The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Flyer
Air Marshal (Retd) Asghar Khan, Chief of Tehrik-i-Istiqlal (TI), has recently written a letter to the Head of the Pakistan Democratic Alliance (PDA), Ms Benazir Bhutto, severing the relationship established in the autumn of 1990 to fight the IJI in the October 1990 elections. While the Air Marshal participated whole-heartedly in the anti-Ghulam Ishaq Khan/Nawaz Sharif campaign till November 1992, it was clear that he had reservations about the Ms Bhutto-conceived Long Marches. However, it was the newly formed Bhutto relationship with Ghulam Ishaq Khan in April 1993 that seemed to upset Asghar Khan to the point of eventual parting. It was clear that while he was determined to unseat what he perceived to be a fraudulently elected government, he felt that a show of force would bring about a confrontation that would bring third forces into the fray. He considered that democratic dialogue could be held with Nawaz Sharif as opposed to GIK, the epitome of the Establishment. Ms Bhutto was single-mindedly pursuing one Aim, the holding of mid-term elections and in maintenance of that Aim she had successfully created a cleavage between GIK and Nawaz Sharif by first negotiating with the latter and then feeding on the fears of the former by embellishing on the dialogue as a Nawaz Sharif-means to rid the country of GIK’s Presidency. Whatever may be her methods to achieve her ends, she has been eminently successful. To quote Mikhail Bakunin (1814-1976), “In politics as in high finance, duplicity is a virtue”. Unfortunately for the well-respected former Chief of the Pakistan Air Force, his total life is replete with a penchant for high morals and ideals, qualities that are in short supply in political persona all over the world, in Pakistan it is a rarity that qualifies the few as being “endangered species”.
By opting out of the mainstream alliance, Air Marshal Asghar Khan has again gone into the political cold, a situation with which this old flyer is quite familiar since his advent into politics. As reported by Altaf Gauhar, late President Ayub felt Asghar Khan to be more “dangerous” than Bhutto in the anti-Ayub campaign of 1968 as he would not enter into any dialogue that would compromise any move towards genuine democracy. In a sense this was a compliment of sorts because Ayub equated Bhutto with other politicians and therefore malleable, having served with Asghar Khan in the Armed Forces he well knew that this man’s integrity could not be subverted or compromised. One must hasten to add that late Bhutto also remained intransigent about any compromise during this period.
The Consensus Factor
Two weeks into Ms. Benazir’s formation of the Federal Government, the political truce seems to be holding except for occasional sniping by over-zealous supporters of either side. This has been possible because of the remarkable transformation in the attitude of the leaders of both the major political groupings in contrast to both 1988 and 1990. The post-election moves seem to confirm that both the political groupings do not want to repeat the mistakes of the past. The Federal Government usually has the initiative with respect to bad faith, under critical cynosure the restraint exercised by the PPP across a broad front has been praiseworthy. Contrary to expectations their manner (or mannerisms) do not evoke any reproach, in return the PML(N), in keeping with Mian Nawaz Sharif’s excellent maiden speech as Leader of the Opposition, has reciprocated in good faith. It may not exactly be a “love-fest” as yet, at least sanity prevails and that is why there is peace on our part of Earth.
This peace is likely to be tested in the contest for President, the process of which started on Sunday last with the filing of nomination papers by various candidates. There is a good deal of uncertainty prevailing because of the lack of a clear majority by either side in electoral votes, the PPP-PML(J) combine has 171 electoral votes while the PML(N)-ANP alliance commands 170 electoral votes. With the JWP, BNM(M), NPP, PQP and most of the Minorities supporting the PPP, their count goes upto by 40 to 211 electoral votes. With another 22 confirmed votes of independents, the PPP-led alliance comes tantalisingly close to an outright victory (235 votes) by having 233 electoral votes.