Names being bandied about for interim premier

Hussein Haroon can apparently blow his chances to become interim PM by taking up cause adopted by Sindhi nationalists.

While sitting in the press gallery of the National Assembly you are often forced to wonder whether this institution really deals with the country you physically live in. It seldom reflects the chaos and stories of doom and gloom that our 24/7 channels keep telling about Pakistan, almost nonstop.

On a day when people residing in the resource-rich and strategically vital Balochistan were just not sure whether they still had a constitutionally valid government functioning in their province, Ms Qudsia Arshad rose from the PML-N benches.

She adamantly wanted to introduce a bill “to provide for protection, welfare and equal right of eunuchs who are commonly known as Khawaja Saras.”

Doing this, she behaved as if this country had already resolved its fundamental problems and now was the time to proactively legislate for marginalized and left-behind segments of society. As the Chief Whip, Syed Khurshid Shah laughingly admitted that he had “no courage” to oppose posting of the said bill to the concerned committee and the house allowed the same with roaring laughter.

Women legislators from each side of the aisle were still justified in celebrating the passage of another privately moved bill which made it obligatory for the government to ensure free and compulsory provision of education for children falling in the age bracket of 5 to 16 years.

This bill was indeed passed with solid bipartisan support, but while showering its mover, Yasmin Rahman, with hailing remarks only a handful of our representatives cared remembering that the said law would only be applied to Islamabad Capital Territory.

There is no guarantee that all the provincial governments would also want to enforce the same law in their domains.

Finally, the National Assembly did reduce itself to the level of a municipal body, when through a calling-attention notice some non-residents of Islamabad sounded as if doubly concerned over the fast depleting reservoirs of potable water for people permanently living in the capital of Pakistan.

Very close to the termination of Tuesday’s sitting, Farooq Naek walked into the house with impish smiles. He had gone to meet the Chief Election Commissioner and rumours were rife that their meeting remained focused on finding means to ensure vote casting by non-resident Pakistanis.

A set of active reporters preferred to presume however that during the said meeting both the law minister and the Chief Election Commissioner might have discussed the most probable names for heading the government to be established for holding the next election.

While talking to a TV channel Monday evening, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan dropped heavy hints to make us believe as if the PML-N and the rest of non-government parties had already agreed to prop Nasir Aslam Zahid, a retired judge of the Supreme Court, to this office. The well-informed types of Islamabad strongly feel that the government will adopt Zahid in the end.

After all, it did the same in case of Fakhuruddin G Ebrahim, when his name was formally put by the PML-N for the office of Chief Election Commissioner.

I have doubts, though.

Hussein Haroon had discreetly landed in Karachi after resigning from the post of Pakistan’s permanent representative to the UN. President Zardari was once very keen to utilise his talent, contacts and resources to build pressure on India by intense lobbying to move for demilitarization of Siachin in the name of taking the environment-friendly initiatives.

Manmohan Singh had vowed to turn Siachen into a ‘monument of peace’ after assuming the office of India’s prime minister. After eight years of staying in that office, however, he had now lost his glint and capacity to take bold initiatives.

Perhaps for the same reason, he had yet to respond positively to President Zardari’s letter that he wrote after doing a round of Shrine diplomacy to Ajmer.

The Indian Prime Minister had been invited to participate in birthday celebrations of Baba Guru Nanak during the last week of this month and New Delhi has yet to indicate any mobility on this count. Little wonder, Hussein Haroon has also begun cultivating new customers.

Haroon can rather embarrass President Zardari by formally approaching the Supreme Court against the Sindh Local Government Act (SLGA) that the so-called Sindhi nationalists claim was enforced to please the MQM.

Haroon can apparently blow his chances to become the interim prime minister by taking up the cause so fiercely adopted by the Sindhi nationalists. Yet, one of my sources from the PML-N camp kept suggesting that by moving against the SLGA, Haroon would not only savour the limelight but make his person more acceptable to the PML-N.

I was not too keen to find out the name of would-be caretaker prime minister anyway. Far more important is to find out what next in Balochistan after the messy developments of Tuesday.

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