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I DO hope that Maulana Fazlur Rahman and his supporters didn’t bet too heavily on capturing the presidency. I certainly checked my gambling instincts.
A couple of weeks ago, I had criticised the opposition for their disunity in failing to field joint candidates for prime minister and president in a column. On reflection, I was certainly wrong about the latter post: it is entirely fitting for the ruling coalition to have their own candidate for the top constitutional position.
Never mind that he wields no powers, but a president from the opposition can sow a lot of confusion by speaking against the government’s policies and positions. Now that he no longer wields the Damocles sword of article 58(2)(b) that gave him the power to dismiss governments and assemblies, he is less than a figurehead. But he can delay and obstruct legislation by refusing to approve it.
A president from the opposition can sow a lot of confusion.
The maulana, had he somehow won with a little magic and lots of cash dispersed liberally, would be quite comfortable with Imran Khan’s PTI. Actually, he managed to align happily with every government in power since he first entered politics. Despite his support for the Taliban and his ferocious anti-Americanism, he is reported to have asked the American ambassador, Ann Patterson, for support in his bid to become prime minister.
But frankly, it’s not so much the maulana’s ideological flip-flops that bother me as much as his general appearance. Before I’m accused of voicing aesthetic preferences, let me say that while I have never met him as he doesn’t move in my circle of friends, I find him to be genial and generally good-humoured, qualities sadly lacking in most of our politicians. But is he the face of ‘naya Pakistan?
Instead, we will have Arif Alvi, a successful dentist from Karachi, occupying an opulent residence in the highest profile spot in the country. He has claimed that he will not be “an inactive and silent” president, but he should remember that a strong prime minister doesn’t wish to share the front page with anybody, leave alone his nominee.
So before he becomes too comfortable in his new home, let me remind him of the fate of one of his predecessors, Chaudhry Fazal Elahi, president while Z.A. Bhutto was prime minister in the early 1970s. While he was sworn in under the freshly minted Constitution, it was clear that ZAB resented the protocol given to him, and probably gave instructions limiting the president’s public appearances.
In those days, a joke did the rounds: demonstrators converged on the presidency, then in Rawalpindi, carrying placards demanding ‘Fazal Elahi ko riha karo’ (Free Fazal Elahi!). They were expressing their concern over the fact that the poor man had not been seen since he entered the presidency.
For Aitzaz Ahsan, an old friend, this was a good election to lose. He has too fine a legal brain, and principles he stands up for, to waste his talents in an impotent, moribund position for the next five years. His candidature was, whatever the PPP leadership says, probably a ploy to avoid supporting the maulana, the PML-N nominee.
Many believe that the political contours of ‘naya Pakistan’ that are emerging before our eyes will be dominated by a strong partnership between the civilian government and the security establishment. This is a far cry from the years of mistrust between our generals and the last two elected governments.
First, it was Zardari’s naïve offer of a ‘no-first-strike’ agreement with India regarding nuclear weapons. This was said to run against the policy of developing small nuclear warheads for battlefield use to stop an armoured incursion from India. The government was forced into a humiliating climbdown.
Then came Zardari’s attempt to place the ISI under civilian control. Probably issued on Rehman Malik’s advice, a government notification appeared one day, directing the country’s most powerful intelligence agency to report through the interior ministry. Yet another embarrassing U-turn by the PPP government. Although Zardari has since tried to curry favour with the powers that be, the mistrust has lingered.
With Nawaz Sharif, the antipathy began on his return from exile in Saudi Arabia. He nursed a grudge against Gen Musharraf who he thought had duped into approving the Kargil fiasco. Musharraf overthrew him in 1999, before jailing and then exiling him. So clearly, Sharif had a score to settle.
But in attempting to try Musharraf for sedition, Nawaz Sharif was walking into a minefield.
Given this brief history, one can ask whether it matters who lives in the presidency if powers outside politics continue to call the shots for the foreseeable future.
Published in Dawn, September 8th, 2018
