Who is next in the batting line-up?

With spirited desk-thumping, treasury benches welcomed Gilani when he entered National Assembly hall Monday evening.

With spirited desk-thumping the treasury benches welcomed the prime minister when he entered the National Assembly hall Monday evening. To his colleagues he deserved the standing ovation for offering his head to be sacrificed under the contempt of court charges while protecting the PPP leader and his family honour. Above all, ruling coalition members also felt relieved for not seeing their prime minister going straight to jail after appearing before the Supreme Court this morning. Gilani and his lawyer had certainly succeeded in executing a strategy that provided this government a clear chance to crawl up to March 2.

Elections for half of the Senate seats are scheduled to be held on that date. The PPP is certain to win the most of them, eventually emerging as the single largest party in the upper house of Parliament. Only after becoming the prime minister after a painful struggle against a military dictator in November 1988, Benazir Bhutto could discover the crucial relevance of having comfortable numbers in the Senate. Never in her lifetime, though, could she ever manage the desired numbers. March 2, 2012 may furnish the dream-come-true moment for her party.

Notwithstanding the cheerful expression of solidarity for the prime minister, there remain many on the government benches who have been having sleepless nights to spot the person that President Zardari may nominate to replace Yousaf Raza Gilani, in case he was sentenced and later disqualified to sit in the National Assembly.

Syed Khurshid Shah, the goody-goody consensus-builder from Sukkur, has been appearing like the obvious choice. There also were hot speculations which claimed that swayed by a sadistic streak, Asif Ali Zardari could always select Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi to burn the heart of Nawaz Sharif. Only a few thought that after standing like a rock in support of the Zardari-Gilani government, Asfandyar Wali deserved reaching the prime minister’s office.

While eagerly looking for a possible replacement to Gilani, the excited types conveniently forgot that the Supreme Court did not have any personal problem with the incumbent prime minister. The apex judiciary is adamantly demanding from the chief executive to write a letter to various foreign countries for locating accounts wherein President Zardari is alleged to have been putting millions that he presumably amassed during the two governments of his spouse. The conflict, in short, is institutional. After replacing Gilani, the next prime minister is destined to confront the same quandary that the incumbent prime minister has been enduring for so many months. Only a diehard fool should offer his head for chopping in the given circumstances.

A group of seasoned parliamentarians from the ruling alliance tried hard to make me understand that consummate politicians were always born with a thick skin. The fear of jails and court cases does not stop them from playing power games. One of these parliamentarians is known for regular visits to the Prime Minister’s House these days. He told me that Gilani had done the dispassionate war-gaming before putting forward his neck. “From heart of his hearts, he feels good over the reality of being the longest serving prime minister of Pakistan,” reported the said parliamentarian. Standing by Zardari he now wants to show it to the world that not everyone from the Seraiki belt betrays friends and benefactors, “as Sardar Farooq Khan Leghari did by dismissing the second government of Benazir Bhutto.” By offering his head, Gilani is rather seen as if trying to build a legacy of his own, “which his sons and scions should cash on during the days to come.”

Another parliamentarian who was sitting with him confirmed the perception but added with meaningful pauses that besides working to “get the feeling of being a victim/martyr built up about him,” Gilani was also very keen to ignite the Seraiki sentiment and in this context he would do everything to ensure that after him, another person from South Punjab was nominated to the Prime Minister’s office. This parliamentarian believed that Makhdoom Shahbuddin was the person we should rather closely watch in the days to come.

Disregarding the happenings in the Supreme Court and the possible fate of the Prime Minister, however, Chaudhry Nisar Ali remained obsessed to score political points by shouting and wailing over the perennial chaos in Baluchistan. Doubly upset the opposition leader rather sounded over the new found care and concern that the US Congress had started showing for the “human rights situation” there. After a very angry speech, he finally managed the presentation of a resolution that censured the USA for meddling in Balochistan.

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