If politics has been abusive and vengeful in the past, it is becoming downright farcical these days. On the rare occasion when Benazir Bhutto has proffered cooperation, Nawaz Sharif has spurned it out of hand. Rarer still, when Mr Sharif has been in a mellow mood, Ms Bhutto has promptly taunted him into bellicosity. In the meanwhile, Imran Khan’s histrionics are threatening to compound the situation. The country can go to hell, it appears, because right is wrong and wrong is right, depending on which foot the boot is on.
The opposition is over the moon over the recent Supreme Court decision only because the government is in the dock. The judiciary which is being profusely lauded today was being roundly condemned only the other day. When the judges sanctioned the overthrow of Sabir Shah’s government in the NWFP or when the government appointed a three member tribunal to investigate the murder of PML(N) activist Javed Ashraf, the judges were thought to be “suspect”. But they were quite “independent” when they approved the ouster of one government in 1990 or restored another in 1993. They were not “suspect” when they twice validated lengthy extensions of the cut-off date for separating themselves from the executive. But they are “independent” now that they have insisted upon a prompt separation immediately.
In the same manner, the army’s clean-up operation in Karachi was apparently well-meaning in 1992 but not in 1994. Our Afghan policy was manifestly “dynamic” during 1991-93 but it is an abysmal failure today. The government was in a welcome “nationalist” mode when it sunk hundreds of millions of dollars into the doomed F-16s during 1991-93 but it is an “American stooge” today because it has compromised on the Brown amendment.
Now our hero Imran Khan has stepped in to confuse us further. Imran didn’t much mind Ms Bhutto when she returned to the scene in 1994 because Zakat funds and PTV were both available to him. Then some people cunningly planted the seeds of political ambition in his mind and led him to believe that he could be prime minister one day if he played his cards right. Accordingly, Mr Khan began to claim that all politicians, especially Ms Bhutto, were corrupt and incompetent. He also threatened to launch a movement for social reform aimed at sweeping away the existing system of democracy.
Stung by Mr Khan’s criticism and piqued at his budding political ambitions under the cloak of his charity hospital, Ms Bhutto decided to banish him from PTV and foreclose all payments to his hospital from the Zakat fund. And the rest, as they say, is history. Imran has since missed no opportunity to blast Ms Bhutto even as he seeks the most propitious moment to launch his on-off political career.
Therefore the bomb which killed 10 and injured many at the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Hospital on 14th April has not escaped the imagination of all the conspiracy theorists in town. Ms Bhutto, of course, did the proper thing by rushing to the hospital, condoling with the bereaved and offering to rebuild the hospital at state expense. But Imran is in a bizarre mood.
He snubbed the prime minister by being absent when she arrived at the hospital. Then he lost his temper and slapped a journalist who was simply doing his job. Finally, he lunged for Ms Bhutto. By way of pointation, he said he’d received several threats “warning” him to desist from criticising the prime minister. He is, it seems, now ready to exploit the tragedy to kick-start his great movement for reform.
Of course, no one knows who planted the bomb or why. But a number of vicious theories have already cropped up. Imran would like us to believe that the government is out to wreck his hospital. His detractors, however, say that it’s an “inside job” contrived to evoke public sympathy for their hero. The sad thing is that even as the government feverishly tries to find clues, some people are out to make political capital out of this tragedy.
If we are fated not to know who planted the bomb or why, it is inevitable that some people will accuse the government of cloaking the affair because it is guilty in some way or the other. And if the government should manage to get to the bottom of it, many people will not believe its word if it doesn’t suit their parochial interests.
Fortunately, the prime minister and the leader of the opposition are, for once, in a sensible mood. Mr Sharif has done the right thing by absolving the government of any blame. Ms Bhutto has done the right thing by showing concern and offering help to the SKMH. Will both leaders now do the right thing by sitting down and sorting out their differences?
Imran Khan should also cool down and concentrate on doing the right thing. He should resist being led astray so that the SKMH can truly become the non-controversial, public trust that it was meant to be. The human tragedy of today should not be allowed to become the political farce of tomorrow.