Nawabzada Nasrullah is an indefatigable foe. Despite his advancing years, he never gives up, does he? Having notched up the dismissal of two democratic governments under the Bhuttos, he is now seeking the demise of a third under Mian Nawaz Sharif. After the Nawabzada’s dubious success in 1977, we were saddled with eleven devastating years of Zia ul Haq. Now we are reaping the bitter harvest — rigged elections, corrupt government, persecuted opposition, a press under attack and a breakdown of law and order — of the booting of Benazir Bhutto last year in which he played no mean role.
That the Nawabzada’s ire at Benazir Bhutto was due in no small measure to her inability to support his quest for the Presidency in 1988 is no secret. That President Ghulam Ishaq has incurred the Nawabzada’s wrath today by speaking his mind, no matter how inopportunely or undiplomatically, is obvious. But such vindictiveness is not the sort of response on national issues one expects from a politician of long standing like the Nawabzada. The President’s views are clear. If the Nawabzada is interested in persuading him otherwise, no opportunity should be lost in seeking him out. Far from sulking, the Nawabzada should keep his avenues open to the Presidency.
Of course, we admit to the litany of charges levelled by the opposition against the government of President Ishaq. Yes, the President has been extremely partisan. Yes, Mian Nawaz Sharif’s government leaves much to be desired. Yes, the opposition has been dealt a rotten deal, especially in Sindh. But is that sufficient reason to agitate the downfall of the present government by hook or by crook? If Benazir Bhutto believes that the President dismissed her unfairly, she should apply the same yardstick and reject demands for the dismissal of Mian Nawaz Sharif. If she believes the President’s discretionary powers are misplaced, she should hardly be demanding that he exercise them again. Two wrongs never made a right.
That said, it takes two hands to clap. Early in the game, Bhutto appeared willing to come to terms with her short-term political fate. Despite her conviction that the elections to the national assembly were rigged, she refused to give in to party pressure to boycott the provincial polls. Soon thereafter, she declared she was reconciled to letting Nawaz Sharif govern provided the opposition was allowed its legitimate role. She even went so far as to congratulate Mr Sharif on the Shariat Bill.
From the other side, however, there has been no let up in the pressure to banish her from politics altogether. Apart from the one-sided Presidential references which have sapped her political energies, her husband has been brutally victimised. In Sindh, Jam Sadiq has tried to decimate her party by a policy of state terrorism. In between, she has been accused of being anti-state for allegedly betraying nuclear secrets to foreign journalists. Hardly the sort of treatment one metes out even to one’s sworn tribal enemies rather than to the leader of the opposition with only fractional less voter support than the government in power, even if we go by the controversial results of the elections of last year. No, neither President Ishaq nor Mr Sharif have been ready to concede an inch where, in all fairness, much more should be expected and demanded.
No wonder, there is such bitter polarization. And President’s Ishaq’s stubbornness, for that is exactly what it is, has created an untenable situation. On one side, he is prosecuting the PPP for alleged corruption. On the other, he seems blind t the havoc Mian Sahib and his cronies have wrought with the banking system in amassing such huge fortunes.
What, then, should the President do? Dismiss Nawaz Sharif, initiate references against him too and call for fresh elections? No. It would serve no realistic purpose. Logically speaking, he would end up disqualifying every second politician in sight without guaranteeing that we would not be stuck with another lot of crooks. Nor can we afford another round of elections, especially if, in the absence of a consensus on electoral reform, these are also likely to be rigged as in 1990 and lead into another cul-de-sac.
No, the only way out is to withdraw the cases against Bhutto, release Zardari and get rid of Jam Sadiq and Irfanullah Marwat. In return, the opposition should allow for a compromise candidate to preside over Sindh, one who is acceptable to the MQM and the PPP, and let Mian Nawaz Sharif get on with the job of government.
I Islamabad does not pull back now, the scenario is all too clear. The disqualification of Bhutto for seven years is on the cards. After she has no stakes left in the system, what option is there for her but to pull out from the assemblies and take to the streets. What follows then is equally predictable: civil disobedience and disruption; arrests, exile and more persecution. Back to the MRD in 1983. Hardly the picture we want to paint of an authoritarian and divided Pakistan as it take its first precious steps into the new century.