Putting the Latest
Headlines into Proper Perspective
By
Khawaja Ikram ul Haq
SOME
NEWS headlines in recent days read as follows: “You will
not find any Sikh or Hindu ethnic stock amongst Pakhtun Muslims"...Bashir
Bilour;
- “Anybody who disobeys me
will not be allowed to remain in NWFP”...Akram Durrani,
Chief Minister NWFP;
- “We will not allow Musharraf to take off his uniform”...Information
Minister Sheikh Rashid;
- “There are differences amongst the Opposition on the LFO”...PM
Zafrullah Jamali;
- “27 mpas barred from attending Punjab Assembly session
after scuffle”;
- “Shariat Bill approved in NWFP Assembly unanimously”;
- “Musharraf considering dissolving NWFP government says
the press”;
- “Jamali’s personal secretary Nasiruddin replaced
by Shuja”
The above are some of the important
news in recent days apart from the induction of two MQM-Altaf
members into the cabinet.
If the NWFP government and assembly is dissolved in the next few
days, some say along with the announcement of a new election date,
then history will have repeated itself. Almost every prime minister
in history has dissolved at least one provincial assembly.
Zafrullah Jamali is turning out,
barring his early days, as the weakest prime minister in Pakistan's
history with little or no power left in his hands. Power has steadily
been shifted back to the army and Musharraf as no agenda of any
real public interest has been generated by the Jamali government.
With the Jamali government miming the Musharraf government, little
or nothing of any particular interest remains to be seen.
As a stopgap they even tried the
Agra trap of India-Pakistan negotiations but that too did not
play out too well as the Indians refused to make any changes on
Kashmir. Trade with India or sports when our cricket and hockey
teams are total losers, also did not create any interest amongst
Pakistanis with reports that Musharraf was dealt with physically
as he tried to play an Indian homosexual mole in his individual
one-on-one meeting with PM Vajpayee in Agra.
As the Jamali government backtracked on its reported promise to
at least remove Musharraf's uniform, or in the extreme to remove
him from both illegal positions, they seemed to have lost the
support of many, especially amongst their own radical groups.
They are trying to portray their lackluster performance during
the first eight months in which they switched from a total pro-US
posture to an anti-US posture and were left with egg on their
faces as the US easily knocked out another Muslim country after
Afghanistan.
With reports on who was next on the
US list they tried to play into Indian hands as the Pakistan military
was also beginning to appear as vulnerable to a US invasion. China
and India too wanted accommodation but without substantial changes
in Kashmir which do not suit Pakistan.
All this leads many to believe that the Jamali government wont
last long after a Punjab MPA called the government to be a total
fraud or Number two. What many are seeing is an increasingly uneasy
military and a government that lacks will and popular legitimacy.
The Musharraf push to hold a meeting without the NWFP Chief Minister
caused a further lack of confidence in the Jamali-Musharraf duo.
Many others cited the NWFP and Punjab assembly dramas as attempts
by some interested quarters to divert attention from the Jamali-Sheikh
Rashid attempts to refuse any real solution of the LFO crisis.
In that context many saw the induction of two MQM-A members into
the cabinet as a step in the wrong direction as the party was
also opposed to many aspects of the LFO.
This comes amidst reports that power has actually not been really
transferred and that Jamali and the cabinet are powerless in the
face of the Musharraf-bureaucracy combine with the people watching
with amazement as Musharraf takes back all power bases with Jamali
not even attempting to protest the Musharraf intrusion into policy
and decision-making.
There are many views on the NWFP
Shariat struggle. Some are suggesting that the pro ethnic PML-Q
wants to ban the ANP for Bashir Bilour's racist and extreme ethnic
remarks that are damaging in the Punjab and Sindh. Before independence
NWFP had a huge Sikh and Hindu population. Hindu and Buddhist
history of NWFP is quite apparent. So the Pakhtuns do have Hindu
and Sikh stock even though many suggest that they were actually
idol worshippers before Islam penetrated through Afghan mullahs
and Muslim invaders. Bilour's comments are therefore probably
based on a lack of knowledge of history of the region.
Others suggest that the army is no longer interested in the Musharraf
model of inter provincial war mongering and the MMA is too strong
for the Musharraf regime to even think of removing them from power.
The MMA has already issued a severe warning against Jamali-Musharraf
adventurism and many are already preparing for a strong back lash
movement if the Musharraf-Jamali group go through with toppling
the Akram Durrani government in NWFP.
Others are already thinking of a complete removal of Musharraf
and perhaps another election this year. After all suggests Qasim
Zia, that this non-genuine or number two government is based on
an illegally twisted referendum and leaders who are not the real
powers.
With a vacuum beginning to form as the real leaders in the PML-Q,
military and Opposition take a back seat non playing role, the
puppets are left with little more to-do but shake their arms and
legs in frustration or boredom. A government without any real
agenda cannot survive for very long. Attempts at trying to keep
an unpopular system afloat are floundering as Jamali refuses to
take the necessary steps to create a real government.
As one sees in Rawalpindi that the
primary girls school started by Sheikh Rashid could not progress
beyond the base and what is left is a sort of destroyed women's
park. So what is the government up to. They seem to be unable
to do even small things like controlling traffic and building
small girls schools. Musharraf who had come to power as a supposedly
daring general who did not want traffic to stop for him, now needs
all roads around his entourage blocked.
Many are suggesting that Musharraf recently remarked that the
ordinary Pakistanis whom he only observes from behind his supposedly
bomb/bullet proof Mercedes limo look like opponents and foreigners
from his limo...really dangerous looking people, he reportedly
said. When such a distance develops between people and ruler than
the end is not far off, for the elected or un-elected.
One hopes that the final step for the Musharraf regime occurs
naturally rather than the way it happened in the past.
