Spring at last!

Tunisia’s historic first free and fair general elections, achieving a turnout rate many did not expect at all, are being regarded as exemplary by the international observers.

While the top three winning parties have accepted the results, vocal residents of Sidi Bouzaid have expressed anger the at the election authorities. The town is difficult to ignore as it is none other than the birthplace of the uprising that ousted Zine el Abidine Ben Ali from power in January.

In an election laden with surprises, the electorate brought forth the man and his party the longtime Tunisian dictator hated the most. Two decades of exile could not dampen charisma of Rashid al-Ghannushi amongst the Tunisian public. Ennahda, dubbed as a moderate Islamic party, bagged the 42 per cent of the total votes.

Tiny North African Muslim nation seems to be on the rampage, belying one stereotype against Arabs as well as Muslims after another. In a stunning rebuke, Arabs not only protested for their democratic right but also paid the heaviest price. Analysts feared election process may be faulty and rigged: Tunisia proved the otherwise.

The Arab dictators scared the West of hardline Islamists’ return to power, imposing restrictions on females and adopting a Pan-Islamist foreign policy. Ghannushi is at ease with Muslim women opting not to cover their heads and rejects the revival of the Caliphate as a political system. Interestingly, regimes in Iran and Saudi Arabia both ban him from stepping on their soil.

While Egypt braces for its second revolution against the Mobarak-era military junta, the country’s tireless street power bears optimism. With the grizzly death of Libyan tyrant Colonel Moammer Gaddafi and his secret burial, the conflict seems far from over. After NATO’s withdrawal and tribes loyal to Gaddafi refusing to stand down, the National Transitional Council has a gigantic task to deliver the promise of free Libya.

Blood-fed Arab spring is finally taking shape towards realizing the long cherished dreams. Tunisian example hints that the liberated Arab nations would go by the Turkish model than the Iranian one. Instead of religious clerics and obscure pan-Islamism, emerging leadership believes in political contracts based on secular values but maintains religion as an important social element. The western policy makers must ignore the Islamophobes for now and let the free-thinking people take the reins of their respective countries. The future of Middle East peace rests upon youth’s perception of the West in relation to their democratic movement against dictators.

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