PAKISTAN EXULTED yesterday in a victory for democracy and people power, after a popular protest movement forced the authorities to back down in a standoff with opposition forces and reinstate the country’s top judicial official.
A confrontation over the chief justice, Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry, first erupted two years ago and was heading for an ominous denouement this week with thousands marching on the capital, Islamabad. But the crisis was defused at the last minute when the government of President Asif Ali Zardari agreed to reinstate the supreme court chief.
The move promises to inject some political consensus into a country struggling against extremist violence, a collapsing economy and a political showdown that have raised questions about the government’s ability to provide stability and democracy.
Ever since he was ousted two years ago by then president and army chief Pervez Musharraf, Mr Chaudhry and the dry notion of judicial independence had become the key political issue in Pakistan. Previous rallies had ended in bloody confrontation, as Mr Musharraf held firm.
But Mr Zardari’s government, under intense pressure from both inside and outside the country, buckled yesterday and agreed to a deal brokered by the army and western allies. The prime minister made a televised address to the nation at 6am local time, declaring Mr Chaudhry would be made chief justice again.
“This is the first victory for the people in the history of Pakistan,” said Hamid Khan, a leader of the lawyers’ movement that has campaigned tirelessly for Chaudhry. “This is the first time the ruling elite had to bow to the pressure of the people.” Jubilation broke out in city centres across Pakistan.
Lawyers danced in the streets to celebrate Mr Chaudhry’s reinstatement. The chief justice’s house in Islamabad was transformed into a spontaneous carnival that lasted into the night. Lawyers, political activists and many ordinary Pakistanis thronged around the home, with drums being played, flags waved and loud chanting of slogans against Zardari and for the lawyers’ cause.
“Rule of law has won,” said lawyer Shahzad Riaz (22) outside Mr Chaudhry’s home. “If there’s no rule of law, there is no justice, no unity, no nation.”
The army and western allies had previously backed Mr Zardari’s government against the lawyers. However, the protest gained so much support, particularly after opposition leader Nawaz Sharif threw his full weight behind it last month, that the military, Washington and London, eventually pushed Mr Zardari to give way.
The demonstrators have focused their anger on Mr Zardari, who succeeded his late wife, Benazir Bhutto, as head of the Pakistan Peoples party but remains a controversial figure inside and outside his party.
Mr Zardari gambled the chief justice issue would not catch the popular imagination and he upped the stakes by last month dismissing the provincial government in the Punjab, which had been run by Mr Sharif’s party. His aides admitted he had miscalculated, creating a political crisis for which the public squarely blamed the president. Both Mr Musharraf and Mr Zardari underestimated the role Pakistan’s media would play, broadcasting sympathetic coverage of the lawyers’ movement.
Mr Sharif was revelling in victory last night. It was his departure from Lahore on Sunday, with a large convoy of supporters, to join the march on Islamabad that seemed to panic the government. The administration relented, announcing it would challenge a legal bar on Mr Sharif standing for office.
“From here, God willing, the fate of this nation will change,” Mr Sharif said, speaking to followers in his home province of Punjab. “From here, a journey of development will start. From here, a revolution will come.”