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Pakistan: farewell to Musharaff and a warning to the radicals

20/02/2008 By Mariano Aguirre

A Pakistani honour guard lowers the national flag during a ceremony at the Wagah border post with India.
Liu Jin / AFP / Getty Images
The elections scheduled for February 18 in Pakistan should bring, albeit with difficulty, some stability to the country, but they have also made clear the people’s will on two key issues.

Firstly, they put an end to the political career of General Pervez Musharraf, and to a certain extent, the military authorities that continue to control the country. And secondly, they show the radical Islamists that, despite the corruption, poor leadership and bureaucracy of the political parties, the population prefers the risks of secularism to living according to the orthodox letter of religious law.

Political instability has bedevilled Pakistan over the course of its six decades, with a series of military coups, assassinations and corruption, not to mention conflicts between the civil and military sectors, secularism and Islamism, and between central power and the ethnic groups that dominate the various provinces.

The connection between Pakistan and Afghanistan, the dispute with India over Kashmir, ethnic divisions and the growth of radical Islam have all served to place the country in the centre of the current global crisis.

In this FRIDE Comment, Mariano Aguirre explores the context of the elections and the challenges that lie ahead for Pakistan on its journey towards stability and democracy.


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Projects

Afghanistan and Pakistan: a region in crisis

Keywords

Elections Islam Pakistan Political Reform South Asia

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Bio author: Mariano Aguirre

Mariano Aguirre is Director of the Norwegian Peacebuilding Centre in Oslo, and a fellow of the Transnational Institute. Former Director of Peace, Security and Human Rights at FRIDE.