No alternative to reconciliation

Not surprisingly, in spite of provocative statements by some ministers, after the government's hard-fought-but-lost legal battle against the return of Sharif brothers, the imperative of obtaining suitable conditions for political reconciliation is fast acquiring the currency of a buzzword.
Through the thick haze of mistrust and acrimony that had surrounded national politics almost since October 1999, one can now detect early contours of a possible peace between various segments of political stakeholders. One noticed that within a few hours of the Supreme Court decision on the Sharifs' petitions, President Musharraf was telling the nation, through an Aiwan-e-Sadr audience, that political stability, reconciliation and a national consensus on issues confronting the country is the "need of time".
"No doubt there is a dialogue (with Benazir Bhutto), it should be with everybody (read Nawaz Sharif)". Elaborating, he said, for achieving political reconciliation "there is need to forgive and forget the past...for moving ahead". Pat came the response from Nawaz Sharif, who told media men at his office in London; he would consider Musharraf's initiative - subject to certain conditions.
Add to this Bhutto's ongoing dialogue with the President and one would optimistically visualise the President and his political foes sitting on the same table, overlooking their bitter past and thinking ahead of a bright and secure future for Pakistan.
But that is a one-time chance, and could be lost to big-ego-and-small-mind hubris. Thanks to eight years of relentless polarisation, accentuated by every conceivable way of persecution, there are deep wounds requiring time to heal. There is a plethora of charges, cases and convictions the government secured against its principal opponents. And, in return, it has filled to the brim the hearts of its detractors with venomous vendetta. This is a difficult time that needs sacrifices from both sides of the divide, in line with 'from each according to his capacity and to each according to his need'.
Let us see what President Musharraf, who mainly shoulders the responsibility to create conditions propitious enough for his detractors, can do in this regard. First and foremost, he should restore his political opponents to their rightful positions by withdrawing all curbs and conditions that tend to curtail and constrict their participation in the country's politics.
The politically motivated cases against them should be quashed, their movements made free and the constitutional ban on them to be prime minister for a third term waived. Then, the President should declare that he would doff his military uniform before the filing of his nomination for re-election. Lastly, he should set in motion the legal process to ensure a level playing field in the general election under a neutral caretaker government with the help of an independent election commission.
That having been done by the President, the main opposition leaders should play their part by offering help in the holding of both the presidential and general elections. Without imbibing the spirit to forgive and forget there is just no way out of this political imbroglio that the country is facing with ominous portents.
If Pervez Musharraf is a brand for foreign investors, as the Prime Minister says, and if for the President it is always 'Pakistan first' then time has come for him to act. In conditions of persisting uncertainty, investment, particularly foreign capital, would be shy to step in. Adverse travel advisories issued by diplomatic missions and their governments are already taking a heavy toll on the economy. Here, the opposition has the responsibility to help reinvigorate the confidence of foreign investors in the political stability and economic viability of Pakistan.
The opposition leaders too owe it to their own sufferings and deprivation that they do not hold themselves from the call to join the process of national reconciliation. The alternative to peaceful resolution of present crisis is street agitation, which of course is sanctified by the Constitution, but is definitely not cost-effective in the given circumstances. Already the country is facing large-scale political instability with active insurgency going on in tribal areas and some parts of Balochistan.
A chaotic Afghanistan is a further source of troubles in Pakistan, which are compounded by foreign pressures comprising threats of military action and economic denial. Therefore, even if it is a bit out of fashion and may appear to be a little less than democratic we would again call upon leaders from both ends of national political spectrum to join hands and work a way out of the crisis that has beset our country.