Judiciary strikes as politicians play blame game

Our either/or-driven politicians are recklessly unwilling to realise that it is not the Zardari-Gilani government only that is looking bad and incompetent to average Joe of Pakistan. Increasingly, the political class per se has begun exposing its limits, especially when it comes to dealing with fiercely independent and hyper-active judiciary.

Almost each political party represented in Parliament had consumed precious time and truckloads of money to get its nominees elected through by-elections. The Supreme Court found lacunas in holding of these elections and provided ample time for addressing them via passage of a validating amendment in the constitution.

The government maintained the usual lethargy while going for the amendment. This helped hawks in Nawaz Sharif’s camp to start acting hard to get which compelled the government to finally wake up. PML-N’s behaviour tempted the government’s allies in the MQM and the PML-Q to push their own sets of quid pro quos as well. The self-centric conduct by all the lead players of our parliamentary scene eventually brought us to the humiliation furnished by the Supreme Court on Monday. Cutting across the party divide 28 of ‘our representatives’ are now declared ‘suspended.’ Non-government legislators can still wait. What about the senator ministers managing important portfolios, however?

Dr Asim is one. As the petroleum minister he is accompanying the prime minister on an important visit to Qatar. Besides discussing the increasing role of that Gulf state in seeking the final settlement of the Afghan issue, Gilani also wanted to negotiate big deals with this energy-rich country. Asim will not be able to sign any agreement for being ‘suspended’. The finance minister was also set to hold a presser while sitting next to an Iranian minister visiting Pakistan these days. But he had to cancel the event in the end. In this season of doom and gloom, Syed Naveed Qamar miserably failed to make us feel good by announcing the firm decision to finish with load shedding of electricity all over the country from Tuesday. We rather prefer to suspect another false claim made by this government.

Syed Khursheed Shah had not lost heart, though. He continued to sound confident in claiming that after much resistance the PML-N was now willing to vote for the 20th amendment. The pragmatic but not so dovish line promoted among the Nawaz Sharif camp by Senator Ishaq Dar seems to have prevailed. Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan had again been vetoed by Nawaz Sharif, at least in the peculiar context of facilitating passage of the 20th amendment.

The prevailing of the pragmatic group in the PML-N came too late for some hawks of the PPP, though. These hawks are growing fast since Zardari’s sudden departure for Dubai after falling ill during the heat of ‘Memogate’ late last year. Enough-is-enough is the dominant mindset of this group and Yousaf Raza Gilani has begun listening to them encouragingly. The prime minister has yet not approved the idea of going for intra-court appeal to delay proceedings against him under the contempt of court charge and that prepares many in the PPP to turn hawkish. But before coming out into the open with a confrontationist posturing, some financial wizards of this government are working overtime to generate some feel-good mood on the economic front. Naveed Qamar’s promise in the national assembly regarding load shedding was surely a vital part of these efforts. Will it work, though, remains the question?

In addition to discussing the parliamentary business in this column, I had also been reporting heavy hints and whispers which claimed that former prime minister, Shaukat Aziz, had played a crucial role in keeping Mansoor Ijaz away from Pakistan. After being tipped about it by a well-connected minister, I held long telephonic conversations with some Europe-based friends and well-wishers of Mansoor Ijaz. Two of them were rather willing to provide details to confirm the story told to me in whispers. Before asking for the presumed details, however, I continued to wonder as to why Shaukat Aziz should go an extra mile to bail out Zardari. None of my sources in Europe furnished a convincing answer to this question and now I am being told that Shaukat Aziz felt upset with my reporting on his real or alleged role in defusing tensions on ‘Memogate.’ I only wish that he had called me to pass on his grievance. After all, both of us had at least been good acquaintances when he was the prime minister. I will hate to hurt him without solid evidence in my hand.

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