Pakistani leadership can bring far-reaching reforms through political will

WASHINGTON: The Pakistani leadership can enact far-reaching democratic reforms through demonstration of political will as February 18 polls have produced a unique opportunity for such a transformation, US experts returning from a just-concluded visit to the country said.
The experts, who belong to various Washington think tanks, interacted with a cross-section of the Pakistani society and found a widespread desire for democratic progress and reforms at this defining moment for the nation.
Mostly, the participants sharing their “Impressions from post-election Pakistan” at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies also saw recognition of the urgency to address a staggering stock of the country’s problems on part of the new coalition leadership.
Ambassador Teresita Schaffer, who had several diplomatic assignments in South Asia in her career, sparked the discussion with observation that Pakistan is in a “moment of transition” and that by virtue of staying power of the new government, there may be “greater potential for remedying institutional problems.”
So the window of opportunity, she said, is being viewed as something that should not be missed. Glenn Cowan, co-founder and CEO of Democracy International, pointed out the need for a “lot of work to be done for electoral reforms” and stressed it would require demonstration of political will on part of leaders. He particularly underlined the importance of introducing greater democracy within the parties.
Rick Barton, who specializes in International Security Programme at the CSIS, said he found the Pakistanis oozing confidence about the fact that they see a real turning point in the current moment.
“The Pakistani leaders want to do things, they feel since the public is backing them, they can deliver—the public leaders are now having a higher degree of responsibility, some are even performing beyond expectations,” he said, citing the new government leaders getting down to business in various fields.
Barton referred to the government’s paying immediate attention to put the economic house in order and Awami National Party’s launch of negotiations with militants for a way out of extremist violence and said the new leaders have taken up a raft of tough issues quickly.
“The capacity is there - the advantage of a big country is there, a lot of talent, a real recognition of its problems, and willingness to take responsibility.” Brian Katulis, a senior fellow at American Progress, felt while balance of power, restoration of superior court judges and reforms are paramount issues in the year ahead, if not resolved basic issues like food shortages, inflation and poverty could affect the political course and overtake other priorities.
Gerald Hyman, president of the CSIS’s Hills Programme on Governance concluded from his wide-ranging interactions that “support for democracy is quite deep among Pakistanis and there is a broad support for going back to 1973 Constitution.”
Discussing governance issues, he said the government will have to address a sense of injustice as well as security and rule of law questions.
On the fight against terrorism, the American experts sensed an “overall push” to move beyond the war on terror to ownership of security issues. The Pakistanis say they have suffered a lot on account of counterterrorism actions.
Karin Von Hippel, a senior fellow at the CSIS, said as stated by Pakistanis, the objective behind the pacts approach is to isolate foreign terrorist elements. She noted there is skepticism about the outcome of peace deals with militants in the United States because of the past experiences. However, she said, Washington should work cooperatively with Pakistan and help develop greater expertise of the South Asian country in curbing terrorism.
Speaking on the issue, Katulis remarked that US assistance $ 750 million assistance for development of the federally administered tribal areas may be a grand strategy but hardly seemed enough in the face of enormity of the challenge.
In the context of Pakistan’s foreign relations with regional and world powers, Ambassador Schaffer said Pakistan-India problems have not completely disappeared and added Islamabad’s apprehensions with Afghanistan are very much connected with India.
The US, she said, has mostly realized the shift of power in Pakistan. For the US, she stated, anti-terrorism remains a major concern in the region.
“The rule of law is a high priority in Pakistan - it should be a high priority with the outsiders as well,” she said.