Pakistan: Justice and the general

[Flabbergasted]

The Economist
Aug 27th 2007
http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9709203
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SOMETHING is eating Aitzaz Ahsan. He is a new star, a hero of a trampled-upon democracy—the most popular man in Pakistan, some say. With an election looming, Mr Ahsan, a lawyer and member of the opposition Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), should be pitching for greatness. So why, sitting in his charmingly chaotic chambers in Lahore, amid stacks of paper smelling faintly of mildew in the monsoon air, does Mr Ahsan look so glum?

First, some background. Mr Ahsan acted for Pakistan’s chief justice, Iftikhar Chaudhry, in a legal stand-off with General Pervez Musharraf that may have changed Pakistani history. In March General Musharraf tried to sack Mr Chaudhry. It seems he wanted a pliable top judge, which Mr Chaudhry, a vain and stubborn man, was not. But, in an act of civilian defiance previously unknown in Pakistan, Mr Chaudhry refused to go.

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The photo shows Mr Ahsan microphone in hand, denouncing General Musharraf’s rule. And indeed, it was he who took the CJ’s battle to the masses. Mr Chaudhry, his lawyer concedes, is not much of a public speaker. Mr Ahsan is. And for this reason alone, no one won richer congratulations than he last month when the CJ was reinstated by his peers. So why the long face, Mr Ahsan?

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Here is a glory of Pakistani politics. Even during two stints at the helm of Pakistan, Ms Bhutto, the leader of Pakistan’s biggest and most liberal party, was willing to co-operate with the generals who man its guns. Now marooned, a fugitive in Dubai for almost a decade, she has looked ready to compromise again—if General Musharraf would only let her clamber back on-board.