Impeachment in Islamabad?

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf is to face impeachment at the hands of the now opposition run Parliament, according to news reports. Impeachment would require 2/3rds of both houses of the Pakistani Parliament, something Musharraf's allies are saying is going to be hard to get. The opposition, however, is confident they can get it, which potentially opens up a whole new chapter on the latest mess in Pakistan.

The problem, especially in that part of the world is that state identity is important. India is (outwardly at least) secular and Hindu. Pakistan, therefore was thrust into sort of the antithesis of India (less secular and Muslim) and of the two, India's managed it better. I think part of the problem springs from the fact that Pakistan came out of Jinnah's head instead of from some semblance of historical continuity. Pakistan's leaders, therefore had to invent a state identity from scratch, pretty much and instability has resulted.

(If you think the state identity thing isn't all it's cracked up to be- look at Africa in 20 years and come back and talk to me. It's going to be a huge problem there as countries grapple with the fact that their borders were drawn regardless of ethnic demographics and more because of some old, fat man white man ran a pen across a map randomly.)

But Pakistan: their state identity was carved out of three things-
1. A fear of India.
2. Muslim identity.

So it's 1948 and who's going to defend Pakistan from the big bad Indians? The army that's who- who needs politicians when your army is the defender of the nation. It's a dangerous notion and one that Pakistan has yet to evolve beyond. We see a pattern in military intervention whenever there's a democratic breakdown in the country.

And because Pakistan came into being out of thin air, not unlike Athena springing from the head of Zeus (though in this case, the head of Jinnah) there were a variety of ethnic groups and provincial groups flung into a country- and what did they all have in common? They were all Muslim.

The army defends the nation, the religion holds it together.

So with this latest development, we gotta ask: are the politicians strong enough to push Musharraf out and have him stay out? Pakistan's record is mixed at best, so there could be bumpy roads ahead. They may impeach him- but will it take?