Re: Zardari-Pervaiz finalise power-sharing deal
**An open declaration of war
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Press Gallery
By Mohammad Malick**
Oh what a session. It’s been a while since I was last confronted with the difficult choice of where to start. Do I begin by the irony of a cancer stricken Syed Allaudin forcing the house to discuss the equally lethal suffering of the living-dead of Swat? Or do I start with the war between Nawaz Sharif and President Asif Zardari finally being made official by the leader of the opposition? Or should my opening question be why Rehman Malik while being present in the House did not speak on the Swat issue and instead passed the buck to government’s perpetual fall guy (or person) Sherry Rehman? Or should my first words deal with the last ones of Muneer Aurakzai, who shredded the government claim of meaningful actions by the much trumpeted and officially celebrated House Committee on national security?
The **war drums couldn’t have rolled louder, or the gauntlet thrown with anymore disdain. **And trust Ch Nisar Khan to play the aggressor with that extra panache. It’s obvious that the fiery leader of the opposition relishes a good old power fight and boy, did he take it to the presidency. Clearly, Nisar was smarting from the latest remark of President Zardari, who himself irked at his government’s being described a continuity of autocracy by Nawaz Sharif, had mocked the ‘democratic hardship credentials’ of certain leaders (unnamed) who had bawled their eyes out when faced with harsh treatment at the hands of their khaki tormentors. President Zardari never took any names but everybody knew that he had been referring to Mian Nawaz Sharif & co. So all Nisar wanted was an opening to close the book on Mr. Zardari and when he finally got one because of an impromptu debate on Swat forced by the ailing Syed Allauddin, the opposition leader latched on to it with both hands.
“If a political blow comes from the presidency then we will react accordingly if one man’s ego (direct reference to president Zardari) is allowed to misuse the presidency then we too reserve our right to respond in the same coin”, and he also went on to add in a rather contemptuous tone that PML-N had always warned against the perils of allowing the presidency to become a hub of partisan politics. Simply put, he made it abundantly clear that his party had had enough of the president’s style of politics and if there was ever an open declaration of war, this was it.
But an aside prior to reverting to today’s proceedings; one would have to be politically naÔve to treat this latest blasting of the president as a mere tit-for-tat response by a miffed opposition, as even a cursory look at the developments (or should I say deteriorations) of the past few weeks will reveal a trend of the PML-N making a deliberate distinction of behaviour and intensity while criticizing the president’s person on one hand, and the Gilani led PPP government on the other. Why and for what, is an interesting discussion in itself. Then there is the intriguing timing and tenor of the Saudi intelligence chief’s recent visit to Pakistan. There are quite a few related matters as well which may not seem related at a first glance, such as the coincidental timing of Senate elections and March 9th approaching agitation but fate may tie some interesting knots here and there. Are things really as divorced from one another as they may appear at first glance? But let’s keep all that for some other day.
Nisar’s open declaration of war and the involved serious future ramifications notwithstanding, he did have some very pertinent points to make about the real and present immediate crisis of Swat and other terror plagued parts of the country. He rightly questioned this ongoing practice of “high sounding unanimous resolutions followed by fiery speeches” but then ultimately it all dissolving into nothingness. The leader of the opposition had taken this line as he was already aware of the treasury’s desire to adopt a unanimous resolution condemning the Taliban decree of banning female education in Swat. Interesting enough, this issue had been raised by none other than Ahsan Iqbal of the PML-N last week and at the time PML-N had also indicated its willingness to adopt such a resolution. But that was last week, and a week is a very long time in power politics to force change of hearts and priorities.
Nisar was right on dot when he asked the government to eschew shooting off one high flying resolution after another and to first explain its actions, and non-actions on Swat as the in-camera session had been informed by government that by December 2008, Swat would be firmly under government control and even the army would be pulled out by then. And we all know the reality, which is quite the opposite. As he put it sarcastically, “do they even remember what they say in their briefings?” He echoed the majority sentiment when he expressed his indignation at never ending resolutions, fiery speeches and implored the government to “stop playing this cruel joke and start taking actions. It’s time to act and not resolve”. Tell me whatever happened to that all-important War on Terror resolution, he asked bitterly, and all that was to happen consequently. But we already know the answer to that, don’t we?