The anti-Musharraf agitation spear-headed by Chaudhary has transformed the national landscape and infused a new spirit in the people, which the General and his cronies, who depend on him for survival and have amassed huge fortunes refuse to acknowledge. For the Pakistani military ruler it has been a cruel spring in which he stands guilty of several miscalculations. But, buttressed by the firm support he continues to receive from the United States, which wants him in office to implement a bagful of strategic plans for the region and remain a staunch and dependable military ally, Musharraf feels secure in his place and is obligated to provide military support to whatever the U.S. and NATO decides for the region.
What has shaken the conscience of the Pakistanis during the current agitation is that the establishment did not hesitate to provoke inter-ethnic riots in Karachi in order to prevent Iftikhar Chaudhary from entering the city. The Government's intelligence agencies and police, through their paid agents, provoked the Muttahida Quami Movement goons to attack the Pushtuns living in the city, which resulted in a major conflagration that left 41 officially killed and over 200 wounded. The Government provoked ethnic clashes without the slightest though to their wider and long-tern ramifications. The use of violence by government has failed to cow down agitated masses. Their reliance on armed groups to provoke riots, commit murders and instill fear among opposition workers betrays a sign of desperation. The Karachi riots have made the people wonder if the present rulers have lost hope of retaining in power through legitimate constitutional means and are prepared to do anything to stay in office.
Gen. Musharraf is obviously trying to settle scores with the top judiciary which has overturned some government orders and issued notices to the state on disappearances of hundreds of political activities rounded up by the police and other agencies. The very first step is to seek removal of the Chief Justice was inspired by political motives. The legal community, civil society and political opposition, alienated by past assaults on the judiciary's independence have rightly interpreted the move as driven by political considerations. When Iftikhar Chaudhary addressed the Lahore Bar, among his audience were 17 sitting judges of the court, the entire fraternity of lawyers and thousands others, who had been waiting for him overnight. Gen. Musharraf and his cronies live with the illusion that they can control the situation and continue to survive with a manufactured legitimacy.
It is, perhaps, for the first time in the history of Pakistan that the Chief Justice episode shows that the judiciary has been trying to assert its independence vis-à-vis the executive, which has acquired unprecedented powers under the patronage of the military. Under the Commonwealth principles, as reiterated by the British Government, Pakistan is morally and politically bound to ensure and respect the separation of powers and independence of action between the three branches of government – the executive, the legislature and the judiciary.
Obviously, the removal of a non-pliant Chief Justice is meant to send a message to the world that in an election year, the President wants to ensure that there is no threat to his plans to get re-elected in uniform and also win the parliamentary election for the ruling party he himself created, so that everything continues as at present. The emasculated mainstream parties – PPP and PML(N) – will also be allowed a chance, but their leaders will not be allowed to contest as that will upset Musharraf's applecart. Those Pakistani's who put faith in President Bush's "spreading democracy" sermons and exhortation to the military regime in Pakistan to restore full democracy, also seem to have lost hope. The fundamental question whether Pakistan is to remain a praetorian or democratic state remains unanswered. Pakistanis seem destined to suffer under "cantonment colonialism"
