Expert: An ‘absolutely devastating’ result for Musharraf
Nawaz Sharif (John Moore/Getty Images) Monday’s elections in Pakistan were — to use a timeworn cliché — a political earthquake. Although the poll numbers were clear, very few Pakistan watchers expected that President Pervez Musharraf would allow the opposition to win in such a decisive fashion. In the end, South Asia expert Ashley Tellis of ...
Nawaz Sharif (John Moore/Getty Images)
Monday’s elections in Pakistan were — to use a timeworn cliché — a political earthquake. Although the poll numbers were clear, very few Pakistan watchers expected that President Pervez Musharraf would allow the opposition to win in such a decisive fashion. In the end, South Asia expert Ashley Tellis of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace told me, “There was a depth of resentment that not even the government’s manifold efforts at shaping the outcome could prevent.”
So what happens now? “With the quite utterly conclusive demise of the PML-Q,” Tellis said, “the coalition that is likely to be formed will be between the PPP and the PML-N.” (Referring to Musharraf’s Pakistan Muslim League, the Pakistan People’s Party of the late Benazir Bhutto and now her husband Asif Zardari, and the PML-N of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, respectively.)
But what about Musharraf? “This result simply just cannot be good news for him,” Tellis said. “I mean, this is absolutely devastating.” Nawaz Sharif, you may recall, despises Musharraf for ousting him back in 1999, so there’s little chance his party would want to keep the general around. The PPP is another story, Tellis said, and Zardari might be willing to let Musharraf stay on as president — but with vastly curtailed powers. “I would not treat his departure from office as inevitable,” Tellis cautioned. But for Pakistan, he said, the return of the moderate civilian parties represents “a very hopeful moment.” Now we’ll see if they can deliver.
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