The United States has now decided to respect the wishes of Pakistani voters and has finally given a go-ahead to the two main winners to resolve all the issues according to the wishes of their voters, including the issue of the deposed Supreme Court judges.
US diplomats, who met some top leaders of PPP and PML-N in the last two days, have conveyed the view that the restoration of the deposed judges was an internal issue of Pakistan and the US would not interfere in any internal political or legal issue.
Spokesperson of the US Embassy in Pakistan, Elizabeth Colton, made it clear on Friday that US diplomats were meeting the politicians just to understand the ground situation and for supporting the democracy.
She said: “The US ambassador and other US Embassy officials regularly meet with representatives of various political parties, and continue to do so. We continue to express our support of the democratic transition.”
When The News asked that why US considered Musharraf indispensable for its interests in Pakistan, she responded: “Through the electoral process, the Pakistani people have expressed their views. It is up to those elected to form a government. We hope that Pakistan’s political leaders will work together to advance a common agenda and meet the challenges ahead. We look forward to working with that government, whoever its leaders will be.”
Observers said it was clear that the Zardari-Nawaz alliance announced on Thursday night had forced the US to change its position on supporting Musharraf, who had announced a few days ago that restoration of the judges was not possible.
In response to a question as to why the US is opposing the restoration of Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and some other judges, spokesperson Colton said: “The United States has stated its support for an independent media and an independent judiciary. Pakistan’s judicial issue is a matter for Pakistanis to address.” It is learnt that Bush administration conveyed serious reservations about Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry to the leadership of the PPP when late Benazir Bhutto had announced her support for the deposed CJ.
After the surprising election results, US officials started meeting PPP and PML-N leaders and listened to their views on the restoration of judges. PML-N said that if some American judges could release prisoners from Guantanamo Bay, then why a Pakistani judge could not order the release of a person who was thrown behind bars many years ago and no charge was proved against him.
Initially, the restoration of judges became a hurdle in the way of a coalition between the PPP and the PML-N but finally wisdom prevailed and PPP co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari saved the boat from being rocked. It is no secret in the capital that some intelligence agencies and their collaborators in media tried their level best to create misunderstandings between the PPP and PML-N but the leadership on both the sides proved that they had learnt their lessons from their past mistakes and confrontations.
Zardari and Nawaz Sharif agreed to restore the judges through parliament and forced the US to accept this democratic decision. The US government still has some reservations on the suo moto powers of the judges but PML-N leaders have clearly said to them that this was also our internal issue.
A joint press conference of Asif Ali Zardari and Nawaz Sharif on Thursday gave the impression that both of them were not ready to play in the hands of their enemies. They agreed that the restoration of judges would provide some immediate credibility to the new coalition government and after that they would start fighting with inflation and price hike.
Nawaz Sharif and Asif Ali Zardari will soon meet again and discuss about a joint meeting with King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. They will request Saudi Arabia to help in stabilising the oil prices for two to three years so that the new elected government could have some relief.