Stressing that it is hard to see the return of former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto to her homeland as a victory for democracy, a leading American newspaper has asked Washington to help the Pakistan People's Party leader and the Islamic nation to "truly move towards democracy".
"After belatedly recognising that the general's misrule was dangerously strengthening, not weakening extremist forces in Pakistan, Washington helped engineer the deal that permitted Bhutto's return. Now, it must help her and Pakistan truly move toward democracy," the New York Times said.
Stating that the return of the PPP leader was "painstakingly choreographed," the paper noted that Bhutto got "swift and horrifying" reminder of how close Pakistan is to the brink and what is she up against when explosions ripped through the crowd near her motorcade.
In the worst ever terror strike in Pakistan, 165 people were killed and over 500 others injured when two bombs occured targeting Bhutto during her homecoming procession in Karachi on Thursday night, but she escaped unhurt.
Bhutto, who was on her way to Pakistan's founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah's mausoleum after arriving in Pakistan following eight years in self-exile, was immediately rescued and whisked away to her residence Bilawal House.
In regard to her return, the paper said it was the result of a "dubious deal" with General Pervez Musharraf that grants him another five years in the presidency.
"Nor is it a great triumph for the rule of law, since, in exchange for playing ball with the general, Bhutto has been handed a convenient amnesty that wipes out serious corruption charges dating back to her years as prime minister. Without that protection, she would have risked possible imprisonment by returning home," the Times said in an editorial.
Letting Bhutto back in to lead her party's ticket in the soon-to-be-held parliamentary elections, the New York Times added, is an "important step forward" for a country that has been "subjected to eight years of essentially one-man rule and has grown ever more polarised."
Bhutto's greatest challenge, the Times said, will be to redeem this "tawdry trade-off" by using her popularity and skills to leverage this modest political opening into something resembling genuine democracy.
"Her first step should be to insist that those parliamentary elections are open to all, including her longtime political rival Nawaz Sharif, another former prime minister. His previous tenure, like hers, was badly flawed. But they are Pakistan's two most popular politicians, and without the participation of both of them there can be no Pakistani democracy," the paper wrote.
Stressing that Washington's help will be crucial in this effort, the Times said for too long it has coddled General Musharraf for his supposedly stalwart policies against the Taliban and Al Qaeda.
But recently, those policies have seemed "scarcely more credible" than his "hollow promises" to accept the constraints of law and democracy or his commitment to free elections.