Yousuf Raza Gilani: a falcon of manmade partridge

Monday, July 21, 2008 By MAK Lodhi LAHORE It was not the real PM’s speech as such. It was not that Yousuf Raza Gilani who had announced judges’ release from house arrest just after taking oath. His words had stirred the nation. Merely with one sentence, he had deflated a dictator’s ego. He had made ripples far and wide just by throwing one stone in the pond of stagnant political waters. The nation heaved a sigh. He would be the savior, they thought. He would resurrect the forsaken nation seething under the callous boots. But last night, the tall and dignified Gilani looked like quite another man, lost in the wilderness and begging for more time. What happened during the first 150 days? Yousuf lost his speech last night. He was made to read what was written on the dotted line. Such a dignified and becoming PPP leader who fitted so perfectly in the figure of the prime minister, who possessed brains and brawn, who had gone through a metamorphosis as a jail bird, unbending and un-subdued. That falcon of a man was not speaking his mind in his first address to the nation. One can’t blame merely Asif Ali Zardari as the media put it. There was news appearing on front pages for the last three days that the prime minister would address the nation. Expectations were high. People pinned high hopes. The prime minister was supposed to come out with a roadmap to buy time for redressing the prevailing ills. He was expected to apprise the nation how he would resolve the problems. But his speech was devoid of anything, he could not sell even fairy tales and dreams to a nation dying for some Messiah to come to their rescue. He just put the blame on international markets for food and oil crisis. For the rest of the ills he just held the previous government responsible. What is he there for? Why people voted such a PM and a parliament which, instead of reversing the wrongs of the past, added more to them? Food crisis has not hit the world the first time. Pakistan direly needs rationing for equitable distribution of staple food items which have been in short supply. Pakistan must cut out oil imports. Gilani could begin austerity drive from the top. He could put all ministers on a bus to come and go to the office at a fixed time. He could do that even for bureaucrats and park all the oil-guzzling luxury cars. He could even start petrol rationing. On Pakistan’s war on terror and militancy, he just repeated the stale story. His government started off with peace talks and ended up in full-blown army operation. The coalition partner or partners were not on board with the change in policy. What Pakistan requires is neither peace with militants nor war with them. The government needs to take along moderate religious forces to launch a peace offensive. It needs full support of coalition partners like Fazl ur Rehman. It needs to launch a campaign led by no other people than clerics who are ready to lend support against extremism. The militants need to be alienated and populations of the area need protection and financial backing. The government should have cut out the roots of the elements in the establishment who have been allegedly backing them. And why can’t Pakistan’s forces coordinate with NATO and ISAF? A system should have been evolved to spare the innocent and check the wicked. Pakistan, Afghanistan and US must make coordinated efforts; it is the responsibility of the sitting government more than any other institution. Gilani was also expected to have announced restoration of judges. The prime minister blames dictatorship for creating hurdles but he takes no steps to confront him. Will it be enough to blame only? Why has the prime minister failed to issue an executive order to declare that “I hereby restore all the judges who didn’t sign the second PCO?” Does he fear that the President would not endorse his order? Gilani, let him do that, please. The ball will not be in the PPP court, then. Nor should Mr Asif Ali Zardari be scared of restored judges. There are ways to check judicial activism. Who can remove an elected coalition government if it is making right decisions? The PPP should neither be scared of the coalition partner, Mian Nawaz Sharif. The PML-N leaders would not disrupt the applecart. Both political parties have their future at stake. Mr Zardari must advise prime minister but he should not dictate every word to the prime minister as if he is a PA (private assistant). It amounts to insult the office of the PM. The man in the street is not so goof that he can’t understand why the PM is faltering in his speech. It’s not the era of 1960s that the PTV could take the plea that the PM’s speech was delayed for technical problems. It’s sheer bad management. If Mr Zardari wanted to have a look at his speech, there was enough time in the world for the speech to be mailed and returned, for the words of advice to move to and fro. There is something wrong with the PM’s media advisers. A prime minister, who can deliver a thousand extempore speeches, is advised to read form the teleprompter. And who wrote the PM’s speech? Has the PPP government become a pauper in intellect? How articulate and resonant speeches Shaheed Benazir Bhutto used to deliver? Was it the speech of a PPP prime minister? Gilani must change his entire media team. He must come out with what he feels like doing. He must know that it is now or never. Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani, you will not get a second chance to set right what you can today.