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- By Joseph Marques, Chief Sub Editor
- Published: 23:44 August 28, 2008
The political situation in Pakistan is in a flux with the ruling coalition partners - Pakistan People's Party and Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) parting ways and announcing separate candidates to contest the presidential elections. Russia recognised the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia - the breakaway enclaves of Georgia. These events were contemplated, analysed and commented on. We present here excerpts of editorials from the regional and the international press.
Pakistan's crisis
Within a week of Pervez Musharraf stepping down as president of Pakistan, Nawaz Sharif pulled out his party, Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) from the ruling coalition in protest against the delay of reinstating of the judges that were sacked by Musharraf. Although, Asif Zardari, the leader of the Pakistan People's Party apologised to Sharif, it is unlikely that the two main parties of Pakistan will join hands again. Both the PPP and PML (N) have announced their candidates for the post of president. The third candidate in the fray is from the Pakistan Muslim League (Q). The political uncertainty has a rippling effect on the economy of the country. Inflation has skyrocketed and the stock market has crashed.
Commenting on the situation in the country, The News, one of the leading dailies from Pakistan said that although the fate of the coalition was almost a foregone conclusion keeping events of recent days in mind, the shock of the disastrous break up will have shaken everyone, not least the people of Pakistan, many of whom must have thought that with General Musharraf's departure, some semblance of stability and security would return to the country.
"Equally disappointing is the reality that the political parties seem to have not learnt too many lessons from the past. We may well see a return to the squabbling and bickering of the 1990s when fighting between Sharif's party and the PPP then led by Benazir Bhutto often ended up paralysing government and with it governance," it remarked.
"From the start, the grand coalition always had an image of fragility about it," stated Dawn, another leading daily from Pakistan.
Elaborating on the presidential elections, it said: "The man who is certain to be the next president is now in a morally indefensible position. The issue, however, is not who is to blame more but the consequences of the grand coalition's break-up. There is no doubt that a strong sense of vindictiveness has guided the PML-N's policies on the two issues. With Musharraf gone the Sharifs have focused on the judges' issue at the expense of other larger interests such as the economy and militancy."
The Tribune, a daily from India, called it as a jolt to Pakistan's democracy
"The tragedy of Pakistan today is that both Zardari and Sharif have virtually abandoned the cause of democracy. They are busy protecting their own party and partisan interests. If Sharif's inflexible approach on the question of restoring the judicial status quo ante has not been conducive to finding a way out of the crisis, Zardari stands accused of dishonesty in honouring his commitments. In this tug of war, Sharif appears to have got the upper hand insofar as the voters are concerned. But he was isolated in the coalition, with the smaller constituents - the JUI (F) and the ANP - throwing their weight behind the PPP because of their own compulsions."
Russia asserts itself
Russia, after fighting a war with Georgia, has finally recognised the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. With this move, Moscow has sent a message that it would do anything to keep Nato out of its sphere of influence.
Commenting on the issue, Washington Post said that in time with Russia's unilateral recognition of the independence of the two Georgian provinces it invaded this month, President Dmitry Medvedev issued a statement, penned an op-ed and granted an unusual flurry of interviews. His intent was to justify Moscow's latest provocation of the West, which has been united in condemnation - as was demonstrated by a statement by the Group of Seven industrial nations. Instead Medvedev merely revealed the dangerously arrogant and reckless mood that seems to have overtaken the Kremlin in recent weeks."
It concluded by saying that "it [Russia] is convinced that the West is too weak and divided to respond with more than words".
Britain's The Telegraph stated: "Once again, let us rehearse the minimal steps the West should take to counter Kremlin bullying: expulsion from the G8; freezing consultation within the EU Partnership and Cooperation Agreement and the Nato-Russia Council; an invitation to Georgia and Ukraine by the alliance to join its Membership Action Plan; and the blocking of Russia's WTO membership."
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