Bridging the great divide
The political debate between the parties has degenerated into a personal slanging match that is increasingly an anathema to the continuation of democracy in Pakistan. While this is the norm of street politics at the ward level, the highest reaches of the land are not sacrosanct anymore from this ill-conceived out-pouring of vituperation. The polarisation between the Bhutto ladies and Jam Sadiq has gone down to such frustrating levels that there has to be an intercession by allied forces on either sides to cool tempers down.
With Ghulam Ishaq Khan giving a clean bill of health to Nawaz Sharif, the Opposition’s attempt to meet the President to request for the PM’s ouster was stillborn. This was hardly surprising. The PDA’s main constituent party is the PPP and it is the PPP which is under siege in Sindh by Jam Sadiq Ali, himself a former PPP person. His pointman in harassing the PPP happens to be the President’s son-in-law. The PPP cannot rid itself of the Al-Zulfikar branding, a fair amount of their youthful extremists did join that terrorist organisation during the early days of the Zia regime. This became a natural entity for corporate takeover by the Research and Analytical Wing (RAW), an organisation created by our friendly neighbour, India, to keep the rest of the countries of South Asia in a state of permanent instability. Unfortunately for the idealists of Al-Zulfikar, their ambitions to destabilize non-PPP Pakistani regimes coincided with RAW objectives only partly, RAW own aim being the destabilizing (and eventual Balkan-ization) of Pakistan, whatever the regime. The Pakistan Armed Forces have severely restricted India’s bid for hegemony in the South Asia. Other than the Bhutto family, which conceivably had understandable reasons, the PPP hierarchy may have reluctantly blessed Al-Zulfikar during the early days of their exile out in the political cold, no sane politician will countenance terrorism. While some PPP leaders may show signs of erratic behaviour from time to time, the PPP remains a national party with potent capability in its leadership. The lack of a clear statement in absolute disassociation and continuing terrorism has given Jam Sadiq the ammunition to keep blasting away at the foundations of PPP. This situation was further aggravated during the Jam’s medical absence in UK when “rumours about his demise were greatly exaggerated”. Other than being in exceedingly bad taste, one could hardly expect Jam to be amused or remain indifferent to this display of venom. Third World populace respond to a peculiar brand of democracy, they tend to desert in droves the departed, whether retired or demised, unless they are reminded at some length as to who carries the big stick. Given the excuse by a spate of terrorist incidents, the Jam has reacted predictably to rid himself of his favourite demons by wide-scale arrests of the PPP rank and file in Sindh. The PPP responded by being defiant in Sindh Province, the strike called on Saturday last being a moderate failure in the interior and a total disaster in the major civilian centres, about par for the political course in Sindh!
The political strategy of the IJI Government vis-a-vis Ms Benazir was very clear from the start, it was to keep her on the defensive by multi-pronged probes on a wide front, administrative and political offensives inter-acting on an “as required” basis. While the legal moves have hamstrung her to an extent, the artificial action of disqualification as an end result could boomerang on the present government by reviving her popularity among the masses. The natural means to cut political opponents down to size can only be political, on that premise the aim of the Nawaz Sharif Government has always been that to involve her in a continuing brawl at the Provincial level with Jam Sadiq Ali, thereby cutting into her national image. Frankly speaking, the PPP hierarchy has fallen for this hook, line and sinker, Ms Benazir is now under siege in her own political stronghold, thus forcing her to scale down her national vision by barely concealed appeals to Sindhi ethnicity. The PPP is a national party and images of Sindhi nationalism at the expense of the Federation may cause defections among the rank and file at the national level, reducing Ms Benazir’s nuisance value to Provincial stature.
Most of Jam’s supposed excesses are blamed by the PPP on Irfanullah Marwat, his Advisor for Home Affairs. This is a classic association of inter-dependence, of mutual strength derivation from each other. The Jam governs technically at the behest of the PM, actually at the discretion of the President, Irfan Marwat is the insurance. The President can hardly be expected to take action and remove Jam Sadiq Ali under these circumstances. One telling point made has been that when MQM, Jam Sadiq and Marwat were allied with PPP, they were more than acceptable, disassociated from PPP they are now the recipient of unprintable epithets. Politics makes for strange bedfellows and no alliances are sacred in that realm, it makes no sense to make any schism so deep so as to preclude the future possibility of meeting of the minds.
The Nawaz Sharif Government seems to have survived the Coop scam because of bad political lapses by the PDA leadership. In politics, one must maintain momentum. When the PDA was on a roll and on the way to Islamabad, the movement came apart as Ms Benazir left the hustings at Jhelum for time-out in Paris. The IJI Government had been visibly shaken, particularly because a vast majority of the affected nucleus were of a potent constituency, serving and ex-servicemen. With smoke emanating from the core of the IJI leadership, all sorts of scenarios were being contemplated, perennial PMs-in-waiting came out of mothballs and trial balloons were floated. It was not so much the capability of the Nawaz Sharif regime as the incapability of the Opposition to effectively exploit the Coop scam issue that the Government has survived. With the President certifying his credentials publicly, Nawaz Sharif came back strongly on the rebound. The IJI’s strongest card is economics, the continuing boom at the Stock Exchanges register a confidence that is symbolic of the perception of continuance in government. The masses may not have complete faith in the present regime, they have even less in those who are attempting to bring it down and as such will not take to the streets easily. In the MQM controlled urban areas of Karachi and Hyderabad, strikes are hardly possible under any political circumstances that the Opposition may be able to devise.
Calling a spade a spade, one must now attempt for compromise before the spade becomes a graveyard shovel for democracy. Political observers are delighted that Ch Nisar Ali, the Minister for Petroleum, has been given a role in the PM’s inner circle as a political trouble-shooter. Nisar has had a smear-free political career, coming across as one of the few remaining “Mr. Cleans” in politics in Pakistan. Articulate, effective and down-to-earth, he should be able to intercept political problems and talk it out with the Opposition instead of getting into confrontation with them on every issue conceivable under the sun. Like every Government before them, the Nawaz Sharif cabinet also has some extremely honourable men of whom this country can be rightly proud, Nisar being one of them the work to bring sanity back to national politics is cut out for him under the circumstances. Moreover, he is an extremely useful link to the Armed Forces, his late father being an extremely well respected officer. The Coop scam has scarred the image of IJI in the rank and file of the Armed Forces and Ch Nisar’s increased political profile may provide an effective anti-dote to this. Among all of Nawaz Sharif’s recent moves, Ch Nisar’s inclusion in the inner circle has been the more brilliant. One only hopes that the “Lahore Mafia” realises Nisar’s immense value to the PM and lets him be.
Democracy still remains very much on trial in Pakistan. To sustain democracy, it is necessary to bridge the great divide that separates the political parties from being coherent on a single forum that would contribute greatly to a strong unified Pakistan. Moves must be made to tone down the rhetoric, to address the issues from a logical point of view. If the ultimate aim of all political parties is the same, why the fuss in opening (and continuing) a dialogue?
Crime of any nature and at any level must be punished, whether it is terrorism, fraud or police excess. Both the intelligentsia and the masses are becoming increasingly skeptical about the democratic process. Only in bipartisan accountability lies the future credibility of politicians. Continuing polarisation may lead to the ultimate divide which we must avoid!
Did you enjoy this post? Why not leave a comment below and continue the conversation, or subscribe to my feed and get articles like this delivered automatically to your feed reader.
Comments
No comments yet.
Leave a comment