Pakistan's Hope Still Under House Arrest

By Cernig

Mona Eltahawy writes at the Washington Post's "Post Global" today, in a "warts and all" personal recollection of Benazir Bhutto, that the real alternative to military rule or Islamist unrest may be:

Iftikhar Chaudhry, chief justice of Pakistan’s Supreme Court, who has been under house arrest since November 3rd. Musharraf imprisoned dozens of judges and lawyers when he declared Emergency Law in late October because they represent a potent liberal opposition that is not tainted by corruption charges and do not have an Islamist bogeyman among them to obligingly frighten his western allies, who seem to believe he really is leading the War on Terror.

Chaudhry and the lawyers are Pakistan’s best hope. Pakistan needs them, as does a Muslim world hungry for a different kind of leadership – one that Bhutto seemed to represent in those early days of promise.

As the Pakistani government tries to spin the narrative from "who killed Bhutto" into "how did Bhutto die" with some muddying of the evidentiary waters - with a high pressure hose - it's worth trying to keep our eyes on the actual problem.