An ambassador goes missing
The disappearance the other day of Pakistan's ambassador to Kabul together with the abduction of two nuclear experts raises fresh and very alarming questions about conditions in Pakistan at present. The feeling cannot be ignored that chaos may be overtaking the country. One certainly hopes that that does not actually happen. In these past many months, with terrorism and religious militancy taking an acute turn for the worse, concerns have grown in the region as well as beyond it of the threats that Islamabad faces from a diversity of forces at this point. With the internal political situation already thrown into turmoil by the assassination of Benazir Bhutto in December last year, the external threats symbolised by the creeping entry of the Taliban as also al-Qaeda have now brought the country to the edge of uncertainty.
The point that emerges from all this is clear. The regime of General Pervez Musharraf, for all its claims to legitimacy as brought about by the re-election of the president a few months ago, finds itself in a beleaguered state. Indeed, a bunker mentality is increasingly coming to define the state of things in Islamabad. At this point, therefore, it is important that all efforts be made to turn the situation around. And that is possible through everyone involved, from the president down to the political parties, doing all they can to have a democratic order restored in the country. It is in light of such a desire that the elections scheduled for 18 February must be held in a manner that is transparent and therefore acceptable to all Pakistanis. Obviously, one does not expect an election to solve Pakistan's problems overnight. But what a credible election can do is send out a significant message to extremists and their kind that they cannot get away with their sinister acts with impunity. Democracy offers a way out for nations troubled on many fronts. Let that path to the future be taken in Pakistan, in all the sagacity its leading political figures can call forth.
Meanwhile, all efforts must be expended in the search for the missing ambassador and the two nuclear experts. Those responsible for their disappearance will be doing a most civilised thing by freeing them, for no political purpose has ever been served through acts that are manifestly criminal.
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