All hell has suddenly, though not inexplicably, broken loose in the PML.
Zafarullah Jamali and Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain are at each other’s throats, despite the fact that Mr Jamali was handpicked by Chaudhry Shujaat to be prime minister of Pakistan and Chaudhry Shujaat was nominated by Zafraullah Jamali to be the interim prime minister eighteen months later. Differences cropped up in 2004 when Mr Jamali cosied up to Pir Pagaro hoping to strengthen his position as prime minister by combining it with that of party president. But his ambitious maneuverings proved disastrous for him. When Chaudhry Shujaat complained to General Pervez Musharraf about Mr Jamali’s attempt to poach his job, the “boss” was inclined to sympathise with him. The minor Baloch sardar with the lumbering laid back style had failed to come up to his boss’ expectations. So he had to go. Mr Jamali has since had the knife out for Chaudhry Shujaat.
Mr Humayun Akhtar Rehman has also decided this is a good time to kick the Chaudhries in the shin. He has laid the blame for the PMLQ’s “abysmal performance” at confronting a resurgent PPP at their door. Barely a month ago, Mr Rehman had boldly bypassed the Chaudhries, invited General Musharraf to his house in Lahore and made a direct pitch to him about his younger brother’s credentials for the post of Lahore nazim in the forthcoming local elections. Why is Humayun Akhtar trying to outflank the Chaudhries?
When General Musharraf decided to get rid of Mr Jamali, he thought the time had come to inject dynamism in both government and party. He wanted two younger and modern men running his ship of state. The names of Humayun Akhtar as prime minister and Mushahid Hussain as secretary-general of the PML were mooted. Chaudhry Shujaat accepted Mushahid Hussain because, as a latecomer to the party, Mr Hussain still had a lot of learning to do and would therefore be unable to challenge his mentorship. But Mr Akhtar was a different kettle of fish. He was filthy rich, quietly ruthless and overly ambitious. He was a Punjabi with the right “military” background. He had never strayed from the straight and narrow path prescribed by the military’s intelligence agencies. He had always won his Lahore seat by dint of hard work and financial largesse. He was modern without being liberal, and highly “presentable”, to boot. Chaudhry Shujaat must have reasoned that if Mr Akhtar became prime minister, he would not only be hard to dislodge in Islamabad in favour of Chaudhry Pervez Elahi one day but he might even begin to encroach on their Punjab fiefdom. In other words, far from strengthening their pre-eminent position in General Musharraf’s dispensation, the appointment of Mr Akhtar as prime minister could have spelt doom rather than just gloom for the Chaudhries. In the event, by leaning in favour of a political non-entity like Shaukat Aziz, Chaudhry Shujaat has incurred the hostility of Humayun Akhtar Rehman. It’s payback time now for the gent who claims the capacity to “fill the vacuum left over by the Sharifs in Lahore”.
The other disgruntled Muslim Leaguers in the fray these days – Saleem Saifullah, Manzoor Wattoo, Hamid Nasir Chattha, etc – are the usual rotters and plotters that one may expect to find in any King’s Party. They have a lot of nuisance value and little to contribute to General Musharraf’s kitty except trouble. But Pir Pagaro is in a league of his own. He remains a compulsive string puller in Sindh. Since his plan to hoist Jamali was foiled by Chaudhry Shujaat, the Sindh-Baloch grid is out to get the Punjabi Jats. Matters have worsened following the nasty spat between the Sindh CM, Arbab Rahim (Pagaro’s man) and Imtiaz Sheikh (Chaudries’ man).
All this is understandable. But what is inexplicable is the demand by Pir Pagaro for “packing up the assemblies”, the forecast by Saleem Saifullah that the deed is as good as done, and the warning by Kabir Wasti (who’s happily hooked into the intelligence agencies) that the worst may come true if all the politicians don’t get their act together and help General Musharraf put Pakistan in order. Surely, the Muslim League (and along with it all the rotters and plotters) would be the biggest loser in the event of a new election right now because the PPP would romp to power on the basis of the anti-establishment, anti-incumbent vote and the MMA would be able to clutch at anti-American sentiment in the tribal areas to retain its clout.
General Musharraf’s statement – “I’m talking to the PPP” in the midst of this PMLQ melee may give us a clue about what is afoot. It seems he has discerned the limitations of the PMLQ and its motley band of “leaders” and is casting about for new political actors to anchor his reformist agenda and create a truly national consensus for it. Under the circumstances, we may yet come to see a “national government” in Islamabad one day that retains all the current players but includes some from the PPP as a prelude to the re-election of Pervez Musharraf as President of Pakistan for a second term!