While the PPP is humming with a sense of renewed purpose and brimming with confidence, the same cannot be said of Punjab’s IJI or Karachi’s MQM.
This is perfectly understandable. On the one side, Mian Sahib is sulking after his shock defeat at Mr Khar’s hands in NA-99, fearing a precipitous collapse of his IJI coalition which is also buffeted by Mr Junejo’s ominous efforts to reorganise the Muslim League under his own command. On the other, the MQM is licking its self-inflicted wounds after its adventurism last month. It is rapidly coming around to the conclusion that it must mend its fences with the PPP to guarantee peace in Karachi and bolster its sagging credibility in the rest of the country.
This scenario is a novel one in many ways. Ms Benazir Bhutto seems to have finally grasped the strategic initiative for the first time in 14 months. Her government has handled the Kashmir situation most adeptly, leaving the opposition no scope to exploit this highly emotive issue. She has visibly endeavoured to patch up her differences with the President without diminishing the stature of her office. Her recent efforts to woo Mr Junejo and other disgruntled politicians outside the IJI are more than likely to fructify. Her proposal to convene a conference of Governors and Chief Ministers to sort out centre-provincial financial and legal matters has been widely welcomed. Regular briefings and discussions with the media have also created a better atmosphere in which to press forward. She has effected a facelift in Sindh so that the business of talking again to the MQM is not sabotaged prematurely by the burdens of the past. A welcome reshuffle of her own cabinet is imminent. Finally, she has demonstrated high statesmanship by clinching the nuclear plant. All in all, a neat month’s work.
The situation is interesting also because the COP’s efforts to destabilize the government seem to be stalling exactly at a time when another vicious onslaught had been predicted. The President, whose neutrality has not been altogether unquestionable in the past, especially when he turned a blind eye to the no-confidence machinations of the COP, has finally woken up to discover the ills attending the centre-province contradictions — horse-trading, corruption, violence etc. He is now pressing for some sort of a formula to evolve a workable compromise between the various protagonists. It cannot remain unremarked that he is doing this precisely when the PPP has got into position for the first time to cut Mian Nawaz Sharif down to size.
It would be a mistake, however, if the Prime Minister squanders this opportunity for compromise by retaliating against the IJI and conspiring to oust Mian Sahib in Punjab once again. Bygones should be bygones. It takes two hands to clap, and the people have seen a lot of that last year, beginning with the ridiculous “Get Nawaz” operation, taking in the absurd “Get Benazir no-confidence move”, and culminating in the senseless violence in Sindh last month. Quite frankly, no one wishes to be ‘reminded’ that democracy owes its sustenance to the goodness of Gen Aslam Beg, rather than to the heroic, decade-long struggle of ordinary people for freedom, constitutional rights and representative rule. If our politicians do not rein in their ambitions and put the country first, they will have no one to blame but themselves.
That said, efforts to build a democratic two-party structure should be vigourously supported. The Muslim League and the People’s Party are ideally placed to link the past with the future. Mr Junejo’s credentials to lead the ‘other’ party are better than anyone else’s. If he is successful in wrenching his party free from the clutches of the Jamaat-i-Islami, we should see a movement towards stable government and loyal opposition. Which is exactly what Pakistan needs.