Today, Pervez Musharraf resigned as Pakistan’s president. Referring to the impeachment proceedings he faced if he had decided to stay, the embattled leader had this to say in an hour-long address to his country: “Whether I win or lose, the nation will lose.”
Will his nation lose? Its economy is crumbling and the coalition arrayed against him is now bound to break apart, ensuring political instability for the indefinite future. Islamic militants are certain to make further inroads into the country and gain even more latitude to inflict harm. Relations with India, already tense, will probably deteriorate. Musharraf, for all his faults, was seen in many quarters as the best hope for stability.
Pakistan, it seems, always manages to get worse, so times of transition are particularly perilous. Yet there are three reasons for optimism at this particularly uncertain moment. First, Musharraf came to power through a military coup, but he’s leaving in a manner prescribed by the country’s constitution. He did not even receive the immunity he wanted. All this represents progress for the country’s fragile notions of representative governance.
Second, it is proper that he should go. He overthrew democracy in Pakistan and, in so doing, ultimately prolonged crisis. Somehow, the people–and their badly damaged political system–ended up achieving the right result.
Third, Musharraf’s departure lays the groundwork for a more stable society. Things will certainly get worse in the days ahead because this is, after all, Pakistan. Yet now there is at least the possibility that the country can come together after weathering initial turmoil. As long as Musharraf clung to power, there was no realistic possibility of sustainable improvement. He had lost popular support over time, especially in March of last year by suspending Iftikhar Chaudhry, the Supreme Court’s chief justice, and trying to force him to resign. Since then, one calamity after another, including the December assassination of Benazir Bhutto, has befallen the country.
Why is Pakistan so unstable? One factor is that other countries have sought to solve the problem of the day and supported whatever atrocious leader Pakistan had at the time. While Washington and others accepted short-term compromises with autocrats, Pakistanis became more resentful and the country became more unstable.
And what is the way forward? The reinforcement of democratic institutions. A democratic Pakistan may not be our friend, but we will all be better off in the long run when the country comes to equilibrium under popularly elected leaders. The country has a moderate center, and it should hold.
