The people have spoken

The people have spoken with unprecedented force and conveyed in no uncertain terms that all that stood in the name of President Pervez Musharraf's vision for Pakistan was unacceptable to them. It was supposed to be a vote for electing a parliament and provincial assemblies, but it turned out to be a referendum on President Musharraf's plans and policies.
Casting their vote in the otherwise challenging conditions the people struck down, brick by brick, the granite-hard political architecture the President had so assiduously built over the past several years.
You name a leader of the erstwhile ruling PML (Q) - Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, Rao Sikander Iqbal, Hamid Nasir Chattha, Chaudhry Amir Hussain, Sheikh Rashid, Khurshid Kasuri, Ijazul Haq, Liaquat Jatoi, Sher Afgan Niazi or anyone else who held a mentionable position, the voters threw him out of the ring. The great dream of Chaudhrys of Gujrat to capture Islamabad and rule Pakistan for another five years lies in ruins.
The election outcome has not only vindicated the opposition's struggle for restoration of democracy but it also wrote an endorsement to the myriad opinion polls and surveys which had quite correctly forecast the angry mood of the people.
Pity, the reality so clearly visible to an eyeless could not be spotted from atop the presidential palace. Contrary to its perceptively low credibility, the Election Commission of Pakistan has acquitted itself reasonably well, with elections being relatively fair and free and transparent and its results reaching almost in no time the people without much of hurdle and hassle.
Mercifully, the incidence of violence at the polling stations was not above normal, victory rallies were peaceful and no suicide-bomber hit the polling stations. One must also recognise the 'indirect pressure' raised by the civil society, lawyers' community, media and foreign governments who did contribute to make the electoral exercise meaningful and productive.
But one powerful nudge that pushed the voting exercise towards its logical conclusion, was the new army chief General Kayani's unmistakable message to his men to remain aloof from politics.
That the final showdown was confined to a close electoral fight between pro-Musharraf and anti-Musharraf forces does not mean that there were no other issues agitating the mind of the opposition. A host of formidable challenges defying easy solutions were and still remain on the table.
In the name of so-called 'Pakistan First,' the space generally available to democratic forces was being squeezed. For the President the Constitution was relevant only if it helped him remain in power; he suspended it twice, the second time to pave the way for his reelection.
Then there was the omnipresent suicide-bomber that would hit targets across the country with impunity, as he operated from the no-go tribal areas. Thoughtless handling of Bugti affair had triggered an insurgency in Balochistan. As if these problems had not made life insecure and uncertain for most of the populace, the people had been pushed to the wall by the high inflation, lack of employment and ever-receding economic justice.
But, ironically, the President and his aides ridiculed their critics, flaunting a plethora of high-sounding figures. The 'sub-achha hai' refrains emanating from the power corridors made the people sick and disgusted, giving them the mind for a resolution with single objective of getting rid of the regime. No wonder, the voting public used the electoral exercise on February 18 as an agent for change, not just to have new political leadership but a new life in Pakistan.
Obviously, the dramatic results of the Monday elections would tend to generate high expectations, which would turn out to be a serious challenge for the new government. Restoration of judiciary, war on terror, tackling growing menace of Talibanisation, call for provincial autonomy, energy crisis, recurring food shortages, price hike consequent to rationalising the oil prices and inequitable distribution of economic gains are some of the issues that are waiting to ambush the new rulers.
Given the enormity of these problems it would be unrealistic to think that any one party or coalition can take them on single-handedly. This calls for an all-inclusive Common Minimum Programme jointly firmed up by support from both the sides of the political divide.
Over the last year or so, ample evidence has come to light suggesting that the concept of putting on ground a government of national consensus remains valid. Another issue on which the next government must work is to restore the sanctity of the Durand Line, so that fingers are not raised towards Islamabad for anything that goes wrong in our western neighbour. At the same time our law enforcing agencies should flush out the foreigners.
That done, one would like to revisit the sad reality that democracy in Pakistan has suffered immeasurably at the hands of Bonapartists who in the name of rescuing the people from the clutches of their corrupt inefficient civilian rulers subvert the Constitution.
Probably, it would be in the fitness of things that the next government should act to redefine the roles of intelligence agencies, particularly of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), abolishing its internal security wing - both to refurbish the image of the forces and to strengthen political stability. At the same time, the civilian bureaucracy should be given appropriate legal cover to protect it from political pressure.
A strong conscientious civilian bureaucracy would help stem the tendency to bend rules and regulations for the vested interest. The victory to the opposition has not come cheap but the post-elections challenges confronting it will be too formidable. The situation they are likely to face in terms of developing national consensus, prompting reconciliation and improving the rule of law would demand of them extra courage and special vision to come up with. Only half the journey has been trekked so far.