A message has been conveyed, loud and clear

Politics is all about negotiating for the middle ground. But the sudden proliferation of the electronic media in this country has conditioned Pakistanis to view the ‘art of possible’ in either/or terms. We prefer to watch political battles like catharsis-addicted spectators of high intensity soap operas. The hype created around the assembly sitting of Friday proved the prime example of it.

The Zardari-Gilani government is indeed stuck in dire straits. Prime Minister Gilani had already been judged to be violating the oath of his office by not executing orders passed by the Supreme Court. President Zardari also appears an active partner in committing the crime of not respecting the superior judiciary. As if their tensions with the apex court were not enough, ‘Memogate’ also dropped like a bombshell. While pretending to seek the whole truth about it, Nawaz Sharif had created a situation where the leaders of an elected government were not found on the same page with the military elite.

In the peculiar context of Pakistan’s history, the obvious differences were bound to trigger panic. Yet, the government opted to project the feel of stability about it while summoning an assembly session in haste.

Through calculated leaks, the lead players of this government forced the people to believe that the assembly session had been called to pass a strong-worded resolution in its support. Reporters should thus not be blamed for working overtime to find out how allies such as the PML-Q and the MQM would behave in a friend-or-foe moment.

Instead of taking a firm position, the MQM announced a three-day mourning over the death of Pir Pagaro. Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, on the other hand, confused and amused reporters with neither here nor there ambiguities. Asfandyar Wali and his party proved the sole exception by singularly helping the government in mustering support.

Cutting across the party divide, each politician in this country instinctively knows that the praetorian elite always prevail when it comes to a showdown with elected civilians. Since being restored through a long drawn out movement by the civil society, the Supreme Court continues to occupy the high moral ground as well. Yet, there was no harm in reminding all stakeholders of the power pie and the world at large that Pakistan had matured into a democratic society. The days of military adventures are over and the people of Pakistan should have the right to bring or send a government home through a political process. And, all this was to be conveyed through a resolution presented and then adopted by the National Assembly Friday.

The real intent behind the desired resolution never made it into the open, though. The clueless spin doctors of this government rather did everything to perpetuate the feeling that, by getting a resolution passed “in its support,” the Zardari-Gilani government wanted to check intrusions into its territory by the praetorian elite and the superior judiciary.

Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan took full advantage of the said impression by taking on the government with a long and engaging speech, immediately after commencement of the legislative business. With loud desk thumping, the PML-N benches relished the sadistic pleasure over remarks that the opposition leader would sarcastically pass to highlight the dilemmas of this government. For posterity, though, Nisar would also keep reiterating vows in support of the democratic system and its continuity. He and his party, he stressed repeatedly, would never welcome and endorse any extra-constitutional adventure.

Prime Minister Gilani proved too cunning while reacting to his speech. Without being loud and rhetorical, he smartly crawled up to a point where the opposition was eventually found in a tight spot. He was not seeking unanimous support of an elected house to take on the judiciary or the military elite. His sole objective was to tell the world through a formal resolution that only the public representatives could make or break a prime minister in Pakistan.

After delivering a bombastic speech in support of the democratic system and its continuity, Chaudhry Nisar could hardly resist the tabling of the resolution – and Asfandyar Wali took no time in reading a smartly-crafted resolution. While acknowledging people’s sovereignty, it wanted to express resolve for continuation of an orderly democratic system, where three pillars of the state –judiciary, executive and legislature – must work within parameters defined in the Constitution. On Monday, there will be countless speeches on the resolution and eventually there would be voting as well. But ‘the message’ has been conveyed.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 14^th, 2012.