THE People`s Party`s extreme reluctance to remove the Seventeenth Amendment and do away with Section 58-2(b) of the much abused and mutilated constitution of the Islamic Republic is baffling to say the least.
It is pathetic seeing good people like my old friend Minister Makhdoom Shahabuddin try futilely to defend this reluctance, nay almost-refusal, of their leadership to rid the country of the draconian act by the use of which two of their own party`s governments were kicked out of office by the establishment.
It is sad to see that the present `leadership` of the party has scant regard for the sacrifices offered for democracy by the party`s founder Zulfikar Ali Bhutto who was judicially murdered at the behest of an army dictator; and the cruel and very mysterious murder of his daughter under the watch of another.
This is not all. Every time the party was thrown out of office there started a witch-hunt in which all of its members suffered the leadership and the poor workers. Jail, beatings, torture, trumped-up charges, long court `trials`, you name it.
Indeed, Yousuf Raza Gilani himself was jailed for years on much the same charges the favourite of the establishment Waseem Sajjad was charged with. In his case, Sajjad was magnanimously `pardoned` by the Commando so that he could fight the Senate elections.
There is much more of the PPP`s travails at the hands of dictators, both army and civilian that one does not have the space here to recount. Suffice it to say that the party has suffered much for the cause of democracy.
It boggles the senses then, to see how wantonly and cavalierly its present `leadership` rejects support offered it by the other large national party, the PML-N, to remove the amendments brought about by dictators and their political handmaidens.
By so doing it negates completely, and refuses to recognise, the Charter of Democracy drafted under the direct supervision of, and signed between, Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif.
Benazir, poor thing, is dead and gone (may she rest in peace), and it is sad to see Nawaz Sharif appeal again and again to the better sense of the PPP`s present leadership (read Asif Zardari, Naek, Khosa, Babar Awan, and, sadly, Raza Rabbani - et tu, Raza? - & Company). It is sadder still that the leadership of the party only responds by issuing meaningless press statements.
Is there no one in the People`s Party who can stand up and say to Zardari that he is taking the party in entirely the wrong direction in so many ways? That, whilst the Seventeenth Amendment and 58-2(b) might help in removing the Punjab government (to what avail?), it can only be to the PPP`s subsequent cost and which will harm it irreparably? Is there no one to tell him that the offer made to the PPP by the PML-N of not destabilising the system for a full five years is one that no political party has made to another in this country`s sad history?
Is there no one in this party of the people who will object to the machinations of the Punjab governor in trying to unseat the PML-N government in Punjab on one pretext or another when the People`s Party is the one which has broken every single one of its solemn, and signed, agreements and declarations?
It does beggar belief, all of the above. It actually seems as if the presidential seat is being kept warm by Zardari for the next adventurer who will not even need to bend the constitution to his benefit, for it is twisted and bent as it is.
For the benefit of younger readers who might not remember the rancour and acrimony and hatred of Pakistani politics before Benazir and Nawaz decided to fight dictatorship together, and signed the Charter of Democracy, let me repeat that it was a hugely tragic and sad time.
The fresh winds of change that began to blow after the coming together of the two political leaders were very special for lots of us, not only because they signalled the coming of civilised politics to our fractured country, but also because they also spelt doom for dictatorship that had such a hold on the country. And which had led to the mayhem we see today.
This relief, this liberation from the past so to say, was specially special for people like I who were part of one team or another (I on the People`s Party`s side) and who laid into each other with much venom and spite. Alas.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the news is very bad indeed. The latest American tongue-lashing, delivered to Mahmud `The Charmer` Durrani, and the most outstanding diplomat in the universe and beyond, Master Hussain Haqqani, by none other than the American secretary of state bears repeating.
Urging Pakistan to `understand the gravity of the situation`, Rice said, `It is not enough to say that these are non-state actors if they are operating from Pakistani territory they have to be dealt with.` And what do we do? While the Indian foreign secretary visits the US inside of three days of the Mumbai attacks all we could do is trot out press statements.
It is to be noted too, that the Americans earlier made a statement to the effect that the civilian government was now `in control` of the army. But is it? The answer is a resounding NO, judging only from the two ISI fiascos, in both of which the government was forced to make embarrassing u-turns.
Has nobody told President Asif Zardari that the next largest party in the country has offered him complete support in bringing the establishment (read the army and its agencies) to heel, if only he will implement the Charter of Democracy, and those agreements which he has signed himself?
Well, somebody should tell him for it is only by all the democratic forces cooperating with each other that electoral politics will get anywhere. Is there someone out there who will?
And what does the People`s Party do? Play kiddie politics under the aegis of Governor Salman Taseer! And, moreover (as the sardarji said to the Englishman), mint a coin bearing a likeness of Benazir on the occasion of her death anniversary. Benazir was a graceful and highly gifted woman who knew statecraft and the responsibilities that come with it. She will not like it.
P.S. Just the other night a few friends and I who knew her and worked with her recalled nostalgically our interaction with Benazir. There was scarcely a dry eye there, and one of us was well into his seventies. RIP, Bibi.
kshafi1@yahoo.co.uk