Mama Mia! I said, and Stopped Praying
NEWSPAPERS make you happy one day and miserable the next. Press reports on Mrs. Bhutto 's comments on the succession in Sindh a few days ago, gave one great hope. But what followed a few days later caused one to relapse into dark and desperate pessimism about the future of democracy in the country.
I couldn't believe my eyes when I read Mrs. Bhutto 's comments on the situation in Sindh . The PDA , she said, had acted ' positively' in the election of Jam Sadiq Ali 's successor as Chief Minister of Sindh. She is quoted by the newspapers as having said that by extending cooperation to the new Chief Minister, Syed Muzaffar Husain Shah , the PDA had saved the Sindh Assembly from dissolution and the province from Governor 's rule.
There was another reason: by allowing the new Chief Minister to be elected unanimously, the PDA had tried to create a congenial atmosphere in the Sindh Assembly, so that Jam Sadiq Ali 's 'vindictive' policies could be reversed and the ' victimisation' of PPP leaders and workers brought to an end.
Commenting on the formation of a PPP -NPP group in the Sindh Assembly, Mrs. Benazir Bhutto said that it would provide " a wider platform for the solution of problems facing Sindh. " Mrs. Bhutto was also reported to have said that the " new, amicable political situation " in Sindh would strengthen democratic institutions and end political polarisation.
Mama mia! I could hardly believe this was Mrs. Bhutto speaking. Is she really trying to become the daughter of the East, the daughter of the Quaid -i-Azam ? I asked myself.
Dear God , I prayed, let this be the beginning of the New Beginning.
Dear God , I prayed, let this be a turning point in Bibi's political career.
Dear God , I prayed, let the other side reciprocate.
Dear God , I prayed, let this be the beginning of bipartisan politics in Pakistan .
Dear God , I prayed, let this be the end of Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan 's political career.
Dear God , I prayed, let Asghar Khan land his ancient political aircraft safely at base in Abbottabad.
Dear God , I prayed, let the Marwat chap do something other than politics and leave the poor province of Sindh well enough alone.
Dear God , I prayed, let there be a moratorium or pettifogging during Ramzan at least.
Dear God , I prayed, let Nawaz Sharif be voted, not bayoneted out of power.
Dear God , I prayed, let those in power realise that the authority they wield is transient.
Dear God , I prayed, let our politicians turn their attention to the real problems facing this country-population explosion, pollution both political and environmental.
Dear God , I prayed, let there be a grand national concord so that industry could pick up and foreign investors could come in.
Dear God , I prayed, let all universities in Pakistan be abolished because they were beyond reclamation.
Dear God , I prayed, let freedom ring and banish all the bureaucratic keepers of our conscience from my beautiful country.
Dear God , I prayed, let the Indus be what it was meant by you to be the father of all rivers. Abasin. Affectionate in equal measure to its sons and daughters from the NWFP to the Punjab , and to Sindh -Balochistan . Let its waters be the elixir of life for the inheritors of the Great Indus Valley Civilisation.
Dear God , I prayed, give back to the PPP its original raison d'etre.
Dear God , I prayed, let the people matter for once in this country.
Dear God , I prayed, let there be more Sindhis in the services than they are at present.
Dear God , I prayed, let Mian Nawaz Sharif become the Prime Minister of Pakistan and not of his green acres in Model Town , Lahore .
Dear God , I prayed, let Mian Nawaz Sharif see what is happening at Lawrence Road , and what the rapacious are doing to his alma mater, the St. Anthony 's.
Dear God , I prayed, listen to Ahmad Mushtaq's twenty-year-old supplication: just safe drinking water for the children of the Motherland.
Dear God , I prayed, let the Sunnis and Shias and the others be brothers again.
Dear God , I prayed, let Altaf Husain grow out of his Mohajir exclusivism.
Dear God , I prayed, let us have clean drinking water and cleaner politics.
Dear God , I prayed, let ethnic exclusivism die a peaceful death.
Dear God , I prayed, let the Press in Pakistan become objective in news and views presentation.
Dear God , I prayed, send Sen. Pressler to Pakistan for a protracted stay so that he can see that we have nothing more dangerous than our grinding poverty to threaten our neighbours with.
Dear God , I prayed, let letterhead political parties join those in the mainstream to end the confusion in our lives.
Dear God , I prayed, if the PPP can act to prevent the dissolution of the Sindh Assembly, let it also get out of the APC and try to prevent the dissolution of the National Assembly .
Dear God , I prayed, let Asif Zardari out of the jug. He's not half as bad as some of the others on the other side of the fence. And he has two of the cutest children and a lovely wife to come back to from prison.
Dear God , I prayed, let Nawaz Sharif go to Castle Bilawal and tell B. B. It is better to be her brother than to be Prime Minister .
Dear God , I prayed, let B. B. meet with the Prime Minister , and tell her it is better to have Nawaz Sharif than the jackboots.
I prayed and I prayed until I read the papers on Thursday morning. The new Chief Minister of Sindh , Syed Muzaffar Husain Shah , in Islamabad on Tuesday, was quoted by one newspaper as having said that there was " no understanding between him (or the IJI ) and Mrs. Bhutto ."
Again: " Muzaffar Husain Shah is believed to have made it clear to all here in the capital that his election had been ' unanimous' because the Opposition was sure of its defeat. The so-called cooperation from the PDA ' in the larger interest of Sindh and Pakistan ', source close to the Chief Minister said, was not out of love but out of compulsion. "
Mama mia! I said, and stopped praying.
Friday, March 13, 1992
