As an opening batsman for the President’s Punters, Jam Sadiq Ali has played a scruffy innings against Bhutto’s Bounders. As per Presidential orders, the Governor and Corps Commander of Sindh stood as non-neutral umpires. For a runner, the Jam took Mr Irfanullah Marwat, the patron’s foxy son-in-law who preferred to carry a gun rather than a bat. Before the match began, the opposition’s bowlers were thrashed all over the place and forced to cool their heels in the clink.
One might have been forgiven therefore for predicting a rather one-sided match in which the Jam carried his bat through t the winning end. In the event, no such thing has happened. The rowdy crowd has lost patience. It has turned nasty and is set on pelting the President’s Punters back into the dressing room. Mr Ghulam Ishaq Khan is now faced with the gloomy prospect of his star batsman having to retire hurt, leaving the match wide-open.
No cricketing metaphor can, however, describe the political anarchy into which Sindh has been plunged by Jam Sadiq Ali’s brand of state terrorism. If Benazir Bhutto allegedly had a hand in precipitating ethnic strife between Mohajirs and Sindhis during her eighteen months in power, Jam Sahib may have done more in one year to push Sindhi separatists into the lap of India than G.M. Syed and Qadir Magsi have been able to do in all their barren lives.
The response in Islamabad to this spectre has been predictably pathetic. Once again, the carcass of Al-Zulfikar was dragged out and flogged. Once again, an accusing finger was pointed at India for instigating unrest in the province. No one in the capital seemed to care two hoots about the root cause of the anguish of Sindh.
In fact, the breakdown of state authority in the province originates much earlier, to the time when Zia ul Haq nourished the MQM and pitted it as a fifth column against the ghost of the prime minister he so unjustly executed in 1979. Over time, the MQM has become an uncontrollable armed state within the state of Pakistan. And as long as every government in Islamabad is held hostage by the MQM, there can be no enduring peace or stability in Sindh.
That said, it needs to be emphasised that some, not many, of the demands of the MQM may be fair. By the same token, many, not some, of the demands of the PPP in Sindh are valid. But nothing can be resolved as long as Islamabad remains determined to reverse the orders of legitimacy. By crowning Messrs Jam Sadiq Ali, Irfanullah Marwat and Altaf Hussain as arbiters of the fate of Sindh, Islamabad has tried to drown the tragedy of Sindh in a sea of farce.
That Jam Sadiq’s dismal performance has all but failed to deliver may, however, be dawning on Islamabad, albeit belatedly. That is probably why some new brokers are now hedging their bets. The House of Hala has obviously got an approving nod from somewhere to try and bridge the gulf between the PPP and the MQM — how else does one explain the apparent warmth with which Makhdum Amin Fahim embraced and chatted with Mr Altaf Hussain the other day. On the other side, Makhdum Khaliquzzaman is also trying to make up with Benazir Bhutto. Whether or not the Hales can succeed in mediating between Benazir Bhutto and Altaf Hussain remains to be seen. Certainly there is no love lost between them — Ms Bhutto believes Mr Hussain to be a terrorist and he is convinced she is an Indian agent.
On stop-gap measure could be the installation of a compromise candidate as Chief Minister of Sindh. Such a person would be required to demonstrate absolute neutrality between the PPP and the MQM in Sindh. He would also be expected to allay the suspicions of the President and the fears of the army chief on several counts, not least among them being considerations of stability at the centre and peace in the province.
Although he carries a PPP tag, Makhdum Amin Fahim is not a controversial or ideological figure given to outbursts of rage or rhetoric. The House of Hala has survived for so long as a central fact of Sindhi political life precisely because of its robust pragmatism under martial law and democracy. It is just possible that that is the very virtue Sindh needs at this moment of outraged passions.
As for Jam Sahib, he is in the twilight of life. If he refuses to make way for a more sober and less branded man, we should spare no effort to show him the back door. But if he is ready to pack his bags and retire, parting could be such sweet sorrow.