On the Warpath Again
THE LADY is on the warpath again. To what end and for what purpose? Baba go! Nawaz go! Jolly good show!
Now, how can these laudable objectives be achieved? Let us look at the possibilities. Possibility 1, says a friend, is that President Ghulam Ishaq Khan should sack Prime Minister Nawaz and then resign. The President can sack the P.M. under the Eighth Amendment to which the Leader of the Opposition is bitterly opposed and which she will strike off if returned to power again but she wants it used against Mr. Nawaz Sharif . For the moment, therefore, the Amendment is quite legit. It was illegal when the President used it to dismiss Mrs. Benazir Bhutto . This is called politics of principle.
Half of this possibility is against a very strong law of nature. The President may sack Mr. Nawaz Sharif , but he is hardly likely to resign, because he is in his senses and has a very strong instinct of self-preservation. Therefore, even if he sacks the gentleman, he will not ask the lady to be his guest. The President is said to be a generous man but he is certainly not a spendthrift. So why exhaust your energies on a wild goose chase, dear madam?
Possibility 2. The President may sack the Prime Minister and then out of the goodness of his heart, invite Mohtarima Benazir Bhutto Sahiba to become interim prime minister, just as he had done in the case of Mr. Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi . In the Okara public meeting on Tuesday, no PDA leader said a word about the President. Later, when reporters asked Asghar Khan why, he giggled and said, "We want a constitutional change in the present set-up." May the good Air Marshal giggle some more and daydream some more.
The President does not go by precedent. He takes decisions on a case-by-case basis. He has never believed that what is good for the goose is also good for the gander. On the contrary, he subscribes to the theory that what is good for the gander is never good for the goose. He is, let me hasten to assure you, no male chauvinist but he does like to cook your goose once in a while.
One other thing. Addressing a PNA meeting in Sheikhupura in 1977, Air Marshal (Retd) Asghar Khan had asked the audience to welcome the soldiers (martial law, which is to say) because "this time they are coming as your friends" or words to that effect. Now he wants a "constitutional change."
It is a hundred to one that right now, the President (if he is his own man) would not like any constitutional change, the Eight Amendment included. So keep giggling, dear Air Marshal (that is, if you did giggling at Okara , according to The Nation , October 28, p.4). By the way, if air marshals retire, why don't politicians? I would put my money on a non-existent horse in a race, which never took place than on this possibility.
Possibility 3. There may be a revolt against the Prime Minister from within the IJI , and it may elect a new leader in the National Assembly . Well, this can always happen. It did happen in Mrs. Thatcher's case and it could in theory happen to Mr. Nawaz Sharif , but will it? And even if it does happen, what good will it does to the PDA , the NDA , or the APC especially to Mrs. Bhutto ? Will a change of face mean a change of policy? Never. If horses had wishes, would they ever let you ride? You bet they would not.
Possibility 4. The current agitation, spearheaded by Benazir Bhutto , may force the Prime Minister to advise the President to dissolve the Assemblies and call for fresh elections. With the situation, being what it is in Sindh , would it be possible or even advisable to do so? If you ask me, no. So, have a heart, Bibiji , and call this tamasha off. People will flock to your jalsas as they did in 1986, but they will not help you topple the Government, as they didn't six years ago.
Possibility 5. Supposing the agitation does catch on, the Government is destabilised and then capsizes, what will happen? Martial law? And if martial law comes, what benefit will accrue to Mrs. Bhutto or to the PDA or to the NDA or to the APC ? You tell me. Good, bad, or indifferent, Mr. Nawaz Sharif must be allowed to complete his term. There is no other way. Patience, ladies and gentlemen. The PM is not forever. No one is. Let us vote him out. Let us not shout him out. Because, if we shout him out like we shouted out Bhutto and then Benazir, it will never end, and democracy will never take root.
I have been hearing hai-hai all my life. We started with Khawaja Nazimuddin when wheat prices rose. Then Ayub Khan , then Zulfikar Ali Bhutto , then Zia, then Benazir, and now Nawaz Sharif . Will it never end? Shall we never grow up? Or are we all agents provocateurs for martial law?
I have written on numerous occasions that B. B. got a raw deal; her father got a raw deal; her husband got a raw deal, but still she should have the courage to rise above herself, and see things in national rather than in personal perspective. She can get her own back provided she plays the game as the Quaid did.
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AND NOW a story from Islamabad . A friend who has recently returned from that quarantined place is the author of this yarn. He says that Mrs. Bhutto had demanded that after Mr. Nawaz Sharif had been sacked and an interim premier installed, the latter and his cabinet colleagues should undertake not to fight the ensuing elections.
The President , my friend says, agreed and made the offer to Malik Meraj Khalid who refused point-blank. He said he was a political animal and therefore he would not give such undertaking. Thereupon, the President made the same offer to Mr. Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi and he agreed without losing a minute. Mrs. Bhutto , however, voted the idea because, she said, Mr. Jatoi had given a similar undertaking in 1990 but then reneged. Purely a figment of my friend's imagination but not bad as far as figments go. No? Anyhow, this friend of mine claims that his figments are always better than mine, a claim, which I readily concede.
Friday, October 30, 1992
