[Reader-list] PK - Fwd: [PR] Nicholas Kristof, NYT: "In Pakistan...perhaps we can aspire to a second-rate president monitored by an independent judiciary and a vibrant civil society."

[yasir ~يا سر]

March 17, 2009, 11:06 am
In Pakistan, Shakespeare Was Wrong
By Nicholas Kristof
<
http://kristof.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/17/in-pakistan-shakespeare-was-wrong/
>

Shakespeare’s line about lawyers from Henry VI — “the first thing we
do, let’s kill all the lawyers” — was gravely misguided, as least as
concerns Pakistan. Like almost anyone who has spent time in Pakistan,
I love the country and its people but am horrified at the direction it
has been going. And the big problem, I think, is awful leadership.
>From General Zia on, Pakistan has mostly had particularly wretched
leaders who combine arrogance, incompetence, corruption and
indifference. Some have been a bit better than others, others worse,
but there’s no one on the scene right now who inspires much
confidence.

Yet we’re beginning at least to see a more assertive civil society
that can check the rulers and hold them accountable. The news media
are one element of that civil society, but perhaps the most important
in the last couple of years has been the lawyers and the judiciary.
One of the Bush administration’s great mistakes was that it didn’t
back up the lawyers’ movement led by Aitzaz Ahsan, seeking the
restoration of the Supreme Court chief justice, Iftikar Chaudhury (one
of the few Pakistani elites who seems to care deeply about injustices
suffered by the poor). Now the chief justice seems set to return, and
that’s a great day for Pakistan.

The best thing for Pakistan would be a first-rate president. But if we
can’t have that — and neither Asif Zardari nor Nawaz Sharif qualifies
— then perhaps we can aspire to a second-rate president monitored by
an independent judiciary and a vibrant civil society.

(UPDATE: some readers have noted that Shakespeare meant the line
ironically. True. Likewise, I meant my headline ironically.)

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