This Revolution Will Be Televized

The People’s Party’s proposed constitutional package will soon be debated in parliament. Pressure on Pervez Musharraf to resign will increase. The summer heat will be met by scheduled blackouts. At the month’s end, by-elections will take place, including the Sharif brothers as candidates. In between, the lawyers’ movement is expected to begin its long march on the 10th. But in reality, the long march has already begun. The lawyers are touring cities across Pakistan, holding large rallies well past midnight broadcast live on multiple television stations. Rather than fulfilling prophecies of their self-destruction, the lawyers are self-adjusting to changes in Pakistan’s political discourse and on-the-ground realities. Their Peshawar rally on Saturday is clear evidence of their adaptability to the increased importance of socio-economic issues, such as inflation and food shortages. PPP Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari has said that his party was elected not on the basis of restoring the deposed judges, but its original slogan: providing bread, clothing, and a home. He has also said that his goal is to restore the supremacy of the parliament. His statements were designed to demote the judges issue to the second tier. And so the major speakers at the Peshawar rally — including Iftikhar Chaudhry, Aitzaz Ahsan, and Muneer Malik — emphasized the interconnectedness of the judicial cause to these ‘tier one’ issues. Justice Iftikhar said his speech was on the how restoring parliamentary sovereignty requires the restoration of an independent judiciary. He also argued that the absence of the rule of law produces terrorism, economic exploitation, and the rule of the tyrant (the dictator and the landlord). Iftikhar and others spoke not of justice for men with powdered wigs, but for the common man. He highlighted the recent acts of vigilante ‘justice’ in Karachi, stating that ordinary citizens will take the law into their own hands if there is no institutionalized justice. The lawyers’ movement is resisting attempts to make it irrelevant or even fractured. Rather than ditching the chief justice, Aitzaz Ahsan has stood by him. In Pakistan, Aitzaz navigates somewhat delicately between his two allegiences: to the Zardari-led PPP and the lawyers’ movement. In a television interview with Nasim Zehra broadcast today, Aitzaz said that the PPP’s leadership has good intentions regarding the judges, but were recipients of “bad advice.” However, in today’s New York Times Magazine, Aitzaz hits hard at Zardari and the late Benazir Bhutto. He tells James Traub of his “disdain” (Traub’s words) for Benazir’s self-designation as the PPP’s “life chairperson.” And he says that “most” of the corruption cases against Zardari were justified. He, quite honestly, tells Traub, “The type of expenses that she had and he has are not from sources of income that can be lawfully explained and accounted for.” Traub writes that Aitzaz “recognized that the P.P.P. was itself a feudal and only marginally democratic body led by a figure accused of corruption and violence.” Aitzaz tells him that Zardari “doesn’t want independent judges. He wants dependent judges.” Aitzaz’ interview with Zehra was recorded before the magazine article came out, so Aitzaz’s controversional comments were not discussed. But the story could cause a bit of a storm in Pakistan on Monday. Aitzaz will likely say that he was misquoted and continue to profess his allegiance to the Zardari-led PPP till he reaches the decisive point where his two paths ultimately split. Aitzaz and his fellow lawyers are not going to back down any time soon. Justice Iftikhar (via Tariq Mahmood) was offered and flatly refused a seat at the International Court of Justice by U.S. Ambassador Anne Patterson (which Aitzaz mentioned in his Peshawar speech). A prisoner for much of 2007, will he and his cause be victorious in 2008? It’s difficult to say. But what is clear is that the path will likely be drawn out and messy.