What on earth is going on in the corridors of power? Against the backdrop of a bankrupt economy, what was the need to appoint a deputy prime minister and 15 ministers from the notorious party of turncoats? Is it a simple case of clutching at straws? The PML-Q has got what it wanted, but at what cost? There will be new portfolios, a new fleet of cars, a small army of staff who will be expected to be peerlessly servile while their freeloading masters squander what little is left in the treasury.
While all this is going on, it has now become quirkily revealing that the man popularly known as ‘Raja Rental’ is a compromise candidate for the top slot. The Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) had scuttled the chances of Makdoom Shahabuddin acquiring the position of prime minister after the ephedrine case, and the name of Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar was given the blue pencil. The public was amused to find that the theme of the first cabinet meeting of the new prime minter centred on how to tackle the energy crisis. Not bad for a chap who couldn’t do very much when he was heading the relevant ministry. You’ll agree, it’s not funny even if you’re on drugs.
The way things are, I don’t think he will last very long. What with their lordships wanting to know if he will cooperate in the letter-to-the-Swiss Banks issue, or behave like his predecessor, who sugared the grit, got his lawyers to cling to Article 248(2) of the Constitution and displayed spirited defiance. I could be wrong, but as he was selected for his loyalty rather than expertise, I would put my money on the latter. In spite of the number of turncoats floating around, there are still Pakistanis who have displayed every form of martyrdom known to the rack of a paternalistic society. The tension between judiciary and legislature will once again escalate into aimless scenes of ennui, acres of silence and uncertainty, until the next honcho in the queue takes his place.
The general impression now is that the Lahore High Court has instructed Asif Ali Zardari to decide which of the two portfolios he would like to give up, that of president, or party leader? He will most probably select the former. The PPP, like all the other parties in the country, with the exception of the Jamaat-e-Islami, operate on the basis of dynasties. So, nominating a leader is no problem for the PPP. There is always Bilawal waiting in the wings.
The position of prime minister in any country is one of the trickiest, most politically and socially fraught jobs of all cultures. They are home to huge egos, vast resentments and florid vanities. In Pakistan, in the current set-up, after the NRO had been declared unconstitutional, no prime minister could really do very much, except utter the usual loosely strung gaudy collection of clichés, so long as he was living in the shadow of a head of state whose very position was legally questionable and tenuous. Besides, there are other issues which seem insoluble, among which are the absence of the rule of law, the alarming birth rate, dwindling resources, endemic corruption and the disproportionate amount of money being spent on the armed forces. Yousaf Raza Gilani’s basic problem was his inability to take a decision and his financial incompetence. Most of the time, he was short on substance and long on twee and rendered the country as a wholly remote and unrecognisable place from the days of Mohammed Khan Junejo, arguably the best and most selfless prime minister Pakistan ever had.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 1st, 2012.
COMMENTS (8)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ
In the name of democracy ,elected representatives can not be given status of holy cow.
Breach of rules and flouting of law should lead to warning,prosecution and conviction,no exceptions.Feudal midset of how dare a judge of lower court issue me a warning ,is undemocratic to say the least.
There was nothing new in the article all the events have been narrated hundred time before as well. How the chips are down for the PPP not a single word written about the heading. It appears Mr. Anwar has left it to the readers to think about it and derive the conclusion.
The chips are down, yet PPP is winning by election which does not seem to criteria for all opinion makers and rating agencies. The public does not care and vote according to their own judgment that is what matters in the end.
A Peshawary
The author says: he was short on substance and long on twee. Strangely it fits with this article also. Sometimes I wonder why is it that in most of the so-called Muslim countries PM is used as sacrificing lamb? The unelected Presidents kings and army love to dismiss them.
I agree nearly all your observation. I live in London and have the luxury of seeing Pakistan and its politics from an independent view. The general concensus in UK is that the new Prime Minister will not survive more then 90 days due to the very reasons of why Mr Gilani fell. But some people may argue that Pakistan since inception has been like that.
Initially, I thought Chaudhrys from PMLQ have made the worst political decision by begging for a strong portfolio at this time. However, when I come to think of their shrewdness, there is a good probability that they are foreseeing significant changes in the political setup in the next year or so and therefore opted for this political drama because they realize that their days of power and plunder might be coming to an end very soon.
The only country in the world where a judge and not even the CJ at that, gives an ultimatum to the President. And that is considered normal and acceptable. Firing of a PM by the PCO judges is accepted as normal. And then people expect democracy to take hold in this Land of the Pure? Wonder if the next time the person on the spot will say Pakistan Khappay, or are we destined to have fires in every nook of our country.
Portfolios and rewards are granted for loyalty,obedience and sacrifice for the party.Yet dynasty overrides all of these.Merit,competency and integrity are unheard of and are considered quite frankly redundant in an increasingly Machiavillian power tactics of it's leadership. I find myself at a loss to find anything remotely democratic in the conduct of this party which nonetheless claims to champion the cause of it.
You Sir have painted an alarming but accurate picture but have left out any mention of the army that has self proclaimed itself to be the defenders both of our internal and external threats, a serious responsibility. Direct intervention is not the answer but it is hard to believe that pressure can not be made to bear down on blatant wrong doings. Considering our history this certainly paints them in a poor light.