Quotes of the Day

Last weekend, over 40 people were killed in Karachi in an orgy of murder, arson and looting. This was not unrest as usual in Pakistan. The carnage, which occurred when supporters of Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry clashed with members of a political party allied to the President, General Pervez Musharraf, has placed new pressure on Pakistan's leader to find a way out of the vicious cycle of violence in which the nation finds itself.

The root cause of the weekend conflagration goes back two months, when Musharraf suspended Chaudhry and asked the Supreme Judicial Council, which consists of senior judges, to inquire into whether the Chief Justice had misused his office to get his son into the police force and to obtain other benefits—allegations Chaudhry denies. The Chief Justice has a reputation for incorruptibility and for defending the rights of the weak. But Chaudhry has also crossed the government repeatedly. He blocked the sale of state-owned Pakistan Steel Mills, citing irregularities in the privatization process. He launched embarrassing investigations into missing persons detained by local intelligence agencies. Most importantly, the Chief Justice said publicly that he did not believe Musharraf could constitutionally continue as army chief beyond his current term as President. Coming in an election year for both the Parliament and the President, who is chosen by an electoral college comprising legislators, this statement appeared directly to challenge Musharraf's ability to maintain his simultaneous control over Pakistan's military and government.

For many Pakistanis, Chaudhry's suspension is a stark reminder of the venal, institution-destroying politics that Musharraf claimed his 1999 coup was meant to correct. Small protests in support of Chaudhry, initially by the Bar Association, were brutally suppressed by the security forces, provoking even wider outrage. News coverage was throttled as well, with local television stations not just intimidated by regulators but physically attacked by armed police officers, in a dramatic reversal of the media freedom that many liberal Pakistanis had previously hailed as one of Musharraf's most important achievements in power.

As a result, Pakistan—a frontline state in the war on terror whose stability is essential if that war is to be prosecuted with any success—is at an inflection point. An increasingly powerful opposition to Musharraf's rule has coalesced around the still-rumbling issue of the Chief Justice's suspension. It includes not just the activists of mainstream political parties such as former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party but also religious conservatives tired of being made into the scapegoats for the country's problems and progressive liberals alarmed by the increasingly dictatorial tendencies of the Musharraf regime. This opposition remains disunited, but it seems to represent a growing majority of the country's population.

Where does Pakistan go from here, and who will take it there? Chaudhry has inadvertently become a rallying point for many Pakistanis disgruntled with Musharraf's regime. Another player is Bhutto, who lives in exile after twice being dismissed from power on allegations of corruption, which she denies. But she remains easily the most popular politician in Pakistan and is therefore an essential participant in any future setup that hopes to call itself democratic. The third player is of course Musharraf, well intentioned but increasingly ill advised. He has developed an alarming inability to distinguish between his individual interests and those of the state.

Democracy failed in Pakistan in the 1990s because of army meddling, overreaching politicians and a weak judiciary. But recently a hope had been growing that this year's elections could provide the outline of a partial solution to those problems. That solution could look like this: Musharraf would step down as army chief and be re-elected for a final term as President; Bhutto, the leader of the party likely to have the largest representation in Parliament, would become Prime Minister; and Chaudhry, his suspension reversed, would serve out his remaining tenure as Chief Justice.

This partial solution has many failings, not least that it would afford Musharraf a further five years of substantial political power. But it would separate the role of President and army chief, thus allowing the military to step back from directly running the country. It would strengthen democracy by allowing the Prime Minister to speak with the real authority that comes from representing a majority of the population. And it would set a precedent for judicial independence in a land where that has been sorely lacking. If Musharraf is to have a positive role in the future of the country, he must act soon to broker a compromise with his opponents. Pakistan, a torn nation sorely in need of hope and healing, deserves nothing less.

• Mohsin Hamid