Pakistan Media Hails Egyptian's Morsi's Victory

Islamabad, June 27, IRNA – Pakistani newspapers have hailed the election victory of Mohammad Morsi Eissa al-Ayat of the Freedom and Justice Party and said his success is ‘heartening for all democracies across the Islamic world’. Two leading newspapers hoped that Morsi will unite all Egyptians as he himself promised in his maiden speech to the national after his victory. He bagged 51.71 percent of the votes in the run-off elections held on July 16-17, defeating his rival, General (retd) Ahmed Shafik. Daily The Nation in its editorial referred to Mohammad Mursi’s address to the nation after his election, in which he tried to dispel fears that Egypt might come in the grip of unusually harsh laws when he declared that he was President “for all Egyptians”. Considering the vision of Muslim Brotherhood about what the Egyptian society should look like, there is not the remotest chance that the Taliban-type rule of Afghanistan would have any place in the mind of the newly elected President. The daily said Morsi would, in all likelihood, follow the pattern of governance set by Turkey’s AKP, known as the Justice and Development Party, in power today i.e. a progressive and dynamic country unencumbered by foreign interference and geared to holding the national interests supreme. “His biggest problem would be how to undo the constitutional provisions that are contained in the interim constitution and which strengthen the hold of the military,” it said. The Arab Spring as a result of which elections took place in Egypt, the most populous Middle Eastern country and the Arab world’s cultural capital with a long and glorious past, provides a clear indication that the people want to get rid of the dictatorial past. “The success of Egypt’s Mr Morsi, is heartening for all democracies across the Islamic world. In the struggle and brave resilience of the Egyptian people, we see a hope for the future. Years of dictatorial duress undone by the will of the people, a beautiful sight indeed,” the daily said. Another Pakistani daily The Express Tribune said the biggest challenge Morsi faces is that of uniting the disparate political forces in Egypt to keep the military at bay. “Just because Morsi belongs to the Muslim Brotherhood, however, does not mean he will turn Egypt into an Islamist state,” the daily said in its editorial. The daily said the Muslim Brotherhood may be the most popular political group in the country, but the revolution was only made possible thanks to the unprecedented unity of diverse groups against Hosni Mubarak’s dictatorship./end