Blind man's bluff

Tuesday, September 16, 2008 The hopes that our political parties could lead the way to a bright new future in which new traditions of democracy are set have quickly receded. Such optimism had bloomed briefly after PML-N chief Mian Nawaz Sharif paid a cordial courtesy call on newly-elected president Asif Ali Zardari and amidst the exchange of smiles and warm handshakes promised to play the role of a 'constructive' opposition. Zardari's instructions to the Punjab governor immediately after the visit, asking him to refrain from attacks on the PML-N, seemed to fit in with the same rules of civility. But almost instantly, the nightmarish visions from the 1990s, when political players engaged in the ugly games of numbers to bring each other down and conducted under underhand campaigns towards the same end have been resurrected. The indications are that a game for power is on in earnest in Punjab. The PML-Q is being persuaded to join hands with the PPP to topple the Shahbaz Sharif government. Though no one yet knows what the precise dimensions of this game are, it seems the carrot of the post of chief minister is being offered to Moonis Elahi, the son of former chief minister Pervaiz Ellahi, to persuade the party to align itself with the ruling coalition. The politics of dynasty continues, from one party to the other. Sons inherit political parties like heirlooms, husbands take over from wives and brothers are appointed to key posts. Other than the issue of merit, there is also that of democracy. The people of Punjab, like those elsewhere in the country, gave a resounding verdict against the PML-Q. Moonis Ellahi himself was soundly defeated in Lahore. To place a chief minister from the vanquished group once more in power amounts to a demeaning slap in the face for people proving to them that their votes mean nothing. As the game of blind man's bluff continues, with the PML-N warning of conspiracies against its government, there is also conjecture the PML-Q may join the government in the centre. The unprecedented resignation of Pervaiz Ellahi as leader of the opposition in the National Assembly is being read as one indication of this. The future of the constitutional amendment package, prepared by the PPP, too hangs in the balance. The PML-N is ready to back an end to Article 58 (2) B, but not if this is presented as part of a deal that includes the judicial issue. Without the PML-N, the majority needed for an abolition of the amendment seems unlikely. Pakistan then once more stands on the crossroads. Its political parties seem to be tempted towards vying for short-term gains. Many of us fear longer-term disaster and a return to the unsavoury politics of deal-making that marked the last decade of democratic rule in the country, doing so much to discredit it and indeed paving the way for a dictator to come charging in.