The Last Hurrah
The word “principle” is usually missing from the epithet-laden vocabulary of Pakistani politics, not so in the case of the lately lamented former Prime Minister of Pakistan and President of Pakistan Muslim League, Mohammad Khan Junejo. Brought in essentially as a puppet on a string by the late Gen Zia in his version of democracy, the late Junejo displayed his mettle by quietly refusing to let the vestiges of Martial Law survive with democracy. He made up for a singular lack of charisma by the sheer strength of his character, setting accountability in motion in a society afflicted with the Unaccountable by sacking some powerful Cabinet colleagues against whom there was prima-facie evidence of corruption. A man of old world courtesy and grace, his opponents found it impossible to criticise him on weaknesses normally attributable to politicians. The Geneva Accord on Afghanistan in the face of late President Zia’s inflexibility on key issues was Junejo’s most memorable foreign policy achievement, on the domestic front he left a lasting impression about the only genuine initiative in Pakistani history about austerity by his symbolic Suzuki-isation programme. Late Gen Zia ostensibly sacked him as PM because of Junejo’s determination to take action for those criminally culpable for the Ojhri Camp blast, in reality the senior members of the bureaucracy who could not stomach any more erosion of their service “perks” worked toward (and benefited most from) his ouster. Lying sick with terminal Leukemia in far away John Hopkins Hospital in USA, he had unknowingly become a bone of contention within the PML, a rallying point for the anti-Nawaz Sharif dissenters. His demise is thus extremely untimely as he could have stemmed the self-destruction mode the PML is presently programmed into.
Inaugurating the Fish Harbour at Gwadar, the Prime Minister made the first public move at checking the rot in his government (and PML internal politics from rapidly resembling a fish market) by denying any rift between him and the President. Where there is smoke there is bound to be a fire and while his categorical denial was quite unbelievable given the regular one-way traffic to the President by a mix of political dissenters at odds between themselves but united in their hate-Nawaz chorus, the symbolic waving of the white flag was quite welcome and showed political maturity. Whatever may be the President’s misgivings, the ball is now firmly in his court to reciprocate.
The political alternative to Nawaz Sharif can either be from the Opposition or from within the ruling Party. Ms Bhutto makes for an unlikely ally given her grievances against the President, it would do the President a world of good to watch a re-run of the videotapes of the Presidential Address to a Joint Session of Parliament in 1991 when Ms Bhutto staged one of the most noisiest tantrums in Pakistan’s Parliamentary history (Go-Baba-Go!) in a foiled bid to disrupt his speech, in 1992 she was conspicuous by her absence. Her peevishness was understandable, stemming out of her summary dismissal as PM by President Ishaq in 1990, an event that serves as a constant marker to undermine any likely agreement between them. Ms Bhutto botched her golden chance at PM by glossing over wide-scale corruption close to her home base, by still defying the obvious she displays an utter contempt for the intelligence of others. She may well become PM again because of her undeniable charisma and continuing hard-core public support but she will never regain credibility among the knowledgeable. Above all, while it is in the eventual national interest to have a rapprochement with India, her cosiness with that country in the face of wide-scale slaughter of Muslims in India, particularly in Kashmir, curdles the blood. She shows a remarkable penchant for (Munich-like) appeasement that is markedly dangerous for this country as it tends to accept Indian hegemony. Those who would accept this should get their heads examined or go live for sometime in the Muslim ghettos of Bombay, New Delhi, Srinagar, etc. Ms Bhutto as a possible PM under this President at least should be a non-starter.
The options open to the President are therefore an internal change within the PML or the appointment of a PM or on the Sindh-pattern, to induct a malleable politician acceptable to the rebels of all the parties as an inconsequential threat. Hamid Nasir Chattha’s nascent PM-type ambitions have been more or less scuttled by Junejo’s passing away, the others have a descending order of merit in acceptability or viability as national leaders. The former Caretaker PM and the permanent-PM in waiting, Mustafa Jatoi, had rather an unspectacular and selfish stint (all Ministerial posts allotted to NPP were divided between father, son, nephews, etc) of a few months. Nawaz Sharif easily out-maneuvered him post-election, the President opting for democracy rather then support his Establishment-oriented candidature. Having established himself in Pakistan’s history for nurturing democracy back on the rails, the President would be mad to throw it all up by turning to anybody like him. Any candidate without real democratic roots would be hostage to Special Interest and minority groups who would do what Congress (I) did to the short-lived Indian PMs Charan Singh and Chandra Shekhar.
The only person really Prime Ministerial material is firmly in Nawaz Sharif’s camp, Ch Nisar Ali Khan is the PM’s principal trouble-shooter and the main reason why the PM remains in power while traipsing all over the countryside engaging in helicopter politics on prime time national TV. The PM is indeed lucky and twice blessed that this outstanding young politician, acceptable and credible to all political parties and factions thereof, continues to remain alongwith people like Malik Naeem and others, firmly loyal to the PM. There has be a modicum of sincerity and dedication to the national interest in Nawaz Sharif to evoke such constant loyalty.
Two different issues are being unnecessarily cast together, the controversy over the Eighth Amendment and the election of the President. There is certainly a need to water down and amend the said amendment but not the repeal of it altogether. There has to be check and balance between the Head of the State and Head of Government but the Head of State cannot take over the functioning of Government in a Parliamentary democracy. There must be a mechanism in place to check the excesses of the elected Government but they must not become helplessly subject to blackmail based on the whims and caprices of the President. If a democracy has to function, the elected representative cannot be constrained by an all-powerful President as this shreds the basic concept of a Parliament democracy, it makes democracy farcical. Given that we may have been extremely lucky in the choice of the present COAS, leaving that choice exclusively to the President alone without seeking and adhering to advice from the PM (or vice versa for that matter) is an incongruous situation. The President could very well have made a wrong choice in selecting a closet military adventurer with disastrous consequences for this nation. One proposes that a difference of opinion about the selection should be put to vote to a suitable National Council, the result of which must be binding. Over-riding the PM’s opinion totally is a negation of the democratic process. In similar manner, the PM also should not have complete exclusivity to put his man in place, he could similarly make a devastating mistake.
Gen MacArthur’s farewell speech to the US Congress contained the words, “old soldiers never die, they simply fade away”. In Pakistan some bureaucrats never really retire, they also refuse to fade away. A lot of politicians of the odd-couple kind, rebels without real democratic roots, have got a second wind with the perceived fracas between the President and the PM. While public figures like Mostafa Jatoi, Mostafa Khar, Faisal Saleh Hayat, Zahid Sarfraz, Senator Tariq Chaudhry, Makhdoom Amin Fahim, etc attract public attention in beating a path to the Presidential doorstep, the visits of former bureaucrats like Ijlal Haider Zaidi do not excite the same notice. His retirement three years ago should have been the twilight of an illustrious career but unfortunately the Lahore runway grates on the nerves of all those who land on it. The enquiry by a team of construction experts headed by Federal Minister for Production, Islam Nabi, found his role culpable, Zaidi’s subsequent efforts to clear his name were given roughshod treatment by the present Government. There is nothing more dangerous than a woman or a senior bureaucrat scorned, Zaidi is now getting his own back with a venom and then some, his ego having preponderance over the consequences to the nation. None of the aforementioned recalcitrant politicians have the ear of the President as much as Zaidi, a trusted former bureaucrat colleague. It seems that he has been feeding the President’s fears about his wings being clipped by the repeal or amendment thereof of the Eighth Amendment prior to making him a lame-duck incumbent. Whatever may be the merit or otherwise about the Enquiry’s findings against Ijlal Haider Zaidi, this nation is indeed unfortunate that its future economic development and even its continued integrity is being held hostage by the vindictiveness of one embittered old man with comprehensive access to the President and a proven capacity to influence his decision-making. The President would do well to read Field Marshal Slim’s “Unofficial History” where he cautions, “Never take counsel of one’s fears!”.
There is too much at stake here, the economy is in a precarious state of transition as the reforms have just began to take hold across the wide spectrum. The alternative to the economic dynamism that Nawaz Sharif has wrought is a return to the status quo of the 70s and 80s, with disastrous economic consequences, a path of despair and a future of misery. Both Ghulam Ishaq Khan and Nawaz Sharif may not be perfect leaders but than not many are in this world. While we live in an imperfect society and one must be pragmatic to an extent, at least this partnership has put us firmly on the road to economic emancipation. The game of Parliamentary numbers could well result in the defeat of either, the winner would have a Pyrrhic victory, the major loss will be that of Pakistan.
The people of Pakistan have a right to expect their present leaders to rise above their petty differences in the national interest. While the Republic Day Parade may not be an occasion to display such emotions in public, a public embrace as the cream and pride of Pakistan marches and flies by would dramatically restore the confidence of the people of Pakistan. This is an occasion to bury the hatchet, preferably not in each other’s head. A continued internecine conflict between the President and the PM would be disastrous. The choice is between rapprochement or facing apocalypse now!
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