Page 8 - Pakistan Link - March 26, 2021

P8 – PAKISTAN LINK – MARCH 26, 2021 OPINION
n By Karamatullah K. Ghori Requiem for PDM!

Toronto, Canada Kleenex. There’s none to wipe his
tears.

ike a test-tube baby, the The only one smiling after
high-sounding Pakistan the debacle is Zardari, the master
LDemocratic Movement exponent of Machiavellian poli-

(PDM) was artificially conceived. tics and guiles. He may think he
From the moment has the last laugh, now that the
of its conception, curtain has come down on PDM’s
it was feared that macabre act. But pundits may have
the baby may not every reason to ask: should PDM
live long because be given a burial or cremated? Try
of its deeply- your own imagination in guessing

flawed DNA. an answer!
It wasn’t too - K_K_ghori@hotmail.com

long ago that the two main pillars (The author is a former am-
of PDM—PPP and PML(N)— bassador and career diplomat)
were known to all and sundry as
mortal enemies sworn to uproot KASHMIR FROM P6
and destroy each other. matters of mutual interest. Meanwhile,
Nawaz Sharif, in his hey-day US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken
as the blue-eyed boy of Pakistan’s has announced to sponsor a meeting
omniscient ‘establishment,’ had on Afghanistan. Foreign ministers of
tilted at all windmills to destroy India and Pakistan along with foreign
Benazir Bhutto’s political career. ministers of China, Iran, Russia and

The so-called ‘Lion of Punjab’ had United States are invited. It has been
stooped down to the meanest level suggested that the meeting will take
of skullduggery to malign BB. La- place in Turkey. Turkey’s President
hore was witness to crudely-word- for their return to active politics one platform. But even that bar- all the pompous magicians trying Erdogan has already said on March 1,

ed leaflets dropping on to its citi- from which they had been ban- gaining counter failed to yield their their worn-out art of pulling wool 2021, “Developments in Afghanistan
zenry from hovering helicopters, ished. hearts’ desire. IK would neither re- over the people’s eyes. are closely related to the security
carrying obscene caricatures of BB But IK had neither Mush- sile from his principled plank to The recent Senate of Pakistan and stability of the region. We closely

and filthy slogans against her. It arraf’s unbridled lust for power, hold them accountable for every elections opened up the fissures in follow the developments in friendly
was all at the command of the then nor was he prepared to allow an penny looted from Pakistan, nor PDM’s ranks for full public view- and brotherly Afghanistan. We hope

CM of Punjab, Nawaz Sharif. easy exit to Pakistan’s plunder- would he give them a way out of ing. It took the fig-leaf off their bal- that the peace process which aims to
It was the same NS who, in his ers from the blind alley they had the blind alley. lyhooed ‘unity.’ put an end to the ongoing conflicts of

first stint as PM, instituted a witch- painted themselves in because of PDM, over the months since PDM looked at Yusuf Raza more than 40 years succeeds.”

hunt against Asif Ali Zardari under their own doings. it was formed—after Nawaz had Gilani’s bid for election to the Sen- We hope that the Turkish meeting

a sham accountability drive. It was In short, when Nawaz and fled the country on bogus excuse ate as a master stroke to pull the on Afghanistan will take into consider-
none other than Nawaz that saw Zardari were dead sure of not get- of getting treated in London for rug from under IK’s feet, right in ation the recommendations made by
to it that Zardari was kept in jail ting an NRO from IK did they his multiple ailments—tried every the heart of his power—Islamabad. Professor Patrick J Larkin, Naval Post
for years. Later, Nawaz was joined decide to join hands to save their trick in its bag to impact IK’s no- But PML-N lent no support to Gi- Graduate School, Monterey, California,
by his younger sibling, Shehbaz, skins from the reach of IK’s ac- deal-stance. But nothing worked. lani, a supposedly-joint candidate he made in March 2013, “Th e US will
in their crusade against Zardari. countability. of PDM alliance. His trouncing not be able to achieve a lasting peace
Shehbaz’ phlegmatic and theatri- They found an obliging chap- of Hafeez Sheikh, IK’s nominee, in Afghanistan without the unilateral

cal threats—to drag Zardari on the eron in Maualana Fazalur Rehm- The greatest loss, was pulled through entirely by support of Pakistan and India. If the
streets of Lahore if he didn’t cough an—better known to the Pakistan- in the drama that Zardari’s billions. conflict in Kashmir can be reconciled,

up hundreds of millions of dollars is as ‘Mulla Diesel’ because of his The perfidy of PML-N repeat- this will aid US objectives of a secure
looted from Pakistan—are still a making merry on Diesel permits was doomed to fail, ed its dirty game when Gilani lost Afghanistan…Only by fi nding a fi nal
matter of record and can be ac- and outlets generously awarded to out in his bid to become the Senate status on Kashmir with South Asia be
cessed any time. him in the thieving ‘Raj’ of these is that of Fazal ur Chairman. But Zardari, stung by able to achieve a real, lasting peace.
Zardari, on his part, didn’t two bounty hunters. Himself a Rehman. He has been the backstabbing at the hands of I believe that the time has come
lag much back, either, in his own carpet-bagger of notoriety, Fazal, Nawaz’ acolytes and minions, has that the United Nations and world
clumsy, but consistent, campaign too, had an axe to grind against IK, in political wilderness richly returned the compliment by powers, particularly the United States,
to denounce the ‘Sharif Brothers’ who had given him the boot from refusing to play ball on the Nawaz’ intervene in Kashmir to bring peace
for their loot and corruption. Of the Chairmanship of the Kash- from the day he lost ploy to resign, en-masse, from the and prosperity not only to Kashmir
course, he wasn’t as crude or ba- mir Committee of the Parliament. his bid to remain federal and provincial Assemblies. but also to the whole region of South
nal as the scions of Lahore. But the Fazal had lorded over that commit- Zardari, a canny practitioner Asia, including Afghanistan. Dr Syed
venom of his stings wasn’t lost on tee for nearly two decades, bagged in the parliament. of dirty politics, knows well that Nazir Gilani said it best, “Kashmir so-
the Sharif Brothers, their acolytes billions of rupees but did precious if his party resigned, he will never lution would help US and NATO forces
and minions, and on the pundits little for the cause of Kashmir. PDM’s mentorship regain power in Sindh. But he has to have a credible respite. Th ey would
keeping a watchful eye on the she- However, perceptive pundits was the last throw of gone for the overkill, in daring have a strong impregnable comple-
nanigans of these two arch-rivals of the Pakistani political land- Nawaz to return home and face the mentary military shield in Pakistan,
of each other. scape knew, from the word go, that the dice for him. He’s, music. But returning home doesn’t which would be a reliable constituent
But all that cut-throat animos- PDM—with its grandiose ‘mission’ figure, at all, on Nawaz’ list of to build peace in Afghanistan.”

ity of Pakistan’s two most notori- to ‘rid’ Pakistan of IK’s ‘tyranny’ for all intents and tricks to deploy. Every pundit and In this regard, President Biden
ous political clans melted like early and ‘restore true democracy’—was purposes, an outcast observer of the Pakistani panora- can listen to Steve Coll, Dean of

spring’s fluke snow and evaporated a marriage of convenience between ma knows what a chicken Nawaz the Columbia University Gradu-
into thin air the moment they thieves scared for their lives. It was, and a pariah. His is. He doesn’t have the guts to face ate School of Journalism, who wrote
smelled trouble in the air. in every sense of the word, an ar- the wrath of the law of the land in ‘New York Review of Books’ on Sep-
Such characters are known to tificial construct of dubious intent ‘allies’ have used and that he so richly deserves. Zardari tember 30, 2010, “Silence and indirect-

have an extra-sensitive nose to pick and origin. discarded him like a is rubbing salt into his wounds by ness about the confl ict is no longer

up the threat of trouble, even from There’s an expression, of boasting his own credentials as workable…Th e United States does not

long distance. Zardari and Nawaz, chaste Urdu, which could best de- Kleenex. There’s none a seasoned jail-bird. Nawaz has need to intervene directly in Kashmiri
who, between them, have system- scribe this claptrap PDM. It was, nightmares to think of the prison negotiations to support the Indo-Pak-
atically ransacked the country over verily, Bhanmati ka Kunba, a com- to wipe his tears where he belongs in Pakistan. istani peace process. It does, however,
the last three decades of their po- ing together of shady and fraudu- So, PDM is in total disar- need to rediscover the sense of urgency
litical lives, could sense that IK’s lent characters. ray. The much-trumpeted ‘Long and international leadership that char-

accountability drive against them PDM, from its inception, had All those public meetings and March’, earlier slated for March acterized its engagement with Kashmir
was dead serious and imminent. a one-item agenda: NRO. Each of rallies, put together in Pakistan’s 26, is off. A pretentious Maryam in the 1950s and early 1960s.”

IK had painstakingly constructed its components had tried, sepa- major cities—from Quetta to Ka- Nawaz—desperately seeking to And we hope that President Biden
his political campaign, over more rately in their own domain, to rachi to Peshawar et al. — fizzled step into the vacant shoes of BB— will heed to the advice of President

than two decades, on his unerring coax, cajole or blackmail IK into out like damp squibs. PDM big- has no clue what her next move Barack Obama who said on October

and unflinching determination to cutting a deal with them. But they guns may have thought of igniting should be. The only thing she’s sure 30, 2008, “Th e most important thing

bring to book all those ‘hereditary’ had failed. They tried to appeal to a popular uprising against IK but of is that her fugitive father must we’re going to have to do with respect
politicians who had robbed the the ‘umpire’ they had routinely ac- the people of Pakistan have grown not return to Pakistan. to Afghanistan, is actually deal with

country clean. cused of thrusting IK on Pakistan wiser. They can see through these The greatest loss, in the drama Pakistan…We should probably try to
Political thieves, of all shades but found no takers there, either. corrupt actors pretending to be that was doomed to fail, is that of facilitate a better understanding be-

and stripes, had the uncanny The formation of an alliance— innocent cows. Their shady past Fazal ur Rehman. He has been in tween Pakistan and India and try to

sense to realize that IK was cut for a dubious agenda, no doubt— is catching up with the people of political wilderness from the day resolve the Kashmir crisis so that they
from a different cloth than Gen- was the last throw of the dice for Pakistan who, now, refuse to be he lost his bid to remain in the par- can stay focused not on India, but on

eral Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan’s its proponents. Their skewed sense led up the garden path by these liament. PDM’s mentorship was the situation with those militants.”

last Bonaparte. Musharraf’s lust might have told them that they notorious time-servers. The dis- the last throw of the dice for him. (Dr Fai is Secretary General of
for power nudged and coaxed him could mount greater pressure on mal failure of the public meeting He’s, for all intents and purposes, Washington-based World Kashmir
into cutting a deal with these two IK—and his mentors in the estab- at the Minar-e-Pakistan a couple an outcast and a pariah. His ‘allies’ Awareness Forum. - gnfai2003@ya-
robber-barons that paved the way lishment—by coming together on of months ago broke the backs of have used and discarded him like a hoo.com)
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