Dangerous speculations

The time for expressing anger against the present regime will be next year at the polls.

We love to bemoan how Pakistan thrives on political gossip but that it does so is only because of the confusion sowed by political forces in the country. When President Asif Zardari made an unscheduled trip to Dubai on December 6, it didn’t take long for murmurs of an impending coup to do the rounds. The murmurs quickly turned into full-throated speculation, obviously aided by the propaganda forces of a military establishment that has never been shy of expressing its disdain for the civilian head of state. This is the point at which the PPP should have used the best weapon at its disposal: the truth. Instead it obfuscated and first claimed that Zardari had simply gone to Dubai to meet his children and have some routine medical tests carried out. When that story was no longer sustainable, the PPP changed its tune and admitted that Zardari had some minor heart issues.

Matters weren’t helped by an online report in a blog linked to Foreign Policy, a respected US-based magazine, that quoted a former American government official as saying that Zardari sounded incoherent in a telephone conversation with US President Barack Obama and that he would likely step down for health reasons. How a former government official would be in possession of such information was never explained. But using the principle that smoke must be accompanied by fire, the PPP government generally and Zardari specifically, are obviously facing threats to their survival from the usual suspects. It is an old tactic to first float the idea of carrying out a coup and gauge the public response before taking any action. Such talk needs to be nipped in the bud. The country is weary of constant military adventurism and, unsatisfied though it may be with the PPP government and its perceived corruption, the time for expressing that anger will be next year at the polls. But the military can only be kept at bay if the PPP is willing to fight back and enlist the public in its cause. Instead of adding to the uncertainty with its waffling and half-truths, it needs to trust the people it governs and present them the unvarnished truth. Now is also the time for other political actors to stand up for democracy. Nawaz Sharif has talked a good game about holding the military accountable. Standing up for the civilian government’s right to rule would only bolster that.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 9^th, 2011.