The New Nation - Internet Edition

Dr. M. S. Haq

It now appears (as at 22 February 2008) President Pervez Musharraf, the caretaker government and the election commission have been able - with the help and assistance of people of Pakistan, friends of Pakistan including inter alia the US, political parties, media (print, electronic, etc.) and others - to deliver to Pakistan and the rest of world a reasonably free, fair, transparent and peaceful election on the 18th day of February this year (2008) - save and except the election day incidents and complaints that can largely be considered as 'normal' under the country's present situation in pertinent areas. Well done - everybody! Congratulations!

The contributions of defense forces of Pakistan in particular - Pakistan Army, the paramilitary, the police, and others towards maintaining the law and order situation during for example, the election hours and towards facilitating the holding of elections in the country's security sensitive areas were indeed commendable.

The roles of media especially, those associated with PTV, GEO TV (hereinafter: GEO), Radio Pakistan, the Dawn newspaper and the APP in for example - creating, sustaining and promoting environments conducive to an acceptable and satisfactory election in Pakistan; preparing Pakistanis for election results; and sharing the election results with Pakistanis and others in an effective and efficient manner - were, in an average sense, praise worthy. It may be mentioned here, the performance of PTV newscaster and anchor person Zubayer (I hope the name here has been written correctly) and others during various phases of the election city - a 72 hour non-stop special program of PTV on elections, 2008 - deserves appreciation. The concluding session of the election city led by Zubayer was, in many respects, necessary, just, relevant, justifiable, equitable, and motivational because it was associated, among other things, with the introduction of the programme's team management, as well as members (who were able to appear before the camera at that point in time) whose efforts and contributions were instrumental largely in making the election city a success. Keep up the good work!

Despite the good things said about election related performances of the media both during and immediately after the elections, there existed, however, instances of media failure or media shortfall or both in pertinent areas. For example, the utterances of at least one discussant / anchor person on GEO - at the time when the emergence of PPP and PML (N) as two leading national assembly seat holders started becoming apparent - were, among other things, found to be lack of journalistic civility, objectivity, tolerance and wisdom - I am afraid, a continuation of the kind of journalistic behaviors demonstrated by for example, the discussant / anchor person mentioned and telecast by GEO could in the future be instrumental in, among other things, taking a toll on GEO's good will plus image in a significant manner and a windfall from that could make it harder for concerned Pakistanis to internalize eventually the election results in the spirit of democracy, per se. It is hoped GEO would not indulge again in the future in similar journalistic activities that could help divide further the already divided Pakistani nation along various lines, for an instance. GEO should take the note - there exist ways and means for delivering desired messages to viewers without hurting Pakistan, without damaging journalistic credibility and without affecting journalistic obligations, per se.

As regards the concerns raised by certain sections of in- and ex-country media about the election day security against the backdrop of Pakistan's pre-election security situation, I believe those were, among other things, blessings in disguise for the country because they had helped Pakistan and Pakistanis either directly or otherwise to: broadening further the scope of security related considerations in pursuits of a more comprehensive and full proof security on the day of elections than that on the days prior to the day of elections; upgrading further the level of alertness, as well as preparedness among say, the security operatives for better management of uncertainties in relevant areas; and taking those security concerns as additional challenges - resulting in an enhancement of internal motivations of all concerned for meeting any election day eventuality in a more informed (I mean, at least possibility-wise) and result-oriented manner; to mention a few. Further, those concerns represent, as applicable and among other things, feelings of relevant quarters for the well-being of Pakistan. It is expected matters relating to security will continue to hold a critical task status in policy, planning and operation domains of post election Pakistan and beyond, as required.

A brief analysis of election results at national and provincial levels would reveal inter alia mixed pictures of: firstly, voters' mindsets in terms of say, time, space, context, environment, motivation, and circumstance associated with for example, 2008 elections; and secondly, the voters vote related decisions - whether or not informed, whether peripheral or otherwise, whether or not voluntary - reflecting on matters like, anticipated impacts of the votes on the future progress and prosperity at individual, societal, national and other levels, as applicable. The people of Pakistan had, as appropriate: voted both in favor of and against relevant agenda-s of the government; voted both in favor of and against relatively hazy and poorly focused developmental agendas at local, national and other levels; cast both sympathy and no-sympathy votes; used votes in support of independent candidates whose political affiliations or affinities or both are yet to come into light or to take shapes; voted both in favor of and against 'moderate' political elements; voted both in favor of and against the present day modus operandi of the war on terror or relevant aspects of international relations in a progressively reintegrating and ever competitive universe; cast votes both in favor of and against agendas that reflected more on respective political parties than on the overall national interest in pertinent areas; and used votes both in favor of and against 'change' in relevant structural and non-structural areas. The bottom line is: the voters had voted overwhelmingly for some kind of change through the foreseeable future but the desired change can, in a sense and at this point in time, be considered only as a hypothesis as it is yet to be tested and put into real life practice for expected outcomes, per se.

The factors such as and as appropriate - the nature, scope, configuration and behavior of upcoming coalition governments at the center and in the provinces + the behavior of existing senate under the post election situation + the behavior of political parties outside of the upcoming parliaments + the behavior of those who could influence the country's governance and politics in a significant manner + uncertainties, used in a wider sense - would perhaps be instrumental in defining prima-facie the arts and the sciences - the physics, the chemistry, and the biology, per se, of upcoming teams of President Pervez Musharraf in the domain of the country's future governance.

The prospect of reported coalition government (PPP + PML (N) + ANP at the moment) at say, the center, the effort of coalition partners towards capturing at least 2/3 majority in the national assembly, the current political rhetoric about 'impeachment' of President Musharraf and other ongoing political activities tend to indicate inter alia:

one, the upcoming coalition government-s - either in part or in full - could probably attempt to destroy or harm otherwise, whether deliberately or not, the spirit and the practice of national reconciliation spearheaded by the president - that not only facilitated inter alia the holding of national and provincial elections in a free, fair, transparent, peaceful and acceptable manner in the country but helped starting and promoting the ongoing political dispensations. It may be mentioned here, a further success of national reconciliation activities in the future could take Pakistan to new heights in areas of democracy and better governance, per se. On the other hand, a misuse or a no use or an under use of reconciliation programmes could be counter productive, in varying degrees, to a further cultivation of culture of tolerance, understanding, democracy and peaceful co-existence in the country, per se;

two, certain influential political leaders (to whom it may concern) are at present making efforts towards taking a kind of 'revenge' against President Musharraf and the government in pertinent areas. Interesting though, the same president and the government were - in the immediate past - instrumental in inter alia: bringing a number of those leaders back home (I mean, Pakistan) prior to the expiry of period of exile agreed previously by them with the help of Saudi Arabia; bringing the rest of them back home from self-exile through US brokered agreements; and affording them election related opportunities.

It should be noted here: the ongoing effort on the part of those leaders could be a futile exercise; the people's verdict could go largely against their effort; and sympathies of friends of Pakistan (including inter alia the US, Saudi Arabia, China and Turkey), neighbors of Pakistan (including inter alia India) and others could evaporate; if the effort fails eventually to bringing about something better for Pakistan and Pakistanis than what the president and his administration has done so far for them. A windfall from the development could weaken, in varying degrees, the country's anti-terror efforts, efforts towards economic emancipations, efforts towards competitiveness and excellence, and efforts towards protecting nuclear warheads, to mention a few;

three, an eventual implementation of reported agreement between PPP and PML (N) on the reinstatement of former chief judge - who was a product one of the PCOs of Musharraf government - plus other concerned judges through parliamentary processes could in effect challenge for example, the legitimacy of processes leading to reprieves received by the concerned PPP and PML (N) leaders from Musharraf government;

Four, the expected configuration of coalition governments might for example, last up to and including the time period that would be required for implementation - in part or in full - or non-implementation of political agendas such as: reinstatement of judges; international probe on the death of Late PM Benazir (May Almighty God bless her heaven!); and impeachment of the president. It should be noted here: PPP, PML (N) and other interested parties would probably be required to pass number of hurdles before they could be able to materialise most of the agendas. A few of those hurdles could be: gaining of 2/3 majority in the parliament and the willingness of that majority to support relevant agenda-s of above parties; legal complications - cases and counter cases; time lags, and costs of distractions from competing national and other priorities plus costs that might arise out of sufferings of say, poor Pakistanis as a result of those distractions; the role of Pakistan senate when it comes to dealing with the impeachment of President Musharraf; uncertainties associated with role of Pakistan defense forces, ISI and others in resultant scenarios, as applicable; the strength of Musharraf-US relationship in areas say, state to state cooperation through the foreseeable future; the resistance from Musharraf's supporters and constituencies; difficulties associated with building upon gains made so far by Musharraf governments; pro-terror opportunities; losses at local, national, global and other levels on account of say, confrontational politics.

In short, I believe the opportunity has come once again to Pakistan for maximising and sustaining - between now and the foreseeable future - it efforts towards for example, national security, political stability, economic growth and satisfaction of maximum number of Pakistanis and rest of the world people through tools or practices (or both) like: national reconciliation, elimination of wastage at local, national and other levels; enhanced accountability of the parliaments to the people and vice verse; a further upward revaluation of per capita election votes in real terms; a more proper selection, placement and retention of the right person for say, the right political position at the right time and place - allowing more professionals to run the future governments than the lawmakers and rehabilitating higher number of lawmakers in areas say, law making and law implementation related monitoring; further empowerment of women in development, protection of the judiciary and the public service from further contaminations; improvement of bottom up transactions through parliamentary committees and other people's bodies; putting national and people's interest over personal interest, as far as possible or justifiable or both at any time; setting examples of excellence and sustaining those examples by optimising and harnessing comparative, competitive and other advantages of Pakistan in pertinent areas through discoveries, inventions and innovations; implementation of - as applicable - more wholesome, more forward looking, more balanced, more flexible, more quick impact friendly, more adjustable, more result-oriented, more opportunity friendly and more innovative diplomacy; and implementation of policies and programmes that are more non-discriminatory, more people-centered, more return-oriented, less resource-intensive (I mean, usable resources) and costly, more affordable, simpler, and more user-friendly, among other things.

The last word: Policies of inclusion, team spirits, and constructive engagements of all concerned in nation building will, among other things, be critical to the future of Pakistan and Pakistanis. Pakistanis should allow President Musharraf to continue his nation building efforts in a more peaceful, uninterrupted and result-oriented manner as an individual and as an important, as well as integral part of the upcoming governments so that his capabilities and potentials could be harnessed at the maximum by all concerned in the greater interest of Pakistan and the world at large. Please note: no human being is 100 percent perfect but his or her luck, intention, attribute, and contribution to a cause could make him or her perfect to the extent one can muster best at any given time, per se. President Pervez Musharraf is no exception to that.