Enough change? Yes. Improved governance and policy-making? No.

Let’s take one benchmark, the issue that sat in the middle of Pakistani politics for almost a year-and-half: judges’ restoration.

The lawyers wouldn’t give up. They also got the support of civil society actors. Even the political parties lent support to their cause. This was when Musharraf was still around. After the elections, the two largest parties, the PPP and the PMLN, went into a coalition and signed the now infamous Murree Declaration.

The PPP kept dithering on the restoration issue, frustrating the PMLN which had made it the central slogan of its electioneering. Zardari then delivered the coup de grace. The PMLN also wanted to get rid of Musharraf. How about getting the PMLN support to oust Musharraf and then let the judges fall by the wayside?

The PMLN fell for it, not realising that the sting lay in the sequence. It was passionate about booting out Musharraf and it couldn’t say no to PPP efforts to get rid of the hated general. With Musharraf out of the way, Zardari could play and play he did, getting most parties to support his bid for presidency and isolating the PMLN.

But becoming president also meant the enhanced powers of the president would remain within the Constitution. And they have. The king is dead, long live the king.

Meanwhile, back channel efforts were already on to convince the judges to return and be “reappointed” through a new oath which, for all practical purposes, endorses Musharraf’s November 3 actions. The PPP government knew that if they could get a few judges back, human nature and the compulsions of a system being what they are, most would return. And they have. Those who remain steadfast are martyrs in the cause. They can beget poems and paeans but not much else. And it is much else that Pakistan needs.

... contd.