How to Reform the Government of Pakistan

By ASIF ALI ZARDARI

(InformPress.com) - Last week the world was shocked, and my life was
shattered, by the murder of my beloved wife, Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto.
Benazir was willing to lay down her life for what she believed in -
for the future of a democratic, moderate, progressive Pakistan. She
stood up to dictators and fanatics, those who would distort and defy
our Constitution and those who would defame Quran, the Islamic holy
book, by violence and terrorism. My pain and the pain of our children
is unimaginable. But I feel even worse for a world that will have to
move forward without this extraordinary bridge between cultures,
religions and traditions.

I married Benazir in 1987 but spent less than five years living with
her in the Prime Minister's house over her two terms in office, which
were interrupted by military interventions. I spent more than 11 years
in Pakistani jails, imprisoned without a conviction on false charges
that former Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif and Pervez Musharraf
(who brought and pursued the charges) have now publicly acknowledged
were politically motivated. Even before Benazir was first elected
Prime Minister, in 1988, Pakistan's intelligence agencies began
working to discredit her, targeting me and several of her friends. I
was maliciously called "Mr. Ten Percent" by their hired guns in public
relations, and the names of her friends abroad were besmirched with
ridiculous charges that they headed the non-existent "Indo-Zionist"
lobby.

This campaign of character assassination was possibly the first
institutional application of the politics of personal destruction.
Benazir was the target, and her husband and friends were the
instruments. The purpose was to weaken the case for a democratic
government. It is perhaps easier to block the path of democracy by
discrediting democratic politicians.

During the years of my wife's governments, she was constrained by a
hostile Establishment - an interventionist military leadership, a
treacherous intelligence network, a fragile coalition government and a
presidential sword of Damocles - constantly threatening to dismiss
Parliament. Despite all of this, she was able to introduce free media,
make Pakistan one of the 10 most important emerging capital markets in
the world, build over 46,000 schools and bring electricity to many
villages in our large country. She changed the lives of women in
Pakistan and drew attention to the cause of women's rights in the
Muslim World. It was a record that she was rightly proud of.

Her murder does not end her vision and must not be allowed to empower
her assassins. Those responsible - within and outside of the Pakistan
Government - must be held accountable. I call on the United Nations to
commence a thorough investigation of the circumstances, facts and
coverup of my wife's murder, modeled on the investigation into the
assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq al-Hariri. I
also call on the friends of democracy in the West, in particular the
United States and Britain, to endorse the call for such an
international, independent investigation. An investigation conducted
by the Government of Pakistan will have no credibility in my country
or anywhere else. One does not put the fox in charge of the henhouse.

But it is also time to look forward. In profound sadness, the torch of
leadership in the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) has been passed to a
new generation, to our son, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari. I will work with
him and support him and protect him to the extent possible in the
trying times ahead. The Bhutto family has given more than anyone can
imagine to the service of our nation, and in these difficult days it
is critical that the party remain unified and focused. My wife, always
prescient and wise, understood that. Knowing that the future was
unpredictable, she recommended that the family keep the party together
for the sake of Pakistan. This is what we aim to do.

The Musharraf regime has postponed the parliamentary elections
scheduled for 8 January 2008, not because of any logistical problems
but because Musharraf and his "King's Party" (PML-Q) know that they
were going to be thoroughly rejected at the polls and that the PPP and
other pro-democracy parties would win a majority. Real civilian
democracy in Pakistan can be established, and extremism and fanaticism
contained, only if the elections, when they are held, are free, fair
and credible.

To that end, the people of Pakistan must be guaranteed elections that
are (1) conducted under new, neutral caretaker cabinets, free of
cronies from Musharraf's party; (2) supervised by an independent and
autonomous election commission formed in consultation with the major
political parties; (3) monitored by trained international observers
who have unfettered access to all polling stations as well as the
right to conduct exit polling to verify results; (4) covered by
electronic and print media who must be granted all new,
internationally recognized press freedoms, which the Pakistani media
needs after illegal Martial Law was once again imposed on 3 November
2007; and (5) arbitrated by an independent judiciary as provided for
in the Constitution. The new independent judiciary must consist of
Pakistan Supreme Court Chief Justice Mr. Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry,
all deposed justices of the Supreme Court and all dismissed judges of
the provincial high courts of Pakistan, who must be reinstated
immediately by the Government of Pakistan. In addition, all political
activists, lawyers and judges being detained must be released.

The enemies of democracy and tolerance - who took the life of my wife
and killed many other innocent Pakistanis on Thursday, 27 December
2007 in Liaqat Bagh, Rawalpindi, Pakistan, and murdered a great leader
of the world - can and must be exposed and brought to justice.
Dictatorship and fanaticism have always been rejected by the people of
Pakistan. If free and fair elections are held, then those evil forces
will be defeated again on 18 February 2008. On that day, the vision
and indefatigable spirit of Ms. Benazir Bhutto will burn brightly,
and, in the words of John F. Kennedy, "the glow from that fire can
truly light the world."

[Mr. Asif Ali Zardari, a former Senator and ex-Minister, is Co-
Chairman of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) based in Karachi,
Pakistan. PPP Website: http://www.ppp.org.pk ]

Source: INFORMATION PRESS - News Views Media - http://www.InformPress.com
- USA - Saturday, 5 January 2008.

Copyright: Information Press - www.InformPress.com - 2008-2009 - USA

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- DW: http://www.DictatorshipWatch.com