Caught between the MQM and ANP

Almost with an obsessive determination, the MQM employed every trick to force voting on a resolution that it had put for the creation of Hazara province early this week. The treasury benches kept enduring the MQM tantrums and sloganeering with visible confusion and the PML-N benches relished the scene with sadistic pleasure. After all, two pampered allies of the PPP government were fighting it out in public and most members of the erstwhile PML-Q were supporting the MQM as well. Raza Hayat Hiraj from amongst them even went to the extent of attempting to unleash another controversy by wondering why Punjab was being exclusively blamed for everything bad in this country. That compelled Nadeem Afzal Chan to say it all with in-your-face bluntness.

This PPP backbencher from Sargodha is often found expressing uncomfortable thoughts. Without any wink or nod from anybody, he did the same on Friday by clearly confessing that Punjab deserved it. “Some of our friends keep wondering with feigned innocence as to why Punjab gets the blame. Let me tell them that Punjab has to face the brunt, for this country was ruined by a definite mindset that suits the ruling elite from all provinces. Generals, judges and senior bureaucrats diligently follow and execute this mindset and all of them happen to be Punjabis. Now the same mindset is all set to create conditions in Sindh that force you to recall the alienation of Bengalis from Pakistan.”

With a voice choked with emotions, he beseeched his colleagues to ponder over a serious question before demanding the creation of more provinces. “Balochistan is a full-fledged province already and we all feel proud of providing autonomy to provinces. Pray tell me, though, who really rules in Balochistan these days. At the risk of being killed, let me tell you that the ISI and the Military Intelligence call the shots there.” Having said this, he finished his speech by pleading to the Supreme Court that it should refrain from opening the wounds of Sindhis while dealing with a presidential reference, put before it regarding the hanging of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto through court decisions.

The MQM and its supporters had no time to consider questions Chan had put so bluntly. They resorted to demanding with full-throated slogans that their resolution for the creation of Hazara province be put for voting.

The prime minister had come to the House meanwhile. He consulted Khurshid Shah to find out the cause behind the reckless chaos on the floor. While Shah was briefing him, the MQM benches turned more aggressive and noisy. Haider Abbas Rizvi came to his seat to press for the demand, but Gilani preferred to talk to his parliamentary leader, Dr Farooq Sattar.

From the Press Gallery, it appeared that the prime minister instructed Khurshid Shah to sit with Sattar and Rizvi to reach an agreement. While the three were busy in discussion in a corner on the back benches, Babar Ghauri walked in and loudly started telling Khurshid Shah that the government should make up its mind. This for Ghauri was a friend-or-foe moment. “Tell us if you are actually listening to us or just there to please Asfandyar?”

The cat was out of the bag. It was the ANP leader, who had blocked the MQM’s attempt to score points by taking the lead in pushing the demand for the creation of Hazara province. After doing so, he also held a long meeting on Thursday evening with the president. Asfandyar Wali seemed to have succeeded in convincing Zardari that the MQM was making noise for Hazara to set a precedent: creation of new provinces on linguistic basis. In the long term the said precedent may help the division of Sindh. The MQM may or may not get to the division of Sindh, but the stormy scenes it was creating these days in the assembly for the creation of Hazara province would certainly lead to riots in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. The same will also create a bloody blowback in Karachi as well.

President Zardari is all ears for Asfandyar Wali these days. He trusts his cool and dispassionate analysis while literally fighting for his political survival. He and Gilani are doubly suspicious regarding the MQM’s newfound love for ‘Hazarawals’ for another reason. They have been told by their info-gathering outfits that invisible setters of the power games in this country have been working overtime for some months to create conditions for holding early elections and they want to ‘regulate’ those elections with a well-thought-out design of eventually giving this country “a government with fresh faces”. Imran Khan is the obvious choice, but the MQM and in the end Musharraf’s All Pakistan Muslim League should also join him in a coalition, before or after elections.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 7^th, 2012.