No point in changing governors

A week ago there was this spirited discussion on PTV World on whether the MQM had the right to ask the current governor of Sindh to throw in the towel and go back to where he came from. His crime: total apathy in the face of the sad, embarrassing and chronic piece of statecraft under which slanderous insults have been hurled against the MQM leader, and the fact that party workers have just disappeared without a trace. There were four think tank wonks on the panel, two for the motion and two against. All four looked dreadfully serious. As Dr Ishratul Ibad had been installed 13 years ago with the blessing of the leader of the MQM in the old British colonial manor house with its sprawling gardens, one would have thought that surely the party had a right to control his destiny, right? Wrong, said one of the Mensheviks who gave the impression of having more than a nodding acquaintance with the law and the Constitution. Dr Ibad had been appointed by the federation. His heart might still be located north of the bridge, but he had already resigned from his party and taken an oath to be neutral in all matters before he started opening his suitcases. It is the centre that has the authority to tell him to stay or quit. Right? That was the thrust of the talk show which, like most talk shows didn’t arrive at any conclusion.

Actually the issue of whether Dr Ibad stays or takes a hike is totally irrelevant. There are lots of candidates who would love to smell the roses in summer and spend their time entertaining friends. In the system under which we live, a governor’s role is largely ceremonial and includes presiding at university degree award ceremonies and other functions which nobody takes very seriously. He doesn’t even get to kiss babies as governors in the United States do, but he is often seen inquiring if patients in government hospitals are comfortable and are being looked after. On one occasion, there was this patient who wanted to show the governor where his hernia operation had taken place but was prevented from doing so by an adroit ADC.



Dr Ibad might have been the longest serving governor of this province, but he hasn’t really made much of an impact in Karachi. On the occasions when he and Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah turn up at official foreign functions like the birthday celebrations of Queen Elizabeth II, or the national days of Saudi Arabia or China, Dr Ibad usually declines to speak. He leaves this task to the chief minister who leaps to the challenge and invariably demonstrates his extempore skills. Of course, nobody really listens to the speeches either of the host or the chief guest. Coming back to Dr Ibad, on the few occasions that I met him I found him hospitable, friendly and willing to listen. Perhaps, he hasn’t any great achievements to his name. But what he has achieved is to always appear to be doing the right thing, not to be driven to the point where he has to make a decision, while always emerging as part of the process moving forward.

Nobody is going to miss him if he goes, or care, if he stays. In Karachi, there is an air of pessimism, tempered somewhat by the news that the chaps behind the slaughter in the bus have been caught and the mob that lynched that Christian couple in Lahore has been booked. But we are still a long way away from the day when pessimism will gave way to a jaunty optimism.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 24^th, 2015.

Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.