As I See It
National unity government?
WHILE disasters tend to unite the nation, it is infinitely better that the nation closes ranks before any impending disaster. With world recession looming in our faces, we do not have the economic resilience to cushion the impact. Coupled with shortages of food, fuel and electricity, and increase in suicide bombings, only a monumental effort by all and sundry will see the country through a long hot summer.
Political confrontation will only complicate matters. Inheriting a truncated Pakistan on the way to further disintegration in December 1971, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto managed to keep the country together because all the disparate political forces united behind him to see off the crisis.
With JUI-NAP led coalitions in NWFP and Balochistan Bhutto bought time and deftly managed to avoid geo-political meltdown; this was political opportunism of the magnificent kind. A little more than two years later he threw it all away, dismissing the two provincial governments on less than credible trumped-up accusations, and laying the seeds of permanent political turmoil in what was left of Quaid's Pakistan.
Even though violence since has taken many faces, economic disparity because of racial inequality remains the major reason for it.
With all players across the broad political spectrum awash with purpose and goodwill in the first flush of victory over the forces of autocracy, Bhutto's son-in-law Asif Zardari finds himself more or less in a similar position. Will he take the major political risk of cobbling together a national unity government?
Even though Zardari's potential partners have common cause uniting them against a common foe, they remain ideologically way apart as political entities. With the president dangling the NRO Sword of Damocles over his head, should Zardari take the more pragmatic route of forming PPP-led coalition governments by including the PML (Q) instead of PML (N) at the centre?
Notwithstanding enormous baggage in the form of lingering corruption charges, Asif Zardari is a courageous man. He was unbending during his long captivity, and bore it with considerable grace and dignity.
While Zardari has reasons, the silence of all politicians (and the electronic media) on the question of the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) is deafening, it is as if the NRO did not exist. On October 19, 2007, I had written "blanket amnesty on political grounds is certainly an instrument for national reconciliation but only individual pardons are given for corruption. There is not a single instance in history of blanket amnesty for corruption. If the Supreme Court rules otherwise, it will be a first, and under the doctrine of fantasy! Instead of putting SC to the test of its credibility, one appeals to Pervez Musharraf to revoke the blunder of enacting the NRO and consign this dark and dank document to the dustbin of history. Black is black!"
The consequences for the society of lack of accountability were detailed in an earlier article in September 2005, to quote, "the smugglers of the '50s and '60s are today openly considered some of the pillars of Pakistan's commerce and society, not much separating them from the civil and military personnel who have looted the state's treasury. Contemptuous of the laws of the land they flagrantly flaunt their ill-gotten millions, investing in commerce and industry to make their ill-gotten gains legitimate, some do not even bother to conceal their past. Some are even investing heavily in the print and electronic media. For the ordinary citizen making his (or her) living the hard way, frustrations are at the point of boiling over, the schism could lead to a class war. Hundreds and thousands of retired personnel who earned an honest livelihood and are living in pitiable state on meager pensions now openly lament their failure to avail the opportunity to make money when they could have. Their virtual penury is a living symbol to our present and future generations that honesty does not pay."
When the masses are subjected to further deprivation the very worse can happen, as is very likely to happen in the next few months. To quote from my article of September 29, 2005, "the Naxalite movement in India today is a greater and more potent force to contend with, killing criminals and the corrupt in the judiciary and law enforcement alike, not to mention corrupt bureaucrats, crooked businessmen, anybody amassing inordinate wealth, etc. The fabric binding society is the belief that those that are supposed to uphold the law will do so, if one has reason to fear them violating the laws of the land then the very basis of civilisation fails, and will force those seeking justice to take law into their own hands. Vigilantes may come from law enforcement agencies (LEAs) and/or from the public."
There are other contributory reasons in PPP's pursuit of political expediency, the first and foremost reason being the PML (N)'s ambiguous stance on the "war against terrorism." While the "war against terrorism" may be a US-crafted phrase, it is a dire necessity for Pakistan. In the relentless fight to root out terrorism from our midst, there can be no appeasement of those who are engaged in mindless violence, ripping apart our social fabric both literally and symbolically.
The poverty of our masses and the lack of education are fertile grounds for exploitation. Our jehadi militants are exploiting this frustration to the hilt by giving it religious connotations. Can one even begin to decipher the callous mindset of those who launch others on suicide bombing missions?
While the aim is certainly to spread fear and anarchy, the proliferation of incidents is alarming. Mian Sahib must come up with a clear statement of intention, one has yet to be convinced he is committed to fighting this prime menace to the state and the society.
When Mian Nawaz Sharif says that the army should not get involved with politics he is quite right, the army has no business being involved with politics or -- for that matter -- business. So, in the same manner, politicians have no business interfering in the inner working of the military, showering them with gifts, favours and praise for their own selfish motivated purposes.
Given his history of confrontation with army chiefs, Mian Sahib's stance towards the army must remain a matter of ambiguity. In such circumstances, including the Sharifs in the centre (even though Shahbaz Sharif is far more amenable and acceptable) will require deft political footwork.
One feels that Zardari will take the middle ground of risking 1988 all over, a PPP-led coalition without PML (N) at the federal level, conceding Punjab to the PML (N) despite the bitterness of PPP activists in that province.
All our leaders must render themselves accountable, in all senses of the word, to the people who have voted them to power in good faith. Whatever may be Zardari's motives, we must take them at face value as being Pakistan-specific. While political initiatives must go hand in hand with military ones to root out the menace of terrorism, this country badly needs a united stand to meet serious economic challenges looming in the near future. That is only possible by having a national unity government.
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