Prime minister Benazir Bhutto is, of course, perfectly within her rights to beef up the federal cabinet in times of political uncertainty. But the recent expansion has left us dumbfounded. Few, if any, of the candidates qualify for the job given to them. The inclusion of some is unconscionable. And the selection of a few is, to put it mildly, quite odious.
There are at least four grubby “land grabbers” in the new list. Among these, Mr Nawaz Khokhar, the PML (N)’s version of Benedict Arnold, is the most notorious. Mr Khokhar, it may be recalled, was charged by Ms Bhutto two years ago of various offenses in this regard. In 1994, he acquired the dubious distinction of throwing mud on the Head of State and Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces. Khokhar it was who orchestrated the Mehran Bank leak and if his suggestion had been accepted by the leader of the Opposition, overripe tomatoes would have been hurled at President Farooq Leghari during that stormy joint session of Parliament.
But as a newly anointed minister in Ms Bhutto’s cabinet, Mr Khokhar was quick to return the prime minister’s compliment. The day he was appointed, his supporters took out a raucous procession and shot off their guns in defiance, as if to put Mr Leghari in his place. This, in a city in which the carrying of firearms is supposed to be strictly prohibited. And this, in a city lorded over by Mr Naseerullah Babar, the pucca Interior Minister, who has never tired of reminding us that as an upright, law-enforcing man, he would resign from the cabinet if Mr Khokhar were to be inducted as a minister. Why, might we ask, when insult has been heaped on injury, has Mr Babar now been reduced to a state of pitiable silence?
The induction of Mr Asif Zardari into the cabinet, however, is an altogether different affront to our sensibilities. Before she became prime minister in 1993, Ms Bhutto was insistent that she would not repeat the mistakes of her first tenure. In particular, she was adamant that she would not allow her spouse, who had acquired a dubious reputation for wheeling-dealing, to assume a larger-than-life role in her next government. Therefore when Ms Bhutto became PM in 1993, it was expected that Mr Zardari would be compelled to keep his head down in order to avoid any flak against the government.
In the event, history was doomed to repeat itself, first as tragedy, now as farce. Over these two years and some, Ms Bhutto has progressively backed out of her commitment to keep her husband at bay. By 1995, Mr Zardari had begun to loom over government to such an unsavoury extent that President Leghari and the then COAS, General Abdul Waheed, were constrained to sit Ms Bhutto down and advise her to restrict Mr Zardari’s movements and restrain him from meddling in government. It is our bad luck, however, that when the tears welled up in Ms Bhutto’s eyes the two gentlemen were unable to resist her wiles. A box of tissues was proffered nervously and the issue was dropped like a hot potato.
Ms Bhutto hasn’t looked back since. Now, as if to say that she doesn’t give a damn about what the President or the army thinks, let alone the people of Pakistan, she has made bold to appoint Mr Zardari as minister for “Investments”. What, pray tell, is such a minister supposed to do that all the other ministers and secretaries and special advisors on economic affairs are not doing already? In search of what investments, may we ask, has the minister proceeded, en famille and at state expense, to Eurodisney in France? How much is this ministry going to cost us in these times of supposed austerity? All that now remains is for the honourable minister to be catapulted to the Chairmanship of the Senate next March, which office, as we know, is just a heartbeat away from the Presidency, which office, as we also know, is occupied by the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces.
The press, for what it is worth, has offered guarded comment on Mr Zardari’s advisability as minister. The outrage is there but so is the self-censorship that precludes honest, direct comment on an issue so perilously close to the Prime Minister’s bone. Lest Ms Bhutto misjudge this muted comment from the daily Press as acceptance, or the hypocritical laurels heaped on her husband by his flunkeys in some business circles, she should know that her appointment of her husband has gone down very badly. Some powerful quarters, in particular, are seething with rage.
Ms Bhutto is in an aggressive, defiant, devil-may-care mood. There is no arguing with her. And there is no one who is man enough to stop her. In this situation, a Persian couplet by Hafiz springs to mind:
Man archay dar nazar-e-yar khaksar shudam
Raqeeb neez chuneen muhtaram na khahad maand
[What if I have fallen from grace
in the eyes of the beloved;
Her guardian too shall fail
to retain his exalted position.]