Over last two days Makhdoom Amin Fahim, has shed all pretense and come out blackmailing the party exactly on the lines of the notoriously dubbed Operation Goodnight Plan. He is repeatedly reminding us that he is the President of the PML-Q (oh sorry I meant Pakistan People's Party Parliamentarians). Since I am neither member of any party nor a stakeholder I am not keen to mince my words. However I also have no interest in blaming a man that I have respected thus far. Yet I cannot forget that the entire Operation Goodnight Plan (OGP) was meant to hijack the popular mandate with the help of Amin Fahim, the Election Commission and Musharraf's cronies. Exploiting technical vulnerabilities left behind by the fact that Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto was assassinated and the party didn't get time to pay heed to the legal matters before the polls, they want Fahim to move ECP with the plea that he is the head of the PPPP and those who do not support him should be disqualified. In this way another Patriots group would be created which would support Musharraf and his acts. Now since Fahim has repeatedly reminded us that it is he who is the head of the PPPP he is certainly informing us between the lines of the consequences.
Interestingly unlike Chaudhry Ahmad Mukhtar his bid for the premiership is not temporary. He wants to be the Prime Minister for the entire term effectually blocking out Zardari or anyone else's chances. As far as I have known he was nearly tempted during the government formation process after 2002 elections. It was he who reportedly also convinced Benazir Bhutto not to get too hard on the Patriots. But as far as I know he is not the sort of person who would go to the extent of a becoming a joke making a traitor of himself merely for the sake of premiership alone. After all he did not revolt against Ms Bhutto when she didn't support his candidature in 2002 elections despite the fact that he could have managed that effectively. There is certainly something more to it than meets the eye. But what is it? Is it friendship with Musharraf? Well I don't think that he can possibly have such strong friendship with Musharraf that he is ready to jeopardize his loyalty to the party. Then what? Well don't you get it? The US pressure. Since the US realizes that Asif Zardari will not buckle under to its pressure, with the help of Musharraf the US neo-cons have chosen the soft prodigy of the party. Since Amin Fahim in Benazir's absence had assumed the stature of a national leader, it was understandable that he would not be comfortable even with Benazir's return. I do not want to go into the useless allegations regarding when did he meet Musharraf and when not, or point out that when BB was assassinated he was sitting right next to her, but I would certainly highlight the fact that behind his stubbornness there seems the support of the US Embassy in Islamabad and the regional CIA station. Is it possible that Fahim under the neo-con influence or perhaps on his own is interested not to let a UN probe into Ms Bhutto's murder inquiry be commissioned?
Interestingly all of Musharraf's sycophants that usually hated anyone associated with the PPPP have become Fahim's well wishers overnight. But of all the people, most remarkable change has been registered in the media circles. It seems all of a sudden every one is Fahim's supporter. Thinking that my highly opinionated worldview might have kept me out of the popular stream of opinion, I ventured to gauge sentiments of folks among the People's Party's circles. Interestingly everyone that I found out was supportive of Zardari not Fahim. Why were the journalists taking this strange position then? Of course when I saw Mariana Babar on television I knew. Unlike us, the greener ones, the senior journalists have from time to time published reports attacking Zardari in the past. If you remember Mariana had given a scoop to Outlook India claiming that Asif Zardari and BB had separated (on the verge of divorce actually). She was indeed proven wrong and is afraid of the consequences. There are others who have been running reports on his alleged corruption. They fear reaction too yet they try to discredit him using the same old allegations. Folks, even though the State has failed to prove anything against him, even if he had committed any of these things he has spent such a long time behind the prison without conviction that his alleged excesses should be forgotten. How can a person be blamed when he has been already punished without even being proven guilty? Yet let me assure you that the mood has changed noticeably and you need not to worry about any retribution. Hence this hostility should be dropped. Believe me all the conscientious people of the country will be pleasantly surprised if and when Asif Zardari becomes the Prime Minister.
And to Asif Zardari, no sir, no matter what you have pledged in the past it is general consensus among the rank and file of the party that you are the person who can stop fragmentation of the party and its exploitation by Musharraf. You should become the Prime Minister of the country without any hesitation. Meanwhile please stay safe for Musharraf and his terror friends may want to attack and take you out as well. I believe that Tuesday's attack was a message from Musharraf meant for you too.
To Musharraf and his cronies, I'll like you to try dividing the People's Party or getting its members disqualified. You will be thrown out by your own generals within a few hours. Unlike you they have started understanding and respecting the will of the people. Now they are looking at you whether you come up to their expectations or not. By denying democracy to the country you are doing a great disservice even to the war on terror.