LAHORE, Sept 6: When Punjab Chief Minister and provincial PML president Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi appealed on Sunday to President Musharraf to stay in uniform for at least another five years , he knew it well that the opposition would express a strong reaction in the provincial assembly session to be held the following day.
Since the deadline set for the general to step down as army chief - December 31 - is less than four months away, the ruling party had chosen the right time to show its political cards and give a clear message to its opponents that it is with the man who successfully faced various challenges and is capable to handle all situations.
As expected, the opposition MPs took exception to the chief minister's views on the first day of the 17th session of the Punjab Assembly on Monday. As the session began, PPP's Rana Aftab Ahmed Khan raised a point of order, arguing that the chief minister had violated Articles 5 and 6 of the Constitution by urging the president not to shed his soldier's dress.
He demanded that being the custodian of the house, Deputy Speaker Shaukat Husain Mazari (who was presiding over the session in the absence of the speaker) should take suo motu notice of the serious issue.
On this, Law Minister Raja Basharat declared in categorical terms that what the chief minister had said was the policy of the ruling party and now it would have resolutions passed from the Senate, the National Assembly and provincial legislatures in support of that contention. He lavished praise on President Musharraf for the policies he pursued during the past five years and his vision for the future.
Rana Sanaullah Khan of the PML-N and Ehsanullah Waqas and Asghar Gujjar of the MMA were among the speakers who expressed their views during the unplanned one-hour debate on a subject, which would remain under discussion at all fora till a final decision is announced by Gen Musharraf.
The law minister told the house that his party would do whatever was required to retain Gen Musharraf in his dual capacity. However, the MMA and the PML-N leaders warned that the situation could lead to a clash, as a result of which Gen Musharraf may have to take off his uniform or face some unpredictable consequences.
While the ruling PML is consistent in its support to a military dictator, the PML-N, the PPP and the MMA are, perhaps, forgetting their role in the past. The ruling PML was carved out of the PML-N, which was a strong ally of Gen Ziaul Haq to his last day. Thus, its support for Gen Musharraf should be taken as a continuation of its support to the general who ruled the country for 11 years.
The PML-N's criticism of Gen Musharraf is not well-founded. It is opposed to him not because he is a dictator, but because he ousted and banished Mian Nawaz Sharif. The PPP's opposition to Gen Musharraf is also not because of any principle.
Instead, it is opposed to him because a deal could not be struck between the two sides. Everybody knows that after the October 2002 elections, Makhdoom Amin Fahim had held several rounds of talks with the establishment in an attempt to set up a PPP-led coalition at the centre.
The talks failed because Makhdoom was not ready to bid farewell to Ms Benazir Bhutto. Had he agreed to betray his leader, he would have been the prime minister, working with the same "President" Musharraf, accepting the same controversial Legal Framework Order.
Senior leaders of the PPP-Patriots, who are today strong supporters of Gen Musharraf, were the 'enemies' of Gen Ziaul Haq. They had played an important role in the then Movement for Restoration of Democracy (MRD).
The role of some religious parties during military rules has also not been enviable. In fact, they have been having a soft corner for Gen Zia, because of which they are reviled by adversaries. Head of one party was known as the uncle of Gen Zia.
The PML's demand that Gen Musharraf stay on in uniform has placed the MMA in a difficult position. So far, it has been claiming that although it helped Gen Musharraf legitimize his presidency, it had succeeded in getting a timeframe from him to take off his uniform.
Now that the situation appears to be taking a different turn, the MMA feels that it would lose all political fortune it had made at the time of the 17th amendment. In fact, the religious alliance would have to face a more difficult situation in the times to come as President Musharraf is determined to cut it to its size.
He will take every possible step to deprive the MMA of popular support. And he will go for fresh election at a time when he thought the religious alliance's graph is at the lowest. Already, officials say, the popularity of the MMA is going down and it may have to suffer serious political setbacks in the next elections, as and when held.