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The City-State of Lahore

Those of us in the media who have been rooting for Mian Nawaz Sharif since his first dismissal as PM in 1993 are guilty of helping the PML talk their way out of self-created controversies, turning a blind eye towards Mian Nawaz Sharif’s very deliberate extreme rightward shift towards fundamentalism which is at great variance with his moderate label and rhetoric that forms the mainstream of Islam. We have also propagated from various media pulpits that the PM holds the national interest supreme, even at his personal cost, whereas the bitter truth may well be that he stays well within the parameters of a rather myopic annunciation of democracy, of the Lahorites, by the Lahorites and for the Lahorites. For President, the PM has opted for “a clean, God fearing Muslim” to be what is very clearly an “instrument of convenience”. It is quite possible that the PM did not know of the Tarar connection to the “Ahrar” Party, opposed both to the concept of Pakistan and the Quaid-e-Azam. Possibly that is why ANP chose to be his proposer since Ahrar was allied to Congress pre-partition. The PM is now being forced to defend him instead of basking in praise at his choice, after all what does Justice Rafiq Tarar bring to the Presidency except a known loyalty to the Sharifs (particularly the eldest Sharif), a keen legal mind and an enhanced fundamentalist bent, again in keeping with the rather extreme views of the Sharif family patriarch? Not many people know that in the competition for 10 Sessions Judges, Rafiq Tarar was eleventh but that he was accommodated anyway, so much for alleged competency. The method of selection left much to be desired, almost the entire Federal Cabinet knew nothing of this darkest of dark horses till he was presented before them as a fait accompli less than 15 hours before the filing of nomination papers closed. And we call this sham a democracy? A very wrong message has been sent out to the entire country as well as to the rest of Punjab, the world beyond Model Town extends only to the other end of the Motorway, in Islamabad. Very much like Rome, Athens and Carthage, Lahore is the centre of this universe and damn the consequences to the Federation as long as the city’s inhabitants thrive and prosper. As a city-state, Lahore rules over several disparate and ethnically distinct provinces (since Governors are appointed by the Federation, should we call them Satraps?)

It may be time to stop giving Model Town the benefit of the doubt. Analysed dispassionately, events of the past 60 days point to a far worse scenario in the future than what was faced on Dec 2, 1997. I hate to say it but Farooq Leghari seemed to be right when he talked about a “democratic dictatorship”. As it is the ruling party will live to regret the “raid” on the Supreme Court (SC). History records that sacrilege of places of worship and of justice has always evoked mass condemnation, both from the intelligentsia and the masses. We have heard from his select mouthpieces, but with all due respects, has the PM himself directly mentioned even once how disgusted he feels at the violation of the sanctity of the nation’s premier judicial institution at the hands of his party activists? If the Close-Circuit Television (CCTV) videotapes were to be played by Pakistan TV, it would confirm that all the “raiders” were PML activists from the private corps of “Lahori” loyalists. Visually prominent in directing the mob traffic within and without the SC were the Political Secretary to the PM, Mushtaq Ali Taherkheli, Senators Pervez Rashid and Aurangzeb, famous compere MNA Tariq Aziz, Punjab MPAs Sa’ad Rafiq, Sardar Naseem, Akhtar Rasool, Mian Abdul Sattar and Chaudhry Tanvir. It was personal disappointment to see Senator Saifur Rahman, who had rendered yeoman’s service to the nation in uncovering the Bhutto/Zardari Swiss “connection”, appear on TV Prime Time visibly gesturing and exhorting the members of a gleeful mob towards the Courtroom. Ch Nisar Ali Khan, troubleshooter extraordinary, conceded blithely that PML activists had gone overboard but vehemently denied that it was pre-planned and that the “raiders” had gone back to the Punjab House, he took exception to the report that they were then greeted “like conquering heroes” or that Saifur Rahman was seen exhorting the mob. This was before the existence of the videotapes was known. Ch Nisar was right only in one respect, by the time the “raiders” came to the Punjab House it had belatedly dawned on the organisers that unspeakable calumny had been committed and they were hurriedly dispersed forthwith (without Barakhana) in a vain, ham-handed attempt to hide the evidence. Acting Chief Justice Ajmal Mian SC has appointed a Judge of the SC, Justice Abdul Rahman to ascertain what action is being taken against the people responsible for the outrage and the course of government investigation. Justice may eventually take its course, what about the PM? One cannot think of a more ugly display of fascism in this country than this sacrilege, will the PM have the courage to sack his own loyalists, almost all from Lahore, and bring them to justice? He may also like to take a hard look at brother Shahbaz’s role. Other than contempt of court because of the sacrilege against the SC, mob violence is akin to terrorism, running afoul of the Anti-Terrorist Act. One may be permitted a little bit of skepticism here, if not outright cynicism.
During the height of the crisis, the Army played an honest broker’s role, mainly in support of logic and the people’s verdict, adopting a position of active neutrality that in fact worked in favour of the government in power. Their motivation was ostensibly out of a higher loyalty to the nation, Army’s hierarchy being very professional realized that unlike the previous few decades of military and quasi-military rule the economy and world political environment was not conducive to authoritarian rule, even though in their heart of hearts they must have known what the future held. While certainly the COAS must have carried out consultations, the blow-by-blow account of the confidential discussions being bandied about by one or two “connected” members of the PML hierarchy is extremely counter-productive and may even be the start of a new ploy to “divide and rule”. It tends to “highlight” the “loyalties” of favourites, will all the aspirants” of them be made COAS in their turn, with terms of six to eight months each? At a private gathering of intellectuals and concerned citizens, Maj Gen (Retd) Tajammal Hussain, a pure-bred hero if there ever was one, was vocal that the Army was the one institution that was holding this country together and that unless all of us took precautionary measures like instituting meaningful major changes in the system as well as concrete checks and balances, the next crisis would be a motivated one aimed at undermining their unspoken and silent authority. For those in any Service, whether they be in the Armed Forces, the bureaucracy, politics, etc the lessons of the Presidency-selection exercise is very clear, in the Sharif lexicon merit has no place, only loyalty to the Sharifs and a living abode in Lahore, preferably in Model Town or proximity thereof, is of any consequence. Everything else is suspect!

Where we once derided Ms Benazir’s suggestions of a different set of laws for PMs of different origins as sublime bordering on the ridiculous, this symbolic blunder of choosing a Lahorite as a candidate for President will be exploited for all that it is worth by those opposed to the federation. Benazir Bhutto was universally condemned because Zardari’s patronage extended to a wide range of cronies not confined to Larkana and/or Nawabshah, he at least had the good sense of involving persons from all the federating units in his chicanery. In a perverse way this worked positively for the unity of the country as people from all walks of life from all the Provinces hated him with equal fervour for his financial indiscretions. Now that the PM has launched his “yellow” loan scheme of Rs. one lac to all takers without any questions asked, the Federal Minister of Finance Senator Sartaj Aziz will be kept busy looking around to beg, borrow or steal requisite funds, because certainly the IMF and World Bank are not going to support such a crazy scheme. Despite the Finance Minister’s reservations in 1990 the “yellow cab” scheme went ahead and if this new yellow mind-boggling idea should prevail, public funds will be lost in the same way they were in Mian Nawaz Sharif’s first stint as PM down his particular yellow motorway as PM.

In sum, the choice of a nominee of the city-state of Lahore for President symbolises the importance (or more correctly the lack of it) given to the Presidency, the national interest being subservient to the sequence of personal parameters. Making Parliament into a virtual cypher with the 14th Amendment, tarnishing the image of and polarising the supreme judiciary as well as emasculating the Presidency after the 13th Amendment, the Presidency is now about to be further down-sized. Justice Rafiq Tarar may be a good, honest person, the Ahrar Party connection has made him controversial. He has no other role to play but to bring the office of the President down to his own size, and that is not much, howsoever much friend Mushahid’s dream machine may build him up for public consumption. One cannot absolve oneself of betraying the ideals one lives for by supporting a process that has brought us to such dire straits, one must carry out both a self-accountability and a self-cleansing process for eulogising Mian Sahib during his darkest days and raising him upto the pedestal he enjoys today.

As this goes into print, the nomination papers of Justice Tarar have been rejected by the Acting CEC, a case of intervention by man, can divine intervention be far behind?

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