Pak Election - River of Freedom reaches the Sea of Betrayal

Musharraf's party was routed at the polls. An apparent manifestation of a sea of change sweeping the world and a confirmation of a reversal of the trend that swept the world when religious parties dominated: Christian Fundamentalist helping Bush, Islamist gaining power in Pakistan, BJP dominating India and Jewish right wingers controlling Israel.

The lawyers and the civil movement sought a resignation of Musharraf. Zardari and Nawaz, propelled into the heights of powers, on the backs of the sacrifice of the civil movement and the murder of Benazir, boldly proclaimed that the dawn of freedom had arrived in Pakistan, and while Musharraf's ouster may not be imminent, restoration of the Judiciary was certainly in the cards.

For the people of Pakistan the concern was not so much as to whether the opposition could work with each other. The concern was, that given their history of corruption, whether they will sell out to Musharraf and seek to form a government with Musharraf's support.

While the ruling coalition proclaimed that this would not happen, their coalition has split on the very subject that led to Musharraf's defeat. If Zardari believes he can now ignore, a la Musharraf, the anguish of the civil movement, he does so at his peril. If he believes he can rule with the blessings of Mush and Bush, this would not just be naive it would also be a betrayal of the movement that brought him into power and will undoubtedly lead to another round of chaos and pandemonium.