President resigns (19082008)

In an hour long speech, first half of which had the listeners biting their nails, sitting on the edge of their chair as the President seemed to be sending mixed signals out, but the President finally resigned and the stage is now set for the country to resume its journey down the road to democracy. As mentioned previously, the departure of the President will only be one small step forward. Pakistan's political landscape in the past nine months has completely transformed. Two of the major actors on the political theatre are no longer there, i.e., late Benazir Bhutto and President Musharraf. The new actors in the political arena are Sharif brothers, Asif Ali Zardari, Asfandyar Wali, General Kayani and Anne Peterson, the American Ambassador.
With the departure of President Misharraf, the coalition will not have anyone to blame for its woes and will have to face public wrath for its own mistakes and blunders. Similarly, President Musharraf had become the glue that bonded the two major political parties together, with his departure the coalition may see no reason to stay together and move in the opposite direction. If that was to happen and it is very likely to happen then the country will enter another period of political shenanigans, which is part and parcel of any functioning democracy, but something the country can ill afford at present.
The parties in the political fray need to realise that only by respecting and strengthening institutions, including Election commission, Judiciary, Civil Service, Pakistan Army and other Defence forces, and adhering to the fundamentals of democracy, i.e., letting one party govern peacefully once they have won the elections for the full term, are the basic requirements for the democracy to flourish. Thus, the biggest challenge faced by the coalition will be to restore judiciary as it was before November, 3 2007, given the legal complexities which have been debated in far too much detail on the electronic media, this will be no easy task. Furthermore, there is the question of the loyalties which will test the nerves and the commitment of the coalition partners because one chief justice is deemed to be loyal to one group and the other CJ is deemed to be too independent for his own good.
Therefore, the end of President Musharraf is just the beginning of the struggle for democracy. Too much damage has been done to the institutions, many a competent generals who would have become chief of Army staff in past decade have gone to retirement without having a chance to serve the country in that coveted position, judiciary is greatly harmed and badly scarred, the civil bureaucracy has enjoyed the fruits of power too much while every one else was busy in the political rigmarole.
Now is the real and the litmus test for our leaders. We have seen a lot of change in the political acumen and the aptitude of the leaders in the past year or so, whether this maturity and wisdom stays with them with the common enemy gone will decide if we are to enjoy the fruits of democracy for the long-term or if this is just an interlude between the last and the next military government.