I was glad to see Jon Wallace write about the continued unraveling of Pakistan over the holiday period. However, I wanted to raise a question about one part of the post. Jon wrote:

“The last two prime ministers, Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, enjoy little support in the country (though there have been talks of bringing Bhutto back in a power sharing arrangement) and, to make matters worse, parts of the country are going through a “Talibanization”.
Talking with a close Pakistani friend, and policy/political operator, about Bhutto I found his reaction interesting – while he is no fan of Benazir, he felt that if she returned and stood in free and fair elections her party would win handily.

I tend to agree with his analysis and believe that U.S. policy should include a push for full democratic elections as soon as possible. While some will fear that there is a risk involved with such a move, it seems that the status quo is not something we can live with.

I also wanted to share this comment with you – taken from www.jinnah21.com:

“Religious parties in Pakistan have never been able to get more than 12-15% of the vote in any fairly held general elections, a fact consistently ignored, to their own peril, by the policy makers in United States. They are not expected to do any better if elections later this year were to be fair and all parties and politicians were allowed to participate freely. However, the religious parties have gained steadily under Musharraf. They now enjoy the kind of status they could not have dreamed of in a democratic Pakistan. Contrary to widely held views, military dictators have always needed the support of religious parties and vice versa. Under a dictatorial rule these parties have historically flourished. Both the religious parties and military rulers hold any real credibility with the people of Pakistan, therefore need each other’s support for survival.”

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