| May 21, 2008 | Wednesday | Jamadi-ul-Awwal 15, 1429 |
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More heat than light
GIVEN the circumstances and Pakistan’s political traditions, perhaps it should come as no surprise that the grand coalition cobbled together with little effort in the wake of the February elections has stumbled at the first hurdle.
The notion of an extended partnership in office between the Pakistan People’s Party and the Nawaz faction of the Pakistan Muslim League was always something of a long shot, but it’s nonetheless hard to resist a twinge of disappointment at its embarrassingly brief span.
The PPP and the PML-N are blaming each other for the series of progressively louder hiccups that have thwarted meaningful progress towards undoing the malicious blow struck against the judiciary on Nov 3 last year, but have not stooped to hurling the sort of invective that would effectively bury all prospect of cooperation. After his party members resigned en masse from the federal cabinet last week, Nawaz Sharif announced that this step did not entail a move to the opposition benches. At the same time, Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani was instructed by Asif Zardari not to accept the resignations.
As such, the coalition remains in limbo and obituaries may be premature. A joint session of parliament could conceivably settle the issue and permit a rejuvenated government to move on. There are, after all, more important problems that desperately deserve to be tackled. The average citizen is inevitably more concerned about power and food shortages and rampant inflation than about the likelihood of a relatively independent judiciary.
The question, however, is whether a government apparently incapable of undoing a fairly straightforward wrong can reasonably be relied upon to successfully undertake the considerably more arduous task of introducing the structural changes necessary to deal with the economic adversities introduced or compounded during the Musharraf years. It would be an understatement to suggest that the portents are not good.
It has been conjectured that the resolution to be tabled at the proposed joint session of parliament will, inter alia, offer indemnity to Pervez Musharraf for all the patently undemocratic measures taken on and after Nov 3, thereby effectively removing any questions about the president’s legitimacy from the purview of the restored judges. Should this indeed turn out to be the case, it will tend to confirm the rumours that have long been circulating about the presidency’s role in controlling the political process.
In the event, chances are that Musharraf will also succeed in remoulding the ruling coalition to suit his purposes. Although his efforts to make the PML-Q more palatable to the PPP by wresting its leadership from Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain appear to have been thwarted for the time being, the possibility of Q replacing N in the corridors of power cannot be ruled out. A development along these lines would, in all likelihood, be part of a package that guarantees Musharraf will serve out his term, notwithstanding the dubious legality of his re-election. It would also ensure the triumph of continuity over change, in keeping with the wishes and endeavours of the United States.
The impression of an evolving special relationship between the presidency and Bilawal House has been reinforced by the appointment of a prominent Musharraf sycophant as governor of the country’s dominant province. The PML-N is the largest party in Punjab, and it’s discomfiture over this decision was, no doubt, compounded by Salman Taseer’s pronouncement at his inauguration that his primary goal would be to transform the province into a PPP stronghold. Such a partisan declaration of intent hardly befits the gubernatorial office that he has so gleefully accepted, and the PML-N probably has good cause to suspect that its current supremacy in the provincial assembly is about to be undermined.
It is, meanwhile, considerably disingenuous of the powers that be to blame the prevailing aura of uncertainty on media speculation. To a certain extent, political speculation is par for the course in any country. It inevitably acquires greater potency in circumstances where deliberate obfuscation is the order of the day. Transparency has never been a hallmark of Pakistani politics and promises about ‘taking the people into confidence’ have customarily been honoured in the breach. Perhaps it was completely unrealistic even to hope, let alone expect, that this unfortunate custom might make way for a more forthright and candid approach. Ever since the prolonged suspense over the choice of prime minister, the trend, instead, has been towards orchestrated manoeuvres in the dark.
The two most powerful men in the country, Zardari and Musharraf, are clearly comfortable with this pattern of behaviour. The ex-general’s stature was considerably diminished by the election results, and a modicum of moral rectitude would, at that juncture, have led him to offer his resignation. He opted against that relatively honourable course, possibly because he was reasonably confident of his ability to manipulate the political process. And who can say that he was wrong? After all, throughout Pakistan’s history, high-minded principles have rarely interfered with the quest for power (and pelf).
In this context it would be unjust not to acknowledge that — notwithstanding its disreputable origins in a singularly atrocious era of military rule — the PML-N has come across as a decidedly more righteous organisation than its main coalition partner. It remains to be seen, of course, whether this apparent high-mindedness can be maintained in the long term. Despite some promising signs, it remains difficult to picture it as a repository for national hopes.
The PPP, sadly, may already be beyond redemption. A rescue attempt from within would only serve to splinter it. Depending on the circumstances, that could conceivably produce constructive consequences. But chances of any such attempt being mounted during its stint in power are negligible. Under its present leadership, the path of opportunistic political promiscuity — which leads from Islamabad to London via Dubai — will probably continue to serve as a substitute for meaningful reconciliation.
It has taken less than two months for the unrealistic hopes and expectations raised by the inauguration of a freshly elected National Assembly to dwindle substantially. The way ahead was never perfectly clear, but hardly anyone expected it to be blocked so soon by men with axes to grind. The present government cannot be held responsible for the creeping economic despair and depleted levels of energy afflicting the nation, but as another summer of discontent approaches its peak, the all too frequent power cuts seem like an apt metaphor for political circumstances whereby the tendency to generate heat at the expense of light is increasing with each passing day.
The writer is a journalist based in Sydney.
mahir.worldview@gmail.com
