The Presidency and the PM House wish to see Aitzaz Ahsan silently slip into the vacant chair of Latif Khosa, unceremoniously shunted out on charges of corruption from the Attorney General’s post. Are you kidding me? The barrister’s sights are set much higher.

 Even though he may have hinted moving into the Governor’s House, Lahore, thereby giving the present incumbent Salman aka Biloo Taseer ‘sleepless nights’ but when a change of guards at the Presidency or the PM House does occur, where do you think Aitzaz will be?

Certainly not in Washington DC getting yet one more award! Though we well know he has friends and admirers at the Capitol Hill and elsewhere in the US who could be plugging for him to be made a VVIP.

What did President Zardari and Aitzaz Ahsan discuss recently? As his attorney of record who fought many of the couple’s alleged corruption cases gratis, perhaps the president was again seeking his legal view on NRO and whether he could escape the dragnet.

What Aitzaz advised the president is slowly filtering out in the press from the horse’s mouth himself. Aitzaz’s latest nugget should give you a fair idea which way the wind blows: ‘Aitzaz seeks independent accountability body…the law is equal for everyone and one should not blame without proof.’ Get the drift?

Despite press statements in favour of Zardari, the president has withheld Aitzaz’s return to the PPP CEC (central executive committee). Perhaps he wants to see if Aitzaz can deliver the agenda handed to him and soften the judiciary on NRO.

If he does succeed in allaying presidential fears of being nailed - after all let’s not forget Aitzaz kept a steady eye on the ball and got Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry and other Supreme Court judges restored - bang! Aitzaz will be back in a jiffy.

But politics in Pakistan changes at the speed of lightning. Who knows by the time this column appears, Aitzaz would be the attorney general, governor, minister,PM,  president or a wanderer in the wind? Anything is possible.

In the spring of 2004 I was living in America. I interviewed Bushra and Aitzaz Ahsan at the home of their friends from college days. Aitzaz was in the wilderness even then. But he was a committed jiyala who swore he would never sell his soul to Gen Musharraf.

My column appeared on these same pages called ‘The price of loyalty.’ History seems to repeat itself. ‘Where are those seductive arguments smacking of vainglory? Where is the élan that launched a thousand speeches inside the Parliament and outside the jalsa gah over dog-gone decades, throwing up frenzied masses vying unconditional love for Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)?’ thus I began my column 5 years ago.

‘Carrying serendipity and a mojo few men possess, young Aitzaz Ahsan became a devoted provocateur and accidental humanitarian for Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and his daughter, Benazir. Forty years past, the Chaudhry from Gujrat — unlike the geckos of Gujrat — is still wedded to the PPP; he still carries the Cambridge peppiness; he still has the gift of the gab. What then is his persona missing? Waning is the passion, browned off is the boundless energy, jaded is the will to jostle when challenged. Since Benazir’s exit, he’s been frozen out.’

At the beginning of the 2004 interview, I had asked Aitzaz, one of the few MNAs forming the PPPP or Pakistan People's Party Parliamentarians, whether he was a ‘grass widower’ waiting for Bhutto.

He gave a wry smile, letting go of the comment, preferring to look outside at the New Jersey landscape on a wet Sunday afternoon. I tried again: So will you wait indefinitely? Say, till eternity? I had asked him.

After a long pause, he replied ‘Look, Benazir Bhutto will come to Pakistan one day.’ When? I asked. ‘I can’t say.’ Is there life beyond Benazir? I had persisted. He didn’t reply. To change the subject I asked him about the lotas who had deserted the PPP and joined Musharraf/Shaukat Aziz government.

Aitzaz had immediately snapped: ‘It’s zero plus zero for these turncoats who are puppets on a string being manipulated by Musharraf. I have always maintained that it is far more dignified for us to sit in the Opposition, rather be called lotas by our voters.’
 
He thought his party had seen the last of the lotas, even though Benazir had a ‘brilliant record of re-absorbing mavericks in her party.’ People like Faisal Saleh Hayat, Aftab Sherpao and Rao Sikander were however ‘unlikely to return to BB,’ Aitzaz had said, adding that while only 21 out of 81 had deserted the PPPP, ‘PML (N) leadership left enmasse.’ Did the army ever try buying him? I asked Aitzaz, and at what price?

‘Everybody in PPP has been approached with offers. The ISI’s (intelligence agency) shopping list contains the names of all the 342 MNAs it wants to buy off! I, too, am one of them, but I can’t tell you what is the reward flashed before my eyes.’

Perhaps the prime ministership? I had asked Aitzaz. He declined to answer. Well, 5 1/2 years today, Benazir did return only to die; Zardari is the current president; And Aitzaz is still frozen out! Actually, this time, it’s worse: Zardari never gave him a party ticket to contest the 2008 elections. Will Aitzaz’s vicious cycle ever break? Will Aitzaz ever become the prime minister or president of Pakistan? Or will he be the wandering minstrel singing his poems forever?

Bushra’s words about her husband during the 2004 interview will prove to be either prophetic or Aitzaz will prove them false. Here’s what she said then: ‘He’s like the white panda (extinct species) who has never put personal interest before national; never put personal wealth before the collective good of the nation. He always stood back, reviewed the situation and never shied away from telling Benazir if a wrong was being committed.’

Will Aitzaz join Zardari? Or won’t he? If he does the former, Bushra stands discredited. Remember, words once spoken cannot be taken back. What Bushra declared unequivocally about her husband’s principles that beautiful spring morning over 5 years ago are now on record.

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