The PPP: Not As Democratic as You Think
This pretty much says it all:
Unlikely lad thrust into the limelight by fate | Special reports | Guardian Unlimited
Described by friends and relatives as a reserved and polite young man, Bilawal initially rejected the job that was thrust upon him yesterday. "He didn't want to do it. He wanted to continue his studies," admitted Ali Jafri, an uncle whose task it was to "prepare" the teenage dauphin for the role.
Ultimately there was little choice. The inexperienced Oxford student accepted the job with a short speech in which he urged the party to work "for the poor downtrodden people of Pakistan", according to Zulfikar Ali Mirza, a family friend who was present.
He also urged those present to "run the party democratically" - an ironic touch given that his mother was "chairperson for life" and he himself was selected without a vote.
The fact is, now that the dust has settled, that Benazir Bhutto herself may not have been the best choice for Pakistan. She was tainted by political incompetence and scandal during her tenure in the 1990s, and in 2007 was merely a puppet thrust upon the nation by Western powers desperate to manage the deteriorating situation.
Apparently nepotism, not meritocracy, is the modus operandi of the PPP. That's no surprise in South Asia - look at the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty in India's Congress. Christ Church undergraduate Bilawal Bhutto is hardly an Alexander the Great figure and could well suffer the same fate as Rajiv Gandhi, another quiet man who sought no limelight yet had greatness thrust upon him and suffered for it.
Pakistan is one of the most dangerously fractured societies you could care to mention. Poor Bilwal is hardly even a true-blue Pakistani - due to his mother's exile he didn't grow up there, despite his heritage. The chances that he can hold it together are remote. Worse still, Bilawal's father Asif Ali Zardari is a bad egg in the same vein as Nawaz Sharif, yet it will be he that takes the reins for real.
The people thus have no real democratic choice: it is the devil or the deep blue sea for them now. The devils they know, Musharraf and Sharif, are no longer good for the country: the PPP will win the election due to the wave of populist support following Benazir's death (whether by bomb, bullet or blow to the head is irrelevant - the result of the assassination attempt was the same). Yet many voters will still turn away from a party that lacks both leadership and genuine credibility.
The PPP is now weaker and more discredited than ever, and the ISI and the army will soon undermine it. That will leave a gap for the Islamists, who may already see gains to their parliamentary seats in the wake of seething anti-Americanism. So ultimately, it is political Islam that will benefit from 'democracy' in Pakistan, just as Hamas gained in Palestine.
Not all political Islamists are Taliban or 'Al Qaeda'. But it's not going to help.
