A Rat Race: Saving Mush
thru Bush: The Weakest Link
By
LampPost
ISLAMABAD/WASHINGTON: PPP leader Makhdoom Amin Fahim has a very
difficult job cut out for him after the Oct 10 polls. He has become
the leader of a popular party with significant numbers in all
Houses, but he is at heart a soft religious family Pir, of Hala,
and does not have the fire and the fight in his belly which his
leader Benazir Bhutto demands. He wants compromises and BB wants
results, in her favour, to get her the maximum benefit, naturally
so, as she was the one millions voted for and not Mr Pir.
So
when BB called them to Dubai last week for consultations, Amin
Fahim was ‘the weakest link’ but the key one. He was
in touch with the Khakis and their cronies. He would make any
deal, if at all. So BB took him with velvet gloves, met him privately
for hours and tried to convince him not to be very apologetic
or too soft. LampPost has learnt he is not very happy with the
role he is being asked to play but has no choice. BB is also not
very confident of how he will do the task but she also has no
choice.
For
that matter there are very few choices for most of the players.
The Big Mush also has few choices, some very repugnant, according
to his perspective, like taking in Asif Zardari as a cabinet Minister
or making Maulana Fazlur Rehman the Prime Minister. But Mush has
just opened this can of worms and he has to wait and see how and
where they creep and how it feels when they do.
The race for PM is throwing up new names all the time. Now we
have Gohar Ayub’s son, Umer Ayub, a grand son of a dictator
being proposed by the leader of the largest single elected party
in Parliament. The proposer is a guy who himself lost on both
seats, the timid Mian Azhar from Lahore. But look at his democratic
credentials, he wants to be Chairman of the Senate and thus be,
at times, the acting president. A loser as President, asked a
foreign journalist in the Nadia Coffee shop. “What do we
have now,” came the pat reply.
Another
name, surprising though, is of the lady from Balochistan, Zeejay.
LampPost had written about ZJ that she was expecting a baby during
her campaign and her in-laws were not allowing her go to full
blast. Well she did not need a full blast as she was destined
to win, and she won, hands down, or votes down. Now she is in
line with her baby as the country’s second lady prime minister.
A good rebuke to the first one, in exile.
All
signs here are that the Big Mush will not allow the Parliament
to convene until he had all the loose ends tied up, meaning to
save his skin and post. Yet there are many under him who are feeling
irritated with the mess which is growing thicker. If it gets too
wild, then it becomes a problem.
LampPost
learnt that after failing to get the victorious BB to make a deal,
Mush has now turned to his ultimate source of strength and support
--- Washington DC. With reports that BB was now going to visit
the US capital as a victor, he is trying to use all his influence
to persuade her, through the White House to agree to let him live,
politically.
This
would be a difficult choice for BB and even a bigger decision
to make. If George W or Laura ask her to be soft on Mush, in return
for some support to get her back into their good books, it would
be difficult for her to refuse. Will then GW save our Big Mush?
Apparently General Franks in his long meetings with Mush last
week would have been conveyed the feelings very elaborately.
While
in DC LampPost learnt that a former Info Minister, another Mush,
who arrived here as a member of the Kashmir Committee and never
went back, is now ready to fly home, with a book written by him,
possibly expecting a ticket to the Senate by any of the PMLs.
When he was asked to which PML, L or N did he belong, he said
to none but to PML only. His logic: “When L or N were formed,
he was in jail.”
Back
in Islamabad the issue being discussed in legal circles is on
what Constitution will the new members of Parliament take their
oath, the old 1973 or the amended 1973. Government has got new
copies of amended one ready for each MNA. But, as in 1985, many
Opposition members are going to take their own old copies with
them and take their oath on the original book. It would be a scene
to watch, who says what will be interesting to see. A chaotic
brew in the making.
The
busiest phone in Islamabad, LampPost learnt, belongs to a prisoner,
not an ordinary one though. It is Asif Zardari’s Mobile
in the Hospital and people are calling him from round the world
to ask for Senate seats, ministries in Sindh and what not. Asif
must be a good listener otherwise his mobile would not be ringing.
And how many extra charged batteries he keeps to keep it going.
There
is no shortage of charged batteries in the PPP these days.
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