There’s never a dull moment in Pakistan. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Who killed Bob Woolmer? Why is Pakistani cricket dogged with controversy? How can it be revived after plumbing such depths? Will the CJP, Iftikhar Chaudhry, be “restored” by the Supreme Judicial Council under Justice Rana Bhagwandas? How will a “restoration” or “sacking” of the CJP impact on President General Pervez Musharraf and the judiciary and what will be its consequences for dictatorship and democracy? Will elections be held this year or postponed? Will General Musharraf be both army chief and president next year? Will Benazir Bhutto return to Pakistan and lead her party in the elections?
Cricket is both the love and bane of our life. Our favourite heroes are true villains. Bouquets were reserved for Inzamam-ul-haque. Now he will get brickbats. Many said Bob Woolmer and his mysterious laptop were “useless” fixtures. Now everyone is praying for his ghairatmand soul. The PCB chairman Nasim Ashraf had resigned. Now he’s back in the saddle. The former PCB chairman Tauqir Zia had returned to the pavilion. Now he’s all padded up again. Thank God former manager Zaheer Abbas wasn’t on this tour obsessed with his mobile phone. Now it’s PJ Mir whose fat’s in the fire. Shoaib and Asif rued the day they took some drugs. Now they’re thanking the Almighty they weren’t on this tour. The proliferating beards denoted unity, faith and motivation. Now they’re cause for fingerprinting and DNA testing. All the “oldie goldie” cricketers who were in with the PCB have been shunted out and all who were out are shoving to get in. Will an inquiry be held? Yes. What lessons will be learnt? None. And if Mr Woolmer’s murder should come to be linked to any Pakistani cricketers or their halal meat suppliers or Tableeghi faith inspirers or ever-friendly bookies, then Allah truly have mercy on us. But the Pakistan team had a good time in the Caribbean. The players laid into halal Alu Gosht until midnight and prayed till sunrise.
Meanwhile, the CJP affair is taking a predictable course. The defence lawyers want to bombard the SJC with petitions and prolong the trial so that they can extract dramatic public mileage from it. Curiously enough, the government is also keen to stretch the case, but only in order to defuse the situation on the street. The longer it plays out, the greater the chances that the protesting lawyers will sputter out. Significantly, however, the CJP’s aim is to publicise the trial because popular sentiment is in his favour while the government’s objective is to “judicialize” it because most judges in the apex court have an axe to grind against him. Hence the CJP’s readiness to address Bar associations across the country and General Musharraf’s exhortations not to politicize the case.
If the SJC under Justice Rana Bhagwandas is reconstituted as demanded by the CJP and restores him, the judiciary will have acquitted itself well in the public eye. But this CJP doesn’t have much support or sympathy among fellow judges in the Supreme Court. He would be a lame duck captain whose teammates are likely to gang up and thwart him at every stage at the behest of the executive, as the former CJP Sajjad Ali Shah’s case testifies. So the government’s mission of neutralizing him can be achieved by other means. If the CJP is sacked, however, the government and the judiciary will both lose credibility, thereby casting a deep shadow over the fate of the constitutional writs that are bound to fly as we confront the elections and General Musharraf’s bid to retain both jobs as army chief and president. Needless to say, the government’s short term objectives can all be met by prolonging his suspension and trial and getting his colleagues to swiftly dispose off troublesome petitions in favour of the government. Thus it can be argued that regardless of whether he is sacked or restored, the CJP is already in the throes of becoming history.
The political parties sense this and are making adjustments accordingly. The protest demonstrations so far have been loud on rhetoric but short on passion and numbers. The PPP and ANP are already in the loop with General Musharraf and don’t want to rock his boat unduly. They have been out in the cold for a long time and have much to gain by post-election power-sharing deals with him. The JUI, too, retains a vested interest in him. Its popularity has dwindled in the NWFP and Balochistan and it can return to government only by seat-adjustments and power sharing with the PMLQ. The Jamaat i Islami too will need help from the PMLQ to bag some seats in provincial and federal parliaments. So the opposition parties have decided that if they can’t lick General Musharraf then they had better learn to live with him until at least the elections are over.
Never a dull moment in Pakistan. The more things change, the more they stay the same.