Replied by(Noman) Replied on (9/Jun/2007)

Friday, June 08, 2007 (Daily Times)
Editorial: Musharraf and PML: stresses of cohabitation

President General Pervez Musharraf is greatly dissatisfied with the PMLQ that he has promoted and sheltered against all kinds of shocks. At a lunch on Wednesday attended by a 150-strong PML elite, he blasted members of the party in his characteristic unbuttoned fashion and accused them of “leaving him in the lurch” when he needed their support.

All the stresses of an incompatible cohabitation came out during the meeting. He did not confine himself to the dereliction of the ruling party after the March 9 “judicial” crisis; he accused the party of not supporting him right after the big decision he took after 9/11 to put Pakistan on a new policy track. He also indicated the moments of crisis when the party did not give him the support he expected and needed: the volte-face in Afghan policy, the “outing” of Dr AQ Khan, and the Balochistan incident in which Sardar Akbar Bugti was killed. He was particularly cut up at the “silence” of the ministers and MNAs over the crisis precipitated by his dismissal of the chief justice of Pakistan and his amendment of the “toothless” Pemra ordinance to “give teeth to the law against too much freedom of the media”. He said that the party bigwigs kept busy in their chit-chat and relaxed in their drawing rooms, which was a recipe for disaster: “You are not delivering. You have lost the war of nerves. You are all silent on what the media is doing. If I myself have to do everything, then what is your purpose?”

The lunch was “interactive” up to a point. Some Leaguers asked questions too. One question particularly upset him about the Pemra imbroglio. Mrs Mehnaz Rafi, MNA, referred to a law that forbade issuance of ordinances during a session of the National Assembly and complained that he had issued the ordinance hours before the session of the National Assembly, which seemed mala fide. There was another “suggestive” question from an MNA: since he had not come through the power of the ballot why was he bothered about democracy? Another MNA brought up issues of intra-party squabbles, once again revealing the lack of internal cohesion inside the house built by President Musharraf. The president was told that if the party’s secretary general Mushahid Hussain had not come forward to say a word in his defence, how was the party to know that it had to rally around him? This was said in answer to his question: “I see the party nowhere. You people are not mobilised”. The president confessed to being under great stress for the first time. He warned the party that if he were to exit, Talibanisation would engulf the country: “You will see Talibanisation in Lahore and Karachi as well”.

Finally, it seems that the consequences of his decision to align with the PML have come home to roost. It seems that large chunks broken off from the two mainstream parties — PMLN and the PPP — have not coalesced into the liberal dispensation he needed in the country after 9/11 to carry out his reform agenda. His decision to cohabit with a conservative political leadership with highly developed instincts for the contest of power was bound to be problematic. Since he began with a deep-seated prejudice against both the parties, his solution was to nibble at both for the malcontents. But this was not conducive to a smooth ruling structure. The joints where the ruling coalition was sewed together have never become smooth. Whether merged or allied, the former PPP politicians stand aside from the normal articulation of ideology and policy by the PMLQ high command. In fact, it is President Musharraf who is holding together this marriage of inconvenience between the liberal and the non-liberal. When a member deserts his party, he does so on the basis of personal cause, not worldview. The PMLN splinters in the PMLQ have remained conservative — and in love with the clergy and Dr AQ Khan — while the PPP deserters have remained liberal in their approach to both policy and ideology.

Not only is President Musharraf isolated in his “liberal” agenda for the country, the ruling party itself has been gradually denuded of all conviction in the system it is trying to run. The liberal-conservativ e divide in the coalition should have bisected the official view, but the politicians have instead decided to turn inwards and get busy with matters of personal benefit rather than with the country. This is tragic because President Musharraf needed their support when he was taking the big decisions related to the security of the state. Indeed, he failed in his projects in Balochistan and Waziristan only because of lack of political support.

There were many occasions when the party was clearly not on his side — his passport and textbook reforms, madrassah reform, blasphemy laws, etc — but he still chose to ride with it. There were occasions when he could have broadened his political base and made it more liberal and therefore better suited to his agenda, but he decided to go it alone. Now at the crunch time, he finds himself alone. The only solution left is to hold quick general elections under a neutral political set-up and share power with new friends who will support his reform agenda. *

Second Editorial: Lal Masjid threatens Christian nurses

In their successful attempt to grab sovereignty of governance from the state, the clerics of Lal Masjid have now begun a campaign against the Christian nurses of Islamabad’s Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), accusing them of blasphemy. The All Pakistan Minorities Alliance has protested against it as the nurses could be put to death for blasphemy by the Lal Masjid vigilantes.

Far from taking action against the clerics, the government has allowed the Saudi ambassador in Islamabad to “parley” with them. This is not how crime is dealt with by states all over the world. The two clerics should be subject to law. The Christian nurses of PIMS know the consequences of being accused of blasphemy. What is the government going to do to save them? This issue could rebound internationally with explosive consequences for General Musharraf. That is the last thing he needs at this time. *