After all that happened during the last 3 months.
PPP-P is still desperately groping for a deal with Musharraf.
MMA wants to protect all their poilitical gains under Musharraf.
Others are ruderless.
Opposition still not clear
While the government sounds ominous, huffing and puffing, doing everything under the sun to disengage the more determined black coats, all eyes are set on the opposition parties to see whether they hold out any hope and have any future game plan. Amid rising confrontation, relations between the government and opposition on the one hand and between the government and other important institutions on the other, are at their lowest end. However, the fact that the opposition is yet to get its acts together, relying mostly on rhetoric, is where the supporters of President Musharraf draw some comfort that sooner than later he would be out of the woods. They still feel that their best bet is the divide and rule policy. Hence, the talk that some foreign money is pumped into the country to finance ‘save judiciary movement’ in the hope that it will raise eyebrows among the legal fraternity. No doubt, the conduct of the opposition during the on-going judicial crisis leaves much to be desired. It seems that instead of relying on its guts, the opposition is again waiting for some great messiah to come and deliver. The strong message that the opposition parties need to deliver to the beleaguered government is still missing. One way to give a strong message to the government was through holding the much awaited All Parties Conference. This could have been a useful forum with the opposition parties taking a more clear-cut and categorical position on issues like judicial crisis, re-election of the President and his controversial uniform. Their leaders could also spell out their future plans in case the constitution is further violated. But due to the lack of unity in the opposition, the APC seems pretty far-fetched even in these crucial times. Most opposition leaders believe that the event would now be held under a new political order that excluded PPP.
What puzzles me even more is that when the people look at the opposition for leadership and direction, the political leadership is still reluctant to show its cards, as if in a fix over its future options.** The PPP is still not ready to come out of its deal syndrome. It is not sure whether the time has come to wrap up the long drawn-out deal issue once for all. As such it is not ready as yet to commit itself to a more open position when the sentiments run high against the government. What is more difficult to swallow is the recent announcement on the part of PPP to celebrate Benazir Bhutto’s birthday with a bang and that too throughout the month of June when the country is facing a grave crisis.** Probably, same is the situation with Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman, the leading partner in MMA, who too has too much on his mind. What is the position of other parties anchored in opposition? The PML (N) is hamstrung by internal fighting and groupings to make any impact in the ongoing protest movement, thanks to the faulty political management on the part of its top leadership. Imran Khan left the country to teach a lesson to MQM’s leader Altaf Hussain in London and so will not be available for a couple of weeks.** With the opposition in complete disarray, it lacked any future vision or plan. Nor its leadership has any short-term plane in place for coming 20 to 30 days.** President Musharraf blames opposition for politicising the judicial crisis. But I do not think if the opposition is taking the issue very seriously, as it relies more on wait and see policy, in the hope that the government would commit more follies and blunders. As such I do not see any political mobilisation worth noticing in the opposition parties, as should have been the case given the gravity of the situation. Something is strikingly missing, probably, the buzz that characterises the political parties in such times. Hence, all the protest calls given by the opposition more recently, mainly by PML (N) and MMA, were more of symbolic value, expressing solidarity with legal community than any strong show of strength, good enough to ring alarm bells in the right quarters. The recent march of MMA up to Lahore even went unnoticed. Probably, the mobilisation of political parties is not possible as long as Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto are away from the political scene. Given the nature of task in hand, the opposition leaders need a smarter and more intelligent conduct and planning. They need is to shun their narrow pursuits, all kind of rivalries, including the intra-parties struggle and antagonism to focus entirely and with single-mindedness to achieve their goals. But this seems to be a tall order.
