May 23 , 2008

Pakistan’s Politicians Pursue Personal Ends

The political drama unfolding these days in Pakistan revolves around the personal pursuits of three players. At the apex is President Musharraf who is armed with the discretionary clause 58-2 (b) of the Constitution  – the sword of Damocles over the head of the Parliament - and who still enjoys the blessings of the United States as a significant alley in the war on terror. All his actions since March 9, 2007 when he sacked the Chief Justice to prevent the Supreme Court from ruling against his reelection as President were evidently meant to prolong his tenure as Head of the State.
To follow through this move, he imposed an Emergency (de facto Martial Law) on November 3, 2007 and removed some 60 senior judges of the country replacing them by his handpicked justices.
He entered into a deal with the PPP leadership, brokered by the US, his mentor, to withdraw all corruption and even criminal (murder) cases against the civilian leaders so that they could enter the country, participate in the general elections and become his civilian arm in quashing the fast expanding Taliban movement in the Tribal belt. His earlier emphatic stand on accountability and corruption were badly compromised by the National Reconciliation Ordinance and the withdrawal of money-laundering cases in foreign courts. Pakistani courts acquitted a lead player in this drama of even two murder cases for ‘want of adequate evidence’. Whose invisible hand was behind this?
The political party, Muslim League (Q) that he cobbled together was badly beaten in the elections and its leaders (the Chaudhry brothers) are at present licking their wounds and marking time for an opportunity to come out of the limbo.
Will Rogers, the eminent actor and wit, says in his autobiography: “Shrewdness in public life all over the world is always honored, while honesty in public men is generally attributed to dumbness and seldom rewarded.”  But, this cannot be an abiding honor and reward. For, as Benjamin Franklin has said, “The whole art of government consists in the art of being honest”. 
For the first eight years of his rule, Musharraf was fairly honest and sincere to the national causes. He was highly popular and the country made remarkable progress. His role in the current phase is open to question.  History may not take long to pass its judgment on his current conduct; it strains logic to accept it as anything but in personal interest, that is to hang on to power no matter what.
The next player, Asif Zardari, has emerged as a prominent wheeler-dealer and not just a money-minting playboy basking in the reflected glory of his wife. He certainly has outsmarted Nawaz Sharif and, above every thing else, he has managed successfully to exploit the position he was placed in by a twist of circumstances to get rid of all criminal and corruption cases against him in Pakistan and abroad. He has more than manifested his talent in networking, lobbying and canvassing and promoting subtly his personal agenda.
One marvels at the way he eased himself into the slot of PPP leadership after the murder of his wife. His only qualification was that he was the husband of an eminent leader. His reputation as Mr. 10 % and the vast properties he had accumulated filled to overflowing the debit side of his ledger. Yet, he saw to it that there was no challenge to his ascension to the PPP’s apex job.
By getting Nawaz Sharif, Altaf Husain, Asfandiyar Wali Khan and others in the fold of a coalition, he has blunted their opposition while remaining himself at its helm being the head of the biggest party.  He is believed to be in contact with the President as well as with the US ambassador.
The appointment of Salman Taseer, author of the political biography of Z.A. Bhutto, as Governor of Punjab gives an indication of the check placed on PML (N). Zardari exhausted Nawaz Sharif through endless negotiations. Sharif withdrew in a huff his Ministers from the Federal Cabinet but with an offer to cooperate with the government on all important national issues. He is no longer the leisure and pleasure loving playboy who considered making money a pleasant pastime. He has unmasked his ability to be hyperactive and have, at the same time, an inexhaustible supply of patience.  He is currently resorting to patience till he comes out completely clean of the legal cobwebs and reaches the top executive job. He might then indulge in his pleasant pastime and start showing his skin and the spots on it.
The next significant player on the political stage is Nawaz Sharif. He managed to have two stints as prime minister and was sacked both times on grounds of incompetence and corruption.  That did not seem to have hurt him as much as being arrested by Musharraf’s men in uniform, tried for treason and put behind bars. Almost a decade has passed since then but he continues seething with rage over the incident. His party, the PML (N) made numerous, highly appealing, promises to the electorate last winter, but once the people returned him as the leader of the second most popular party, he resorted to a one-point agenda – remove Musharraf. His is therefore the politics of revenge -evenge against the General who exiled him, unceremoniously, to Saudi Arabia. He is stuck on the point of revenge like a dented gramophone record.  He is so overwhelmed by this sentiment of revenge that he embraced the PPP and joined a coalition, forgetting the years of rivalry with the PPP.  He has picked up the issue of the restoration of the judges sacked by Musharraf, as he is sure that the judges, the Chief Justice in particular, would come down heavily on Musharraf and show him the door.  He is right in this assessment, inasmuch as the Chief Justice too is wreathing under the humiliation inflicted upon him.
While paying lip service to the incontrovertible issue of the dignity and independence of the Supreme Court, Nawaz Sharif has turned it into a political matter. His intense dislike for Musharraf has made him forget his own conduct in the invasion of an earlier Supreme Court headed by Justice Sajjad Ali Shah. The judge had to escape for life from the onslaught of a bunch of goons. Evidently Nawaz Sharif, not known for high-mindedness, is suffering now from a sorry conceptual disarray. For, he wants the same judges to be restored who have been granting legitimacy to the usurpers of power.
Independence of judiciary is, indeed, an important issue, but right now more mundane matters are causing a lot of anguish to the common man. Food, electricity and water are their pressing needs. The electronic media is giving due significance and time to these issues. The elected leaders, on the other hand, seem obsessed by their own narrow, personal agendas!
 arifhussaini@hotmail.com