Will
You Please Let Asif Ali Zardari Go!
Shaheen
Sehbai
IT
WAS August of 1996 when I was on a short visit to Islamabad as
then I was based in Washington as correspondent for Daily ‘Dawn’.
My friend and late hockey commentator Farooq Mazhar was then Editor
of Islamabad’s English Daily ‘The News’.
I had played some role in getting him the Editorship of the newspaper
in early 1995 and so Farooq Mazhar felt obliged. During 1995 he
had developed a special friendship with the then Prime Minister’s
husband, Asif Ali Zardari, thanks to Cricket Commentator and columnist
Omar Kureshi.
During
and shortly before that period my relations with Asif Zardari
were not very friendly as I had been writing in my usual way about
Benazir’s government and Asif’s influence, which I
called interference.
Farooq
Mazhar hosted a grand dinner for me and also invited about 50
other common friends, among them senior journalists, senior politicians
and officials. The dinner was a great success, drinks were flowing,
food was in abundance and groups of like-minded people were discussing
politics, and everything else, in a free and relaxed atmosphere.
Suddenly
there was a big commotion. Everybody and the hosts seemed to be
running in one direction and there emerged Asif Ali Zardari in
the middle of a procession of aides, secretaries or application
bearers. He shook hands with some, including our group and headed
for the food table. For next hour or so he was surrounded by others.
Then Farooq Mazhar brought him to our corner and wanted me and
him to shake hands, discuss our differences and be friends again.
It was embarrassing as neither he
nor I was prepared for this uncalled for mediation. Our group
had senior journalists H.K. Burki, M. Ziauddin, Javed Siddiq,
Amir Mateen and others. Among the politicians I remember Ghulam
Mustufa Khar and Kabir Wasti. There were many others. The focus
of every one turned to what Asif and myself were saying to each
other. He was complaining about friends (me) who had dumped him
and BB during their second government, which was still in tact.
I was protesting at the way he had created a coterie of self seekers
around him which had forced others to distance themselves. The
discussion was not going in any positive direction.
It
did not. I remember my final words to him were: “Asif when
I return to Pakistan next time, I am sure you will be in the same
jail where I had come to see you after you were arrested by Jam
Sadiq Ali in 1990-91.” It was a prophecy which came true
just a few weeks after I had returned to Washington. BB’s
Government was dismissed in November and Asif was put in the Landhi
jail. When I returned to Pakistan in June 1997 I found him in
the same jail. He was in other jails when I came back in 1998,
2000, 2001 and until I left Pakistan in March 2002. He is still
in jail.
My
views about him had not changed much but over the years the feeling
was getting strong that he had already suffered more than he deserved.
Finally when General Musharraf shed all his pretences of being
an honest, moral person and came down to naked pursuit of brute
power, by hook or by crook, through a fraudulent referendum or
a fixed election, Asif started becoming respectable for me.
If
financial corruption was to be an integral part of Pakistan’s
ruling classes, be it an elected government or a self-adulatory
military regime, and if every one had to bend the rules and extend
financial favors to friends and family, then there was no reason
for Asif Ali Zardari to suffer a fate which no one else has, or
will.
Now
he stands out as the only politician who has refused to compromise
with the Establishment for his freedom, although he could have
done that given the level of petty bargaining which the Musharraf
regime has been doing with every corrupt thief and robber. If
Admiral Mansoor ul Haq can pay 7 million dollars and be a free
man and keep the rest of the millions he made, Asif could have
easily done a similar deal. Or if the small time crooks can be
let off by paying a fraction of what they owe to the State, freedom
should not have been a big deal for Asif to buy. And he admits
he was offered the deal many times by the Musharraf regime but
he refused.
On
top of all this, when Musharraf struck the despicable deals with
the PPP turncoats and lastly with the MQM, my faith in the last
disciplined institution of the country, the Pakistan Army, was
totally shaken. Now for me, the army was just another corrupt,
power-hungry political party, ready to commit the same “crimes”
which Asif Zardari or Nawaz Sharif had committed and for which
General Musharraf had made them pay through their nose.
If
for some petty financial corruption Nawaz and his entire family
had to be exiled from the country or Asif had to be kept in jail
for 7 long years, then similar punishment must be demanded for
the present military junta as they have done nothing less. In
fact as stories of their corruption and favoritism are now leaking,
it appears these military men have been so reckless with the national
exchequer they have to be given stiffer punishments, whenever
that time comes.
So
now my argument is that when all governments in Pakistan resort
to corruption, with no exceptions, then what is the choice for
the people. Since lack of morals and dishonesty is going to be
a common factor, people will have to look for some additional
"positives" to prefer one over the other. They have
to chose from what they have. This additional “positives”
could only be a government which people have voted in, instead
of a government which has thrust itself with the barrel of the
gun. There is some outside chance that people will vote out the
corrupt, or less honest, in a ballot if they are given the option.
The recent defeat slammed on Rawalpindi’s street boy Sheikh
Rashid Ahmed could be an eye opener for all. People did seek their
revenge and gave him the boot, just because he had joined the
jackboots against their mandate.
The
only chance for Pakistan then is to let democracy and an accountability
process run its course through the ballot. Democracy is thus the
last hope. Even in established democracies like the United States
or India, politicians still thrive who perform outrageous acts
like the Rs 100 million birthday bash of Uttar Pradesh’s
Mayawati for which the State tax payers bore the brunt. How the
Indian democracy is reacting with nationwide condemnation is a
sign of maturity. The voters will respond to this financial corruption
in the next voting season. There is no need for a NAB in UP to
come into action or the local Corps Commander to move his troops
to capture the provincial assembly.
After
Musharraf dumped his own image, career and reputation, and that
of the Pakistan Army, into the gutter, there is no moral or legal
point in keeping Asif Zardari in jail, just because he imported
a BMW. He is now close to being declared a ‘prisoner of
conscience’, because if everyone is a thief in this land,
why is a petty thief in jail when every robber friend of the military
ruler is out, enjoying life and robbing the country.
There
has to be a limit to injustice, pettiness, victimization and bigotry.
