Pakistan Discovers Its Political Voice
Far Eastern Economic Review April 10th, 2009Pakistan Discovers Its Political Voiceby Mosharraf Zaidi
On the night of March 15, 2009 the besieged Pakistan People’s Party government in Islamabad finally buckled under unprecedented political pressure to restore Choudhry Iftikhar Mohammed to the position of chief justice of the Supreme Court. In the build-up to that eventful night, one of the most obvious appeals that saner elements within the government would have been making to President Asif Ali Zardari was a simple one—restoring the judge would return some semblance of normalcy to Pakistani politics…
Read the full article at: http://www.feer.com/essays/2009/april/pakistan-discovers-its-political-voice
April 10th, 2009 at 11:16 pm
agree wholeheartedly..your articles are getting better and better Mosh..i think this taliban takeover nonsense is very overstated. They can barely do anything in Buner let alone the whole country. My fear is that they still ahve teh ability to make mischeif and keep things distracted from the real issues that are confronting us!.
Also your final paragraph where you state that British common law is what people voted for and not the beheading common law our jungli friends espouse. i think what people went out to march for was the “Law” without any adjective. In due course I hope we can realise the dream of being governed by Pakistani law that does take into account the vision of Iqbal,Jinnah and the aspirations of the millions who died for this country. After seeing the current state of Britihs common law im heavily inclined to wish to not wish it upon you guys!…
oh last but not least was that damn video real or not? this confused desi is still confused about that one!!…oh and lay of the beard references..I love my ebard..lol..lol..although i havent got a turban so ill maaf those ones..!!lol
April 10th, 2009 at 11:55 pm
@ Ali
Perhaps I was not clear enough. I don’t think the threat is overstated at all. They have in fact taken Swat. Pakistanis sitting outside the country can afford to take the threat lightly, we can’t.
The point I was making is that analysis that assumes a level of indifference among city folk is outdated. Pakistan’s urban middle class is alive. It may tolerate a lot, but it won’t be told who it can or can’t SMS in the still of the night.
April 11th, 2009 at 12:25 am
[...] This cup of tea was served by: Mosharraf Zaidi [...]
April 11th, 2009 at 1:51 am
About time