The air is so thick with much and the dice so heavily loaded against Benazir Bhutto, can we expect free and fair elections next Wednesday?
Take a slice of the sludge, first.
Mr Navid Malik of the Malik Navid variety has released a ‘letter’ to the press, dated 29-4-90, purporting to demonstrate the ‘anti-state activities of Ms Bhutto’. Mr Malik claims it was written by ‘Mrs’ Benazir Bhutto to her friend Mr Peter ‘Gailbraith’, thanking him for his favours and begging his good offices to halt US aid and ‘squeeze’ the Government of Pakistan. Among other things, the ‘letter’ welcomes the ‘suspension of F-16 and its pares” and says that it “will bring the army to its senses”. It asks Mr ‘Gailbraith’ to use his influence on V P Singh to engage the Pakistani Army on the border so that they do not impede my way”.
Ignoring Mr Malik’s dubious credentials, it appears that when he sat down to draft his mischief, he forgot certain elementary rules of letter-writing: names should be spelt correctly, especially if one is writing to a buddy-wuddy. As Ms Bhutto knows only too well, her dear friend’s name is Galbraith, not Gailbraith. Strange, isn’t it, that she should also type-off as ‘Mrs’ Benazir Bhutto rather than ink the maiden name she uses so effectively elsewhere? It is curious, took that she should appear to welcome the suspension of the F-16s at least two weeks before an unconfirmed report filtered in from Washington to, that effect! Perhaps, if the clumsy Mr Malik had allowed himself to be tutored in the sordid business of dirty-tricks by an indefatigable experts like Mr Hussain Haqqani, he might have produced a less incredible document in which the English, at least, could have been more worthy of the Oxford educated Ms Bhutto.
Take, now, just one face of the treacherous dice.
Mr Asif Zardari is in prison, unable to campaign against Mr Jatoi or stand by his wife in her hour of tribulation, which the government is desperately trying to extract a ‘confession’ against him from Mr Ghulam Hussain Unar. Hundreds of PPP workers in Sindh are in prison. Ms Bhutto is weighed down by ‘special cases’, with regular court appearances spread across 900 miles, in between the hustings. PTV is reportedly giving the PDA just 8% of the time allotted to the IJI. The Punjab caretakers have overdrawn Rs 3 billion from the poor State Bank to buy votes: the local bodies and lumbardars have been stuffed with Rs 130 crores and IJI candidates have sprinted away with Rs 75 lacs apiece, all from the pathetic Treasury. The ‘irregularities’ of Mian Nawaz and Mr Jatoi (voting lists, polling staff, etc) are the buzz of the country. Nawab Bugti’s administration is before the Election Commissioner, defending its deviations. The President is passing Ordinances, transferring cases, firing judges, all at his much flaunted ‘discretion’, of course. The Holy Quran has been dragged into the muck of portray the Coppers as the ‘chosen ones’. And the spectre of Al-Zulfiqar and Indian designs has been raised to muddy the run-up to October 24.
In the meanwhile, the shady Sihala Rest House near Pindi is being feverishly dusted for prospective VIPrisoners.
Despite this, however, reports suggest that Benazir Bhutto is going great guns in three provinces. TFT estimates give her PDA a minimum of 79 seats, the IJI 35, others 19 with tough fights in 65 constituencies.
Why should a party condemned by our lofty President as corrupt, inept and unpatriotic still claim a hold over the hearts and minds of the people of Pakistan?
The answer is blowing in the wind. A recent independent poll shows that a minority of only 27% of the people think BB is corrupt while a majority of 52% believe Mian Nawaz Sharif to be a crook. Only 34% agree the President’s sacking of her government was justified, just as a minority of 37% is convinced that the accountability process is fair. A mere 22% say the President’s caretaker government is ‘better’ than the PPP government. And, thank God, no more than a miniscule 7% support the idea of martial law.
In view of all this, can we expect free, fair and peaceful elections next week?