Deja vu all over again

servility. What is therefore surprising is his unceremonious exit decided upon by his boss, the president himself. Even in his fall he proved his subservience to the boss whom he spared the embarrassment of invoking article 52-2(b), and quietly bowed out without a fuss.

With his boss unhappy, with or without a reason, Jamali knew he had no locus standi to be in the office. Although his party PML (Q) could have helped him survive why should the so-called "King's party"

Tap here to add The Daily Star as a trusted source

abandon its "King" and go for a Joker? So poor Jamali was obviously to be dumped. It is still more surprising to watch the scripted departure of Jamali which was anything but voluntary as it was propagated, and the quick reversion of a nonchalant nation to business as usual -- proving once again that in a system

where all the shots are called by the military, the dumping of a prime minister picked up by the army itself is hardly of any consequence.

So, exit Jamali; enter Chowdhury Sujat Hussain as interim prime minister with banker-turned politician Shaukat Aziz in waiting perhaps for a final swap. In any country such abrupt but complex reshuffle of the government would cause transitional instability, a measure of uncertainty, and political action. In Pakistan there are no such things: no

market convulsion, no street protest, and no parliamentary debate. That is, however, what is the deeper cause for concern. The nation is supposed to be in political decline once such a stupor sets in. Some have, of course, called it political maternity, a peaceful transition of power and a sign of how civilized

have they become, requiring no force to change the ruler. Musharraf characterised the event as the smoothest ever transfer of power.

But is there really a change of power? Power remains firmly with Musharraf. Pakistan has been ruled by military regimes for more than half its existence. The army and its intelligence agencies have established themselves as king-maker. In the first place, in October 2002 election Jamali did not run as a prime ministerial candidate. Nei-

ther did he want to hold prime ministerial office. The PML (Q) and the President chose him to be so without adopting any mechanism to consult the people or their representatives. Similarly there was no call from the public for Jamali to stand down. Neither was there any no-confidence vote in his leadership in

the parliament. The decision to dump him has again been taken without involving the people.

While the insiders may be able to advance reasons for the choice of political non-entity like Jamali as a prime minister and then dumping a spineless man least adept in the country's political power play. Only the sham that passes for democracy all throughout the country's chequered history can create a Jamali phenomenon and also produce hazy post Jamali scenario where one

does not know what is the wisdom of having an interim prime minister and another in "waiting" -- the power brokers' unique contribution to constitutionalism. But then such developments are not totally unexpected when the military's interests are at stake.

President Musharraf, at the time

of his 1999 coup, assured the Pakistani public that a military coup was necessary to restore democracy to the country. When the Pakistani supreme court upheld Musharraf's coup it also gave him a three year deadline within which to restore democracy. Musharraf kept that deadline, at least nominally, and the country went to the polls in October 2002. But election alone is not democracy -- more so when it can be manipulated. Through a pre-poll rigging, Musharraf was able to create a new political balance in his favour by floating a new political party widely referred to as "King's party" and a pre-election alliance coordinated by intelligence agencies, while keeping away the country's main political forces led by Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, both of whom were in exile.

What this attempt resulted in was a much more clumsy politics in Pakistan -- ideal for many more Jamalis to come and go and for the military to continue ruling the roost. However, on the eve of Pakistan's 57th independence day, it is a sad spectacle that the army is still the ultimate arbiter of national issues while the country's parliament, the only visible symbol of democracy, continues to debate over whether or not President Musharraf will don his military uniform after December 2004.

Brig ( retd) Hafiz is former DG of BIISS.