Pakistani President Musharraf Willing to Share Power

In 1999, Pervez Musharraf took control of Pakistan with a Military coup and in 2001, instated himself as the President of Pakistan. And, he had been ruling ever since. Numerous high ranking officials in Pakistan were sent into exile by Musharraf, but, after numerous years, they returned to Pakistan. On February 18, there will be a very important Parliamentary election that will allow for a transition from a military government to a civilian government.

Mahmud Ali Durrani, the Pakistani Ambassador, said that President Musharraf’s political party (the Pakistan Muslim League-Q or PML-Q) said that it would be willing to work with any other political party to try and form a coalition that might create that necessary government. For so long, Pakistan has been run by a military government, but ever since Musharraf stepped down as army chief of staff, the power will go to the Prime Minister rather than the President.

The ambassador stressed that this election would allow a Prime Minister to run the government without the behind the scenes control of President Musharraf. I don’t normally put my opinion into the news, but I think that this could really prove useful for Pakistan. A coalition of all of the political parties of the Pakistani parliament could allow for some great advances in Pakistan. We’ll have to see, though, if the Pakistan People’s Party who was headed by Mrs. Bhutto before her assassination on December 27th. She had once said that she’d never work with Musharraf’s party; however, now that Musharraf is willing to work with the others, perhaps Bhutto’s husband and son might be willing to work along with the rest of the coalition. We’ll keep you posted on the details.