23 December 2004	Thursday	10 Ziqa'ad 1425

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window).

ISLAMABAD, Dec 22: Hopes for political reconciliation in the country seem to have received a setback, if not completely dashed, in the wake of Tuesday's crackdown on Pakistan People's Party activists , who had assembled at the Islamabad airport to welcome Asif Ali Zardari.

The use of force for blocking Mr Zardari from making what could have been a tumultuous visit to Rawalpindi and Islamabad and then arresting him put a question mark on the credibility of claims by some key ministers that President Pervez Musharraf was seeking peace with mainstream opposition parties.

Though the Sindh High Court wasted no time in releasing Mr Zardari on Wednesday by suspending the arrest order of a lower court and the PPP turned its planned protests into celebrations, political sources said the dust raised by the crackdown would take some time to settle down.

These sources voiced fears that the atmosphere could be muddied further if Mr Zardari faces the same fate when he comes to Islamabad again or visits Punjab. Political observers were baffled by the severity of the government action on Tuesday against what the PPP had said would only be a welcoming procession for Mr Zardari on his first visit to the capital after his release a month ago from eight years of detention.

Also intriguing was the timing and sequence of the action executed by the governments of both Punjab and Sindh. Authorities in the two provinces seemed to be acting in tandem after the PPP had vowed to go ahead with its plans to drive Mr Zardari through the Rawalpindi streets despite a Punjab government ban on processions imposed the previous night.

While Sindh Chief Minister Arbab Ghulam Rahim had already shown his unease at the post-release reception received by Mr Zardari in the interior of his home province, the PML government in Punjab could hardly be pleased by the desire expressed by the former senator to concentrate on his party's rejuvenation in the most populous province.

Both the PPP and the PML-N had denied any move for a deal with the government but refrained from holding protests when the president visited the United States and Britain earlier this month after the government spokesmen hinted at moves for reconciliation and the Supreme Court released Mr Zardari on bail.

It was in one of the cases against him - the murder of Justice Nizam and his son - that the Karachi ATC on Tuesday rejected Mr Zardari's plea for exemption from personal appearance and cancelled the bail granted to him about four-and-a-half years ago.

As thousands of policemen used batons, tear gas and roadblocks and detained many PPP activists to prevent any welcoming gatherings being formed in virtually besieged twin cities, they also seemed to be setting the stage for a renewed political confrontation.

Their action denied the PPP a chance to demonstrate its political strength in its one-time stronghold of Rawalpindi but served as a godsend publicity coup for Mr Zardari, whose eight years in jail had already transformed him from an Achilles' heel to a perceived conscience-keeper of his party.

Apparently acting to implement the ATC orders, the government came hard on the PPP only two days after allowing the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal to hold a rally in Rawalpindi to protest against President Musharraf's desire to continue as army chief beyond his earlier set deadline of Dec 31.

This and another concession promised by the ruling party to the MMA for the revival of the religion column in the newly introduced machine-readable passports seemed to be olive branch shown to the alliance rather than making peace with the mainstream parties.

While the PPP and the PML-N publicly dismiss the reconciliation talk as a mere propaganda gimmick, sources in the PPP said this could still happen if the government was ready to address opposition demands for the restoration of parliamentary sovereignty that they say has been undermined by sweeping presidential powers.

"We had no doubt that the talk of reconciliation was a stunt and a political gimmick... (designed) to confuse political parties and people," PPP spokesman Senator Farhatullah Babar said, referring to what he called contradictory statements made recently on the issue by the president and federal ministers.

Talking to Dawn, he said he thought the government was "in disarray and confusion" in which different coalition partners were "pulling in different directions". PML-N parliamentary leader in the National Assembly Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan also branded the talk of reconciliation as a "deceitful tactic designed to create rift" in opposition ranks.

"The political leaders must realize the motives behind the government's announcements and, instead of seeking new avenues, should unite on a single platform and take the people along with them," he said in a statement.