A show of unity or a Trojan horse?

Category: Articles/Opinion
Written by: Amend Foster (on March 30, 2008 - 10:49 AM)

E-Mail Article to a Friend

Yusuf Raza Gilani, while romping to victory, became the country’s first prime minister to gain a unanimous vote of confidence from the National Assembly.

This called for jubilation all around. This was seen as one of those rare occasions when Pakistani politicians showed solidarity for the welfare of the nation.

One politician after another waxed eloquent on the benefits of this grand unity. For some, this indicated that our politicians, for a change, were all set to resolve the basic issues gnawing at the very roots of this country. For others, the prime minister had been empowered to execute his political agenda freely. Still others believed this was the beginning of a new epoch that our children will read about in their history books.

But here ends the happy story. In the cynical world where things are never what they seem to be, there exists a rather sinister side of the story as well. This was too big a surprise for everybody. Even the PPP allies in the government were shocked as the information had not been shared with them. Obviously, this could not have happened without a nod from the president. It was not a coincidence that Pervaiz Elahi had to choose this particular occasion to stay away or Faisal Saleh Hayat suddenly became so gracious as to extend this benevolent gesture. So what was going on?

There were as many questions as there were rumours doing the rounds at the cafeteria: what will be the impact of this unity on the crucial issues that await a showdown between the government and the president?

Will this gesture lead to any flexibility on the part of the PPP towards the president, particularly on the reinstatement of judges? Many thought the opposition support for Yusuf Raza was intended more to create division among the PPP allies than to create unity. “It may be a perfect scenario for the president where he has been able to launch his Trojan horse within government ranks,” confided a PPP member.

“It’s a bait for the PPP to prove to them that if things go bad between the allies at some stage, the party could still retain the government without the PML-N.”

The member gave credit (or discredit) to Rehman Malik for acting as a go-between. No wonder he was one of the earliest, like Hussain Haqqani, to have his job notified. However, PML-N’s Khwaja Asif dismissed the idea. Mr Asif believed it was a last-ditch effort from a man who knew he was on the way out. “He has finally come down on his knees to beg that he is willing to work on whatever conditions are offered to him,” said the firebrand Khwaja. “Even if this is an attempt for division this would backfire.”

His theory was that this may have neutralised the only card that the president had up his “non-khaki” sleeve. “The only threat that the president had was that he would dissolve the assemblies if it tried to reinstate the judges. Now the dissolution option has become further impossible as Yusuf Raza has been unanimously endorsed by the Assembly, including the members backed by him.”

Others in the PML-N were equally determined that a showdown was inevitable. They argued that the new government and allies retain many options to get rid of the president. They could bleed him to a political death gradually by mounting pressure on him every day.

They may already have the strength to impeach him or, come by-elections, they will have another two dozen members to do the job. The shortest route may be to reinstate the judges, who may then nullify the PCO and even his very election as president.

But the government and the allies need to retain their unity for all this to translate into reality. There was mute criticism by the allies about Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gillani presenting the 100-day agenda as the PPP document instead of the allies.

But it was generally appreciated. Some of the announcements were radical, some run-of-the-mill kind, while others were meant just for the gallery.

The most radical and important were about the abolishment of the concurrent list within a year and the Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR). Although the measures will require a much longer debate than a mere announcement in the assembly, this has at least set the ball rolling.

The removal of the concurrent list has been one of the core demands of smaller provinces for over 20 years. The delay in the implementation of the 1973 Constitution, which envisioned passing on these rights from the Centre to the provinces within 10 years, has embittered the smaller provinces.

It was possible only for a government of national consensus to make a bold announcement of this nature. Nationalist members hoped that this might be first of the many more steps that need to be taken to heal the scars of smaller provinces.

Maulana Fazlur Rehman and Asfandyar Wali were right when they pointed out that the FCR could not be abolished just like that. There were two many intricacies involved in the law introduced by the British one hundred years ago.

“We have to sift the bad from the good in the FCR,” said Asfandyar Wali. “You cannot remove the entire legal system overnight.”

Fazlur Rehman, too, explained how the law was linked to the special status of FATA, the Frontier Corps and the Frontier Constabulary. “We need to sit down on this before we do away with the law.”

There was something for everything. The agricultural sector got increase in wheat support price, the labourers got minimum wages at Rs 6000, students and trade unionists got removal of ban on their unions. The one that hit the galleries the most was about putting bureaucrats in 1600cc cars. “What if he had also introduced the same for the generals ala Mohammad Khan Junejo,” commented a colleague in the press gallery.

“They don’t want to be thrown out like him,” quipped another.

The sarcastic remark was quite valid. While there were many radical measures announced by the new premier, there was hardly any on issues where it mattered the most. The only thing about the armed forces was what they had already announced themselves. They were simply requested to expedite it to 10 days.

There was no concrete measure announced relating to the judiciary, except for reiteration of the earlier resolve declared in Bhurban.

Tailpiece: The most interesting feedback on the 100-day agenda was that why should the PM announce a timetable for 100 days. Does it mean that he is there for just 100 odd days? Only God, or Asif Zardari, would know about it.

Source: http://www.dawn.com/2008/03/30/top12.htm

Share your thoughts by posting a Talk-Back: