Between friend and firing squad

The President, several federal ministers and some bureaucrats received a rude shock when the apex court handed down a historical judgment declaring the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) as unconstitutional and illegal. It was the most despicable law ever imposed in any civilized society. The biggest beneficiary of the blackest NRO which was promulgated by the Gen (retd) Musharaf, is the co chairman of PPP, Asif Ali Zardari. The PPP acting chairman became the leader of the party after the brutal killing of Benazir Bhutto. He is the inheritor of the power chairing formula brokered by the USA between Musharaf and Benazir Bhutto. This agreement was scripted by Vice President Dick Cheney and his team. Though Zardari became what is generally called accidental President of Pakistan but his past is tainted with serious allegations of receiving kick backs, commissions, money laundering and even criminal cases. He is perhaps the only head of state in the world who is faced with serious charges of corruption and criminal cases.

Members of the government including the Prime Minister gave policy statements that they would not implement the Supreme Court's verdict till full judgment is announced and analyzed by their experts .Legal experts say that full judgment would only spell reasons or rationale for reaching decisions mentioned in the short order .The intention to wait for the full judgment is ostensibly to gain time for some new developments to take place and find ways to frustrate the judgment. Demands are made by PPP that even handed accountability should be carried out in all institutions including the judiciary which legitimized the military regimes and the army generals involved in corruption .Meanwhile a number of administrative changes like transfers and postings have been made to ensure the desire results. The appointment of Babar Awan who himself is on bail in a corruption case, has been appointed as Law Minister. The Interior Minister who was convicted by the Accountability Court in 2004 is now on bail. He is controlling the law enforcing agencies in a manner that makes him stronger than the prime minister. Federal ministers mentioned in the NRO lists have not been relieved from their responsibilities. If nothing else at least on moral grounds they should have ceased to hold offices till their cases are settled in the courts. But relieving them from offices would have set an embarrassing precedent for the President. The irony is that the government which is the prosecuting agency to pursue cases of corruption is itself facilitating bails of its ministers and bureaucrats on nominal amounts of money which have no proportion to the alleged quantum of corruption.

The President says he voluntarily gave up the nuclear command to the parliament through the Prime Minister but many believe that he has been striped off this privilege as being a security risk. Absence of trust by the army in the PPP leadership including Benazir Bhutto is an old legacy of the party. There was no love lost between ZA Bhutto since his first address to the nation as President and CML In that speech he had declared that it was not debacle but a military defeat in former East Pakistan and announced dismissals of 'fatty and floppy generals". Allowing telecast of surrender ceremony by Gen Niazi to Indian Gen Jageet Sing Aura on PTV and his intentions to raise people's army set the tone of Bhutto's relations with the army. Benazir Bhutto was considered a security risk in the context of country's defense. But there has never been any clear indication or substance to support this widely held view in the military circles. Towards the end of her second government she used to say that she was not privy to fine details of policies on Kashmir, nuclear and Afghanistan. But Asif Ali Zardari is different as he is the only PPP leader who contrary to the belief of the army and the people, has declared that India is not an enemy of Pakistan.

In the middle of trust deficit the latest out burst by the President on Benazir Bhutto's second death anniversary has sent ripples across the country making it a subject of daily talk shows and debate in the print media. People are scratching heads to decipher the wisdom from the President's tirade against unnamed elements working against the country and trying to destabilize his government. Some analysts and political commentators say that the President's audience was the army chief, the judiciary some politicians and the media who he thinks were hatching conspiracy to topple the elected government. The President is now trying to present an interpretation of his erratic and mind-boggling speech of December 27.Instead of clearing any misgivings, the explanation is further compounding the confusion created by his speech.

In the President's list of suspected trouble makers, the MQM, JUI and ANP could be conveniently eliminated as they are coalition partners of the PPP. The only opposition in the country is PML (N) which is facing a scathing criticism for providing a friendly opposition. In fact Nawaz Sharif has said that if there is a danger to the democratic system, he will stand in middle like a wall .Then who is the President afraid of? He seems to be suffering from bunkered mentality, paranoia and self created apprehensions. This was reflected by the statement of Kamal Asfar in the Supreme Court that the danger to the govt was from CIA and the GHQ. Punjab Senior Minister Raja Riaz said that no general can blackmail them or uproot the PPP elected government. Sind interior Minister Zulfiqar Ali Mirza loudly said that they were prepared to say "Pakistan Na Khappy" (Pakistan un acceptable) if Zardari had not raised the slogan of Pakistan khappy (Pakistan acceptable) . The statement of the Sind Interior minister tantamount to treason and cognition should be taken by the concerned authorities to make an example to dissuade others. As part of political black mail threat of the use of Sind card is made off and on .Idea of Sind card is not new. It was first heard after Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Shaheed's government was overthrown by Gen Zia and again when BB was dismissed as prime minister. Now the PPP leadership from Sind is conveying the idea that any action against the President be it the result of Supreme Court order or any disruption in democratic order would give rise to the use of Sind card. According to the Economist, London the use of Sind card is already underway. But the province of Sind is inhabited by patriotic people of different shades and they would not tolerate the raising of the bogie of the Sind card. Except a microscopic minority the people of Sind will not be hoodwinked by such nefarious slogans.

The PML(N) leader Nawaz Sharief demanding return of nation's looted wealth, is lending support to President Zardari. Nawaz Sharief who is nurturing an ambition to become prime minister for the third term, is extending solidarity with Zardari for personal reasons like deletion of ban in the Constitution of third tenure for premiership. He can not save the sinking ship of Zardari whose government has so far failed on every front. The President's popularity graph is going nose down and his supporters in Washington are finding it difficult to define future line of relations with him. The lesson to be learnt is that the USA has always found convenient to dispense with most trusted friends when they lost popularity in their countries. To mention a few names of America's great friends which come to mind are: Shah of Iran who was left high and dry, death of Gen Zia in mysterious circumstances and pulling off the plug from Gen Musharraf. Now there are signals from Washington that any future political dispensation in Pakistan is its internal affair. It is not less than a tragedy that America's most trusted and loyal friends have never fully comprehended the most invaluable piece of wisdom from Washington which says: Never stand between your friend and the firing squad.

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Between friend and firing squad

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