Musharraf has set no deadline for a return to democracy but has made a number of appropriate statements on press freedom and on providing a clean administration. He has said he will not tolerate religious interference in the affairs of state, reassuring words to those who thought the process of Islamisation would be accelerated under a general seeking legitimacy. He speaks of respecting the law and setting up systems and is trying to stop the misappropriation of public funds, the huge bank loans taken and never repaid by leading political and business families. All this does not add up to the restoration of democracy and Musharraf could fail on all counts but it would take an absolutist toargue that this agenda is worth nothing because civilians are not managing it. It may not be his intention but Mu-sharraf could end up changing the balance of political forces in Pakistan for the better if his drive against corruption is sustained and the feudal families' stranglehold is broken with help from a broad alliance of professional and intermediate commercial classes and the working class.
Some sort of revolution seems necessary to thrust Pakistan into the modern world.
At the very least, the power struggle should keep the entire political class busy and disinclined to undertake foreign adventures. Like the people of Pa-kistan, the world and India should wait a while and see where the military regime is taking the country.