Shaheen
Sehbai
THE
Prime Minister is being acclaimed by all, specially the media gurus,
as a down to earth man with his feet on the ground. He has no grand
illusions. He touches the feet of senior media tycoons. He says
when there is nothing to offer to the people “at the moment”,
why should he go and address the nation on TV. He knows his limits
and is moving carefully. He is gaining respect as General Musharraf
has almost lost all his moral authority to be there as the President.
This is precisely what is dangerous for the General in the given
situation.
The
last of Musharraf’s despicable acts was his order to the Election
Commission to burn all the official record of his April Referendum.
There could be nothing more incriminating than this. By this order
he has admitted before the world that he was there as result of
a fraud perpetrated upon the nation. Whatever little pretence of
an argument was there for him to cling on as President of the country,
has now been lost. It is now immaterial whether the Election Commission
actually destroys the record or is stopped at the last minute by
any court. The damage has been done. Musharraf cannot claim to be
President of the country by virtue of the referendum. So why and
how is he going to stay on?
At
the moment, and for the next few weeks, he has the Legal Framework
Order though the Constitution has been restored in parts. He is
still trying to patch together friendly administrations in the provinces
and see that his cronies get into the Senate. But once this phase
of completion of the Parliament is over and come new year when the
Constitution is fully restored, the troubles for Musharraf will
have begun.
Firstly
he will have to concede some powers to the new Prime Minister, who
is perfectly behaving as a poodle. But mark his words, he always
qualifies his remarks with something. His first impromptu address
to the Parliament had the key phrase: Please be patient, Rome was
not built in a day. The Rome he was referring to was a 'Civilian
Polity'. His latest remarks include the qualifier: Why should I
go on TV when I have nothing to offer ‘at the moment’.
Which means when the moment arrives, he would definitely do that.
Waiting for his time and moment!
What
Jamali has done and said in that context merits a more careful study.
He has built his bridges with the MMA and in Balochistan has their
support in return for the government in NWFP. He kept on insisting
that PPP should form a government in Sindh, if they had the numbers.
That was a fair deal. PPP should have demonstrated the numbers.
They were not interested as Benazir Bhutto has taken the over-riding
decision not to join any government.
In
PML-Q affairs Jamali has asserted himself by naming his own man
as Secretary General of the party, Salim Saifullah of Peshawar.
He did not bother for a moment to consider what Mian Azhar would
think or do. That is vintage Jamali once he thinks he is in control.
One of his nieces recently remarked to some friends in private:
“Jamali is a man with a very short temper and when he is in
a rage, he does not think, he acts. So if there is a situation when
Jamali and Musharraf are locked in an one on one meeting, and Musharraf
says something which Jamali does not like, he would not hesitate
even to slap the General there and then.” Those were his niece’s
words, but needless to point out that such a situation cannot be
contemplated for a long time.
But
count on Musharraf to hasten the process and cut short this time.
The way he has played into the hands of his pygmy advisers and near-sighted
school or college friends, he is hurtling towards replicating the
GIK experience. From the zenith of a military dictator so popular
when he took over that people distributed sweets, most of his supporters
and cheer leaders are now eating their words in shame and embarrassment.
His tragedy is that he never took note of the cheers, when he was
popular and neither he is taking note of the filth being thrown
at him, duly deserved though. He has remained the typical commando
General, never growing into the big shoes that he moved into. He
was supposed to turn into a world class statesman, as his key strategic
global position demanded. He never even tried.
For
Jamali and other politicians, the best strategy is to let Musharraf
continue to destroy himself. That is where Benazir Bhutto has shown
remarkable vision by opting out of the power game and staying on
the sidelines, even at the cost of some minor disruption within
her party. But her voter and support base is solid and she knows
that. A few turncoats cannot harm the party. Likewise, MMA have
played their political cards well by not pushing too hard and even
compromising a little bit by allowing the PML-Q to form a government
in Balochistan. A foolish step by MQM to withdraw support from PML-Q
was immediately balanced by MMA and even PPP by saying they would
not let Jamali fall.
Musharraf
must be very worried at the politicians not making too many mistakes.
The flagrant violation of rules in Sindh Assembly elections, when
schedule was changed after the deadlines had expired, was protested
by PPP and others but within limits. Everyone understands that this
set up is transitional and will only last for a little while. That
little space is needed by the politicians in any case to get their
feet back firmly on the ground.
Jamali
is thus smart in sticking to his humble posture of a poodle. Critics
should not be unfair to him. His situation is such he is in the
ring empty handed against a fighter armed with all the guns in the
world. He has to grab a weapon before he can fire back.
The
first stop in his long march would be the inaugural session of the
Parliament when Musharraf will have to appear before the elected
representatives. With the National Assembly Hall echoing with "Go
Baba Go" sound track, that will mark the beginning of his end.
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