Pakistan Avoids Pitfall, but Path Ahead Is Unclear

Posted by Justin Bresolin

Celebration grips Pakistan as a large-scale public demonstration has successfully resulted in the political restoration of dismissed chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, a man lauded as a figurehead for Pakistani democracy and judicial rule. While this has served to partially ease tensions between President Asif Ali Zardari and chief rival Nawaz Shariff, it is far from a solution for the political instability Pakistan is currently facing.
The rivalry between these two politicians has not only served to distract Pakistan from their problematic security situation, but also weakened President Zardari’s power to the point of possible defection from the Pakistan People’s Party. While Shariff waits to seize leadership after Zardari’s fall, the exact method of doing so is unclear.
The lack of attention toward fast-approaching insurgency efforts is a major issue for Pakistan, but American and Pakistani officials are hopeful that the recent outbreak of civilian demonstration could herald the beginnings of a strengthened democratic system, along with the creation of an independent judiciary, opening the possibility for unprecedented change in Pakistan’s political structure. Shariff, long suspected by the US government for his leanings toward Islamic conservatism, has proven surprisingly cooperative with Obama officials, and the US is hopeful that Shariff’s connections with several Saudi Arabian Islamic parties could prove the beginning of reconcilable interaction with groups such as the Taliban.
With the dawn of a new democratic government in Pakistan, buoyed by the people’s support, the US government moves to support and reinforce the growing political system in the hopes of its successful repellence of jihadist insurgent influence in the country. This time of change would seem to be but one of many that has been occurring in the global political realm, changes that could spell a transformation not just of Pakistan, but of the world as well.