undermined democracy in Pakistan, that his policies allowed Islamic fundamentalism to flourish, and so forth - can be leveled as powerfully, if not more, against his predecessors. Sharif is a former prime minister, and Zardari is the widower of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto. It should have been clear that Musharraf’s removal would empower the very individuals who did little to improve Pakistan when they had the chance.

It should also have been clear that rapid democratization, the presumed result of his ouster, would not have benefited Pakistan given how frail its social and political institutions are. Unfortunately, the most famous political opponents who sought to oust Musharraf pursued their cause with sufficient zeal as to either ignore or downplay their effort’s likely consequences.

They also united Pakistanis in the wrong way. Unity that derives from opposition alone - in this case, to Musharraf - is unsustainable. Although his opponents successfully brought him down, they have yet to articulate ideas for how to move Pakistan forward. They find themselves on the defensive in light of the tumult that has followed his exit. Rather than concede the limitations of their campaign, they continue to restate Musharraf’s dossier of missteps.

Many of Musharraf’s former critics also have turned to berating Zardari. He is eminently deserving of criticism. However, he is merely one figure in the narrative of Pakistani history. Pakistan’s struggles are rooted in the shortsightedness that these critics exhibit, whereby they deplore the current leader, fail to propose long-term objectives, deplore the next leader, and repeat.

The time has come to recalibrate. Now that Zardari is here, what can he do? He should pursue four basic objectives:

Apply aggressive law enforcement tactics to locate militants, and give incentives to locals to provide information on these militants’ networks and activities by offering them employment;
Ensure that humanitarian relief and basic goods and services actually get to impoverished Pakistani communities, which offer fertile recruiting grounds for Islamic militants;
Participate more actively in multilateral forums that address regional security, and economic and political challenges;
Appeal to the international community for funding, while also setting internal development benchmarks, as well as means and timelines for achieving them. Zardari has asked the international community for $100 billion without making any commitments in exchange.

Now is not the time for Zardari’s party and Sharif’s party to settle scores with each other, to cast further aspersions on Musharraf, or to exploit Pakistan’s struggles for political gain. The country’s continued devolution into economic crisis and political turmoil is a sobering reminder that these tactics have never served its interests. It is time for Pakistan’s leaders to uphold the legacy of founder Mohammed Ali Jinnah - it is time, in short, for them to place their country above themselves.