Hashmi goes out, Aitzaz comes in

Gossip-starved types consider Aitzaz, Awan as vicious competitors.

Sitting on the edge of their seats, parliamentary reporters were eagerly waiting for Javed Hashmi to get the mike when the National Assembly resumed its sitting Thursday evening.

After having spent 23 years of his political life in the PML-N, rain or shine, this hyper rebel from Multan had surprised many by moving to Imran Khan’s party five days ago. Journalists were not so keen to find out what really motivated him about Tehreek-e-Insaf. They were more interested in watching him embarrass many of his erstwhile comrades by exposing the in-house issues and tensions of the PML-N. I could not wait.

Meeting the deadline for this column was not the issue. I know Javed Hashmi since 1969. He had been accumulating grievances against the conduct of Sharif brothers since their return to Pakistan in late 2007. Most of them were legitimate and valid. What really proved to be the last push for him, however, was more personal than political. The developments leading to this point have twists and turns that keep us riveted to dynasty-driven soap operas. I know all about them, but being a journalist with a conservative bent of mind, one would refrain from narrating the whole story. Suffice is to say that things might have looked different if the Sharif brothers had agreed to give a free hand to Javed Hashmi for putting a PML-N candidate for by-election to a seat from Multan that Shah Mehmood Qureshi had vacated before joining the PTI.

Even otherwise, a ticker that began scrolling over TV screens Thursday evening looked far more intriguing to me. It announced the appointment of Dr Babar Awan as Vice President of Pakistan Peoples Party. To most journalists, the said announcement seemed as if compensating for the historic privilege that Aitzaz Ahsan had savoured in Ghari Khuda Bux on December 27. President Zardari was delivering an emotional address to PPP loyalists, assembled there to mark the fourth year of her assassination. Right in the middle of his speech, Zardari noticed the arrival of Aitzaz and left the dais for him to conclude the ceremony with elegy-laden oratory. Awan was not even present in that town; he was tasked to hold another meeting in Rawalpindi.

The gossip-starved types consider Aitzaz and Awan as vicious competitors vying to get the slot of being the chief legal eagle of Zardari. The unprecedented pampering of Aitzaz had made many believe that the lovey-dovey days were over for Awan. The announcement of his appointment probably tried to scuttle the said feeling. I remained confused, though. Pakistan Peoples Party has acquired two Ids since 2002. One is the PPP that Bhutto had established in 1967. It always had a chairman and not the president. To elude the possible banning to participate in elections held under General Musharraf, Ms Bhutto had invented a Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians (PPPP). It is a duly registered entity for contesting elections. It has a president as well: Makhdom Amin Fahim. I tried hard to find out whether Doctor Awan was made the number two of the PPP or the PPPP. No one could explain.

I am still confused on this score. Still, I dare stress that Aitzaz is not being groomed to replace Gilani by Zardari. Since eruption of the ‘memogate’, bonds between Gilani and Zardari have deepened and widened. During his treatment at a hospital in Dubai, the president felt doubly pleased with his nominee to the prime minister’s office. And the same prime minister is really annoyed with the structure and personnel associated with the president’s secretariat these days.

Gilani strongly suspects that all panic-triggering rumours regarding the health of Zardari early this month were generated by ‘deep throats,’ attached to that office since the days of General Musharraf. He desperately wants to furnish a new look to the president’s office. After exhaustive brainstorming with Bilawal, Gilani has strongly recommended that the president must have a chief of staff, like the American president keeps one in the White House. This person should be the ultimate gatekeeper to the president and this person has to be a thoroughbred politician. I will not be surprised if Zardari likes the idea in the end and Aitzaz stays with him, almost around the clock. Otherwise, we have to wait until March 2012, when it will come to elections for half the seat of Senate and eventually its chairman.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 30^th, 2011.