What did Jamali do as PM in one month?: SITUATIONER

LAHORE: The government of Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali has completed one month in office, but during this period except for reducing the power tariff by paisa 12 per unit, it could not take any important step to provide relief to the common man. The head of the government could not even announce his priorities, mainly because he had to devote more time to ensure that he doesn’t lose the single vote majority he had acquired in the 342-strong house with the support of 10 PPP dissidents and other parties.

Despite his best efforts during the past four weeks, the prime minister could not get support from any new party, because of which the government remains as fragile as it was on the first day. If a single legislator changes his loyalty on the call of his conscience, the edifice of democracy raised after three years of military rule will come down like the house of cards.

The veracity, or lack of it, of the claim that in confidence vote proceedings on Dec 30 the premier will have many more supporters will come to light on the date set for the purpose. The intra-PML-Q differences which surfaced during the four-week period had made the prime minister’s position vulnerable.

Mr.Jamali’s decision of nominating Mr.Salim Saifullah Khan as party’s acting secretary-general had created a crisis as party president Mian Muhammad Azhar challenged its validity in the light of the party constitution. The party had decided to oust Azhar as president, inter alia, because of the “lack of leadership qualities” in him. A general council meeting was called for Dec 20 to remove Azhar, elect a new party chief and secretary-general.

A few days before the set date, Salim Saifullah Khan was elected unopposed secretary-general of the party, a step also disputed by the party chief on constitutional grounds.

It was a foregone conclusion that on Dec 20 Chaudhry Shujaat Husain would be elected president and Salim Saifullah’s election as secretary-general would be formalized.

But the snowballing crisis was “temporarily” overcome when President Pervez Musharraf personally met some party leaders as a result of which the council meeting was called off. The call-off decision and the withdrawal of the election of the new secretary-general had established beyond an iota of doubt that the PML-Q is not independent in its functioning and its strings are still being pulled by Gen Musharraf. The extent of “free hand” available to the ruling party in policy formulation for the country can be gauged from the premier’s reiterations that policies given by Gen Musharraf during the past three years would be continued.

Had the party been independent in decision-making, it would not have ‘elected’ Azhar its president in the first place as a man ‘devoid of leadership qualities’. And if he was a capable man, and he was elected because of his capabilities, there was no justification for seeking his removal on this ground.

Similarly, either the decision of electing Mr.Salim Saifullah Khan was wrong or the decision to withdraw from the elections was faulty. But the party will, naturally, defend both the steps.

The crisis in the party is still there, and it has only been brushed under the carpet —- temporarily.

Once the prime minister gets the confidence vote, the crisis will erupt again —- perhaps more strongly than before.

Mian Azhar has provided much munition against him to his opponents by inviting ARD president Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan and Tehrik-i-Insaaf chairman Imran Khan to a reception he hosted for the prime minister.

The timing of the reception was very crucial. The prime minister was meeting every Tom, Dick and Harry to seek support for the confidence vote. And Mian Azhar invited the Nawabzada, a person who does not recognize the present government as democratic and is trying to keep the ARD and the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal in the opposite camp.

Imran Khan is also critical of the government. He is with the forces which are opposed to giving the prime minister the confidence vote. PML-Q leaders will be justified in concluding that Mian Azhar despite being the head of the ruling party is playing the role of the opposition. He did not contact anyone to get vote for the prime minister. Rather he strengthened his ties with opposition parties.

Azhar’s opponents will exploit the situation and go to any extent to have him removed from the top slot.

But this is not for the first time that Mian Azhar showed his contacts with the opposition when his party was in power. Earlier, he had invited Ms.Benazir Bhutto (the then opposition leader) to the wedding of his daughter when the Sharifs were in power. The PML-Q was not in existence at the time and Mian Azhar was with the Sharifs, though he had strained relations with them.

Ms.Bhutto had stayed at the ceremony for less than quarter of an hour, but her presence had widened the gulf between the Sharifs and Mian Azhar.

Some party leaders say that the withdrawal of the no-trust motion against Mian Azhar caused a tremendous embarrassment to people who had joined hands with the Jamali group despite their links with the party chief.