The job of the commentator is not to heap praises. There are sycophants doing that already and doing it well.

But I have to praise the coalition parties in Pakistan for caging General Pervez Musharaf and forcing him to resign. It is not a small feat.

General Musharraf is no ordinary general. Since 1999, he had been in total control of Pakistan. This man declared emergency rule at will. He once sacked the Supreme Court Chief Justice and filled the court with Judges he liked. He was a stubborn soldier who had no understanding of the tenets of democracy.

For him to choose resignation instead of a protracted battle with parliament was an honorable move on his part.

Pakistan is a very important nation in the world. To a large extend, the fate of this century is inextricably tied to the events in and around Pakistan. Surrounded by Iran, Afghanistan and India, Pakistan will have a lot to do with the shape of the emerging world.

If nothing else, the never ending war on terror will ensure that Pakistan will remain a center of attraction for all the combatants.

With Pakistan in possession of what has been called Islam’s own nuclear weapons, it will continue to breed and attract those who feel that the weapons should be used to further the Islamic interest across the globe. How Pakistan handles that will determine how much peace the world sees in the next fifty years.

With India in a supersonic pull towards an advance economy, Pakistan will have to catch up with its rival or face the humiliation of being the sibling that failed. What that means is that Pakistan will make tough choices aimed at reforming its economy and dealing with destabilizing elements within its society.

For so long, it appeared that only one man with his double-edged attributes could make it happen. Now that he is gone, the civil society will have to step up to the plate with a clear understanding that Pakistan is not just another middle line country out in no man’s land that can afford to waste all its time battling India over Kashmir while its beaming population yearns for freedom and economic empowerment.

If it were true before, it is truer now- the tragedy of Pakistan is the tragedy of us all. Its success as a modern democratic nation will add to the sustenance of peace and tranquility across that troubled middle earth.

From Karachi to Islamabad, the Pakistani streets like the rest of the world watched with mixed emotions the surrender and exit of one general, and hope that the biggest general of them all, the people, will retake the streets and guide the nation to its ultimate destiny.

For the United States, a complicated ally has left the stage. Behind the curtain, America will try to influence who takes the stage moving forward. But as history has shown, that decision is best left for the people of Pakistan to make. The people know what they want. We just have to trust them knowing that even when they make the wrong choice they will have no option but to correct it – whatever the cost might be.

When a general surrenders, the war is not necessarily over.