Opposition leader Nawaz Sharif has called for the prosecution of former president Pervez Musharraf for violating the Constitution while in office. The Nation reports:
It was the unanimous call of the nation to try President Musharraf for suspending the Constitution, he said, adding that the trial of the former military ruler is a must to ensure supremacy of the law.
He said that it was a golden opportunity to block the path of military interventions and if the government does not move against the dictator, it would be a great disappointment for the nation.
Perhaps prosecuting the former dictator for overreaching his authority would be a good wake up call for President Zardari. So far in this term, he’s placed Nawaz Sharif under house arrest, abrogated the gubernatorial term of his brother Shabaz Sharif, and reneged on his promise to reinstate Supreme Court Justice Chaudry. While forced to backtrack on each of these points by intense popular pressure during the Long March, Zardari’s record does not bode well for Pakistan’s progress towards democracy or for his own political future.
In addition to his conflict the opposition parties, there is obvious fragmentation in his own Pakistan Peoples Party. Aitzaz Ahsan, who was often discussed as a possible successor to Benazir Bhutto, was suspended from the PPP’s Central Executive Committee for his role in the Long March. As an important leader in the lawyers movement fighting for democracy and rule of law, his alienation from the party indicates the PPP’s failure to embrace democratic principles under Zardari’s leadership.
