March 15th, 2009 1:27 pm
A Democratic Moment in Pakistan?
The street demonstrations of the "long march" to Islamabad and the clashes in several towns and cities are a shining moment for Pakistanis in their perilous journey towards democracy.
This is especially a moment when no third country should interfere in the process.
The US is already unwisely injecting itself into this process. But ordinary Pakistanis, their lawyers and their political leaders are showing again that they can handle their own affairs.
The Pakistanis deserve praise for their civic participation.
It is hoped that these civil society efforts will bring back an independent judiciary and reinstate the judges removed by Musharraf.
I fervently hope that ordinary Pakistanis will try civil disobedience and non-violence as effective strategies, lessons we learned and practiced across the border in India early on in our own making of an unprecedented democracy (oh yes, still flawed but an admirable and astonishing work in progress).
US and NATO out of South Asia, ASAP.
Chithra KarunaKaran
Ethical Democracy As Lived Practice
http://EthicalDemocracy.blogspot.com
— EthicalDemocracy, New York, NY
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Mass Demonstration Defies Pakistani Government
Police officers clashed with protesters in Lahore on Sunday as government efforts to suppress a demonstration collapsed.
By JANE PERLEZ
Published: March 15, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/16/world/asia/16pstan.html?hp
New York Times Copyright
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http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Break-in-Pak-ranks-Sharif-heads-for-capital/articleshow/4268109.cms
Times of India copyright
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/15/AR2009031500096_Comments.html
Pakistan Security Forces, Protesters Clash Amid Growing Unrest
By Pamela Constable
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/15/AR2009031500096.html?hpid=topnews
Washington Post copyright
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