The new parliament is in. Pakistan has a female speaker of the National Assembly, a first; arch-rivals PPP and PMLN are in the kip having solemnised the marriage in Murree on March 9; the erstwhile king’s party has conceded defeat; and everyone, including Bertie Wooster and Aunts Agatha and Dahlia, is calling the slain Benazir Bhutto a martyr. Is this the Garden of Eden?

No, if we go by Ted Hughes’ Apple Tragedy. Utopias have a way of going to hell and in this garden slither many a serpent, each with the potential to do mischief.

Meanwhile, only General (retd) Pervez Musharraf could have managed to get former foes to hug, kiss and make up, though neither is prepared to thank him for it as Musharraf prepares to write his own epitaph.

The prosaic question is: can the new government, whenever it gets its prime minister, deliver? Here is the list in no particular order and comprising only some broad points: terrorism; straightening the kinks in the Constitution; centre-province relations and power-sharing (with specific reference to Balochistan); the economy; price hike; power shortages; foreign policy, especially relations with the United States in the context of the war on terror; and last, but not the least, the army’s role in the polity.

None of this can be taken care of simply by having a parliament. Democracy is a necessary but not sufficient condition for tackling issues that have hung fire for long. In some cases, in the short run, it may actually hinder rather than facilitate important decisions.

... contd.