It has been a busy few days for President and former General Pervez Musharraf. He has announced December 16 as the date for the lifting of Emergency and the rescinding of the PCO. Earlier he finally dispensed with the uniform and passed on the baton of Chief of Army Staff (COAS) to General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani. Going by what he said in an interview on a private TV channel sometime back Musharraf foresees a return to the troika mode of governance with the two of them acting in concert. The implication, of course being that the third member of the troika i.e., the elected prime minister will simply have to fall into line. How this cosy scenario actually plays out across Pakistan’s turbulent political landscape remains to be seen.From the point of view of political parties the obvious question is whether to press their advantage arising from Musharraf’s weakened position and boycott the elections in the hope of depriving them of all legitimacy or to contest and work together for securing greater space in the political system. The first option would be preferable if boycott did not simply mean passive rejection of the electoral process and the parties felt confident of sustaining a movement in the streets to force the issue. Prima facie that does not appear to be the case. There is also the risk that before long such a movement passes into the hands of religio-political hardliners. And to assume that the legal fraternity can indefinitely carry the ball on the streets is simply unrealistic and unfair. The media, too, has put up a good fight and its role will remain crucial in the coming weeks. But for now it has decided to exploit the space that it has created for itself and is struggling to expand it. It is refusing to accept PEMRA, the Press Council Ordinance and other means for stifling the freedom of the media and the right of expression. Almost all channels have returned, including Geo (though not for Pakistani viewers), the last remaining off the air. And the talk show anchors that the regime found unacceptable will have to be brought back. Meanwhile as the meetings being held under the auspices of the PFUJ, SAFMA and other related bodies demonstrate, the media has no intention of accepting the ‘regulatory’ framework that the government has attempted to confine it within. As matters stand, the PPP and the JUI have declared their intent to contest the elections while the PMLN along with some of the other parties in the APDM has announced a boycott, in principle. Whether, eventually, both mainstream parties end up contesting the elections remains to be seen. A key demand of the PMLN and other mainstream parties is the reinstatement of the deposed judges. There is no doubt that their reinstatement has profound implications for state and society and should in fact take precedence over most other issues. The only question is how is this to be ensured. In case of a boycott, we know for sure that the PMLQ and the MQM as well as the JUI along with a large number of Independent candidates will be in the field. A Parliament and provincial assemblies stuffed with their members and the military backing them does not seem like a desirable outcome from the point of view of those seeking a more democratic and less militarised dispensation. At this point, then, it seems that legitimate misgivings notwithstanding, participating in the elections may be the least bad option. Regardless of the choices different parties make, it would be a great loss if the opposition parties end up charging each other with betrayal and leave Musharraf holding the ring. The Charter of Democracy may not mean much to either side anymore but there has been a significant lack of rancour between the PPP and the PMLN over these last few months. They should build on it. In any case, a poor showing on the part of the PMLQ will restrict the room for manoeuvre of Musharraf as a civilian president. He may contend that he is now above the fray but there is little doubt in anyone’s mind that the PMLQ is his party. Obviously if rigging goes beyond the standard operating procedure and reaches high levels of ‘transparency,’ the elections will not have any legitimacy anyway, and all the parties could end up boycotting. Among the things that the parties may want to commit to on a common minimum agenda is the reinstatement of the deposed judges. To a question about them, Benazir Bhutto responded by saying that ‘our struggle is not for individuals but for independence of the judiciary’. It is a position that misses a key point. Individuals are important and at times critical in making the institution into what it is. What the judiciary, courageously and decisively supported by the lawyers, has done will find few precedents anywhere in the world, not just in Pakistan. To hope that an institution can lose so many key men of conscience at its highest echelons and remain unscathed as an institution is simply untenable.If the next Parliament for whatever reason is unable or unwilling to right this wrong, the lawyers and the media as well as the rest of civil society should keep the issue alive for as long as it takes. Eventually, they must be reinstated, even if it takes an Act of Parliament to do so. Meanwhile, I am not quite sure how their cases can be declared as closed, via a recent judgment, under the Doctrine of Past and Closed Transaction. I was under the impression that ‘transaction’ required agreement or compromise between two or more parties. Postscript: The brutal treatment meted out to the lawyers can also be gauged from how some of the better-known ones have been treated. Aitzaz Ahsan and Ali Kurd have been under house arrest having suffered solitary confinement and worse. Justice Tariq Mahmood had to be hospitalised. And the worst treatment has been meted out to Muneer Malik who has had to be put on dialysis due to kidney failure. A poster with his picture speaking from a hospital bed says it all: tortured, terrorised but not silenced. Abbas Rashid is a freelance journalist and political analyst whose career has included editorial positions in various Pakistani newspapers