Myopic, Malevolent, Megalomaniac
Sameer October 11, 2002
#122 Posted by omar_r_quraishi on October 16, 2002 8:35:35 am
since you guys are talking about the elections results, here`s something that will be published in this saturday`s dawn -- feedback can be mailed to the email address at the end of the article, which is actually part of a column called `media review` -- hence the reference to the coverage in foreign newspapers -- thanks
The rise of the MMA
The American and British press has shown a distinct wariness in the dramatic success of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA), perhaps understandably so, since this six-party alliance had an overtly anti-west agenda.
Writing in The Guardian on Oct. 12, Anatol Lieven, a senior associate of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, says that the increase in the vote for the MMA was “worrying and unwelcome, but it does not have to lead to disaster.”
Lieven wrote that the “key question” – presumably as far as America and the rest of the coalition allies are concerned – would now be how far an MMA government in the NWFP is able to block joint actions by Pakistan and the US against Al Qaeda. Several commentators speaking on various private channels like Geo, Indus Vision and ARY have said that since the decision to stay in the war against terror was one taken by the federal government that policy is likely to remain the same. However, one analyst did ask the relevant question that what would happen if a raid against a suspect Al Qaeda terrorist has to be carried not in FATA but in Peshawar? As in, what if the provincial government refused assistance? To this, the answer came that the federal government has paramilitary and military troops at its disposal but still it would be an unsavoury and embarrassing situation were an elected government to refuse assistance to Islamabad in such a delicate matter. Besides, maybe some people forget that it was the police that carried out the raid in Karachi that netted the much-wanted so-called 20th hijacker Ramzi bin Al Shibh.
Going back to this article, Lieven wrote that the MMA was a “very long way” away from gaining “a plurality, let alone a majority”. And then the point that has been made in the editorial columns of some Pakistani newspapers (including Dawn), that the alliance is not a homogenous/monolithic bloc but a “highly disparate and mutually antagonistic alliance” especially since it contains parties with varying degrees of militancy.
“Maybe hatred of America and of General Musharraf, and the joys of controlling provincial governments, will hold them together – but maybe not,” he writes. However, the very cynical among us, including some in the PML(N) and the MQM, have said that the MMA’s success is deliberate ploy undertaken by the manipulators and that the actual ‘king’s party’ was not the PML(Q) but the MMA. Khawaja Saad Rafique is reported to have said this at a news conference, but a few days later we heard of reports of the PML(N) contacting the MMA at the highest level with former prime minister Nawaz Sharif calling up and congratulating Qazi Hussain Ahmed.
The Guardian article then goes on to say that it is worrying that the MMA had “virtually obliterated most of its secular rivals” in the Frontier. However, perhaps if one were to do a detailed analysis of the total number of votes cast per party and then multiply it by the turnout percentage we would probably get some interesting figures. For example, taken at the national level, according to the Election Commission of Pakistan the MMA received 19 per cent of all votes cast. If the turnout, say, is 40 per cent (by all means an optimistic estimate), then 7.6 per cent of electorate voted for the MMA. This obviously is more an indictment of our electoral system which seems to rely almost exclusively on the first-past-the-post principle rather than the more equitable proportional representation concept (applied only to reserved seats). Of course, this figure of 7.6 per cent assumes that those who did not turn up to vote were all non-MMA supporters, a fairly safe assumption since it has been widely acknowledged that the alliance did manage to mobilize all its vote-bank on a fairly large scale.
Anatol Levien then writes that the MMA could be expected to gain a “near-stranglehold” on the senate and that this “could block any continuation of the social reforms” begun by Gen Musharraf. This remains to be seen though it is likely that the MMA’s majorities in the two smallest provinces might more than offset the gains made by the PML(Q) and the PPPP in the larger provinces in terms of the representatives each province will send to the senate. However, the writer does correctly gauge that it is not sure to what extent the presence of MMA governments in these two provinces would undermine the hunt for Al Qaeda, keeping in mind that their already existed considerable hostility to these operations in FATA.
The rest is quite instructive, thought nothing new for most Pakistanis: “If the MMA does succeed in obstructing US goals, the Pakistani administration would probably come under intense US pressure to get rid of it. Pakistani governments have shown again and again that with the support of the army, they can indeed get rid of governments in Pakistan`s three smaller provinces.”
As for the Punjab, the MMA made very limited inroads, but these were still significant, especially in areas where the writer says there is “heavy military recruiting”. In fact, NA-49 Islamabad, lying next to Rawalpindi division – the army’s heartland – now has an MMA MNA.
In their reporting of the 2002 elections, The Guardian, The New York Times and The Washington Post generally took the line that the MMA’s big win would hand them control of two provinces that were key to the anti-terrorism campaign, not least because several senior Taliban and Al Qaeda figures are believed to be hiding there. Mian Aslam, the MNA-elect from Islamabad told The Guardian in response to a question that the MMA would “never” had over Taliban suspects to Washington. “The Taliban are our brothers. They are good people. The idea they are bad is a misconception of the west,” Aslam said, perhaps forgetting that a vast majority of Pakistanis found their style of governance, to say the least, repulsive and against all religious or civilized norms. Round about the same time the Jamaat-i-Islami’s Syed Munawwar Hasan and senior MMA leader told a press conference in Karachi that the Al Qaeda and Taliban were like “brothers” and they would never be handed over to any foreign power.
In an interview to The Observer, Qazi Hussain Ahmed said: “We are not extremists. We would like to make bridges with the West – but we want justice. Injustice is being done to Muslims in Palestine and Kashmir…. We don’t want to chop people’s hands off. We don’t want to make all women wear burqas. We live in the world. We are educated.”
The MMA win also, for better or for worse, shows that emotional slogans can sometimes be much better in garnering votes than discussing issues that really matter, like providing clean drinking water, better roads, sanitation, electricity, telephones, a safer and cleaner living environment or increased job opportunities. It remains to be seen whether the initial anti-US and anti-‘war against terror’ platform of the MMA gives way to more bread and butter issues.—OMAR R. QURAISHI (email: omarq@cyber.net.pk)
The rise of the MMA
The American and British press has shown a distinct wariness in the dramatic success of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA), perhaps understandably so, since this six-party alliance had an overtly anti-west agenda.
Writing in The Guardian on Oct. 12, Anatol Lieven, a senior associate of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, says that the increase in the vote for the MMA was “worrying and unwelcome, but it does not have to lead to disaster.”
Lieven wrote that the “key question” – presumably as far as America and the rest of the coalition allies are concerned – would now be how far an MMA government in the NWFP is able to block joint actions by Pakistan and the US against Al Qaeda. Several commentators speaking on various private channels like Geo, Indus Vision and ARY have said that since the decision to stay in the war against terror was one taken by the federal government that policy is likely to remain the same. However, one analyst did ask the relevant question that what would happen if a raid against a suspect Al Qaeda terrorist has to be carried not in FATA but in Peshawar? As in, what if the provincial government refused assistance? To this, the answer came that the federal government has paramilitary and military troops at its disposal but still it would be an unsavoury and embarrassing situation were an elected government to refuse assistance to Islamabad in such a delicate matter. Besides, maybe some people forget that it was the police that carried out the raid in Karachi that netted the much-wanted so-called 20th hijacker Ramzi bin Al Shibh.
Going back to this article, Lieven wrote that the MMA was a “very long way” away from gaining “a plurality, let alone a majority”. And then the point that has been made in the editorial columns of some Pakistani newspapers (including Dawn), that the alliance is not a homogenous/monolithic bloc but a “highly disparate and mutually antagonistic alliance” especially since it contains parties with varying degrees of militancy.
“Maybe hatred of America and of General Musharraf, and the joys of controlling provincial governments, will hold them together – but maybe not,” he writes. However, the very cynical among us, including some in the PML(N) and the MQM, have said that the MMA’s success is deliberate ploy undertaken by the manipulators and that the actual ‘king’s party’ was not the PML(Q) but the MMA. Khawaja Saad Rafique is reported to have said this at a news conference, but a few days later we heard of reports of the PML(N) contacting the MMA at the highest level with former prime minister Nawaz Sharif calling up and congratulating Qazi Hussain Ahmed.
The Guardian article then goes on to say that it is worrying that the MMA had “virtually obliterated most of its secular rivals” in the Frontier. However, perhaps if one were to do a detailed analysis of the total number of votes cast per party and then multiply it by the turnout percentage we would probably get some interesting figures. For example, taken at the national level, according to the Election Commission of Pakistan the MMA received 19 per cent of all votes cast. If the turnout, say, is 40 per cent (by all means an optimistic estimate), then 7.6 per cent of electorate voted for the MMA. This obviously is more an indictment of our electoral system which seems to rely almost exclusively on the first-past-the-post principle rather than the more equitable proportional representation concept (applied only to reserved seats). Of course, this figure of 7.6 per cent assumes that those who did not turn up to vote were all non-MMA supporters, a fairly safe assumption since it has been widely acknowledged that the alliance did manage to mobilize all its vote-bank on a fairly large scale.
Anatol Levien then writes that the MMA could be expected to gain a “near-stranglehold” on the senate and that this “could block any continuation of the social reforms” begun by Gen Musharraf. This remains to be seen though it is likely that the MMA’s majorities in the two smallest provinces might more than offset the gains made by the PML(Q) and the PPPP in the larger provinces in terms of the representatives each province will send to the senate. However, the writer does correctly gauge that it is not sure to what extent the presence of MMA governments in these two provinces would undermine the hunt for Al Qaeda, keeping in mind that their already existed considerable hostility to these operations in FATA.
The rest is quite instructive, thought nothing new for most Pakistanis: “If the MMA does succeed in obstructing US goals, the Pakistani administration would probably come under intense US pressure to get rid of it. Pakistani governments have shown again and again that with the support of the army, they can indeed get rid of governments in Pakistan`s three smaller provinces.”
As for the Punjab, the MMA made very limited inroads, but these were still significant, especially in areas where the writer says there is “heavy military recruiting”. In fact, NA-49 Islamabad, lying next to Rawalpindi division – the army’s heartland – now has an MMA MNA.
In their reporting of the 2002 elections, The Guardian, The New York Times and The Washington Post generally took the line that the MMA’s big win would hand them control of two provinces that were key to the anti-terrorism campaign, not least because several senior Taliban and Al Qaeda figures are believed to be hiding there. Mian Aslam, the MNA-elect from Islamabad told The Guardian in response to a question that the MMA would “never” had over Taliban suspects to Washington. “The Taliban are our brothers. They are good people. The idea they are bad is a misconception of the west,” Aslam said, perhaps forgetting that a vast majority of Pakistanis found their style of governance, to say the least, repulsive and against all religious or civilized norms. Round about the same time the Jamaat-i-Islami’s Syed Munawwar Hasan and senior MMA leader told a press conference in Karachi that the Al Qaeda and Taliban were like “brothers” and they would never be handed over to any foreign power.
In an interview to The Observer, Qazi Hussain Ahmed said: “We are not extremists. We would like to make bridges with the West – but we want justice. Injustice is being done to Muslims in Palestine and Kashmir…. We don’t want to chop people’s hands off. We don’t want to make all women wear burqas. We live in the world. We are educated.”
The MMA win also, for better or for worse, shows that emotional slogans can sometimes be much better in garnering votes than discussing issues that really matter, like providing clean drinking water, better roads, sanitation, electricity, telephones, a safer and cleaner living environment or increased job opportunities. It remains to be seen whether the initial anti-US and anti-‘war against terror’ platform of the MMA gives way to more bread and butter issues.—OMAR R. QURAISHI (email: omarq@cyber.net.pk)
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#123 Posted by omar_r_quraishi on October 16, 2002 8:35:35 am
samer jb-- could you elaborate more on the incident u said happened in islamabad -- was it recent and did u read it in some paper or is it hearsay or anecdotal -- thanks in advance
#124 Posted by sadna on October 16, 2002 8:35:36 am
I said in #56 wrt Pakistani establishment and religious parties
``The shady liason of the past is now a marriage with one spouse yelling desertion``
The correct statement is: ``The shady liason of the past is now a marriage with the bride proudly displaying the meher``
``The shady liason of the past is now a marriage with one spouse yelling desertion``
The correct statement is: ``The shady liason of the past is now a marriage with the bride proudly displaying the meher``
#125 Posted by arjun_m on October 16, 2002 9:25:19 am
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#126 Posted by pmishra2 on October 16, 2002 12:34:10 pm
omar_r_quraishi #123
Welcome back ! Andnso surprise, you are spending your time ``explaining`` how heavy support for fundamentalist
parties in Pakistan doesn`t mean anything. And yes, some guy
called Lieven also think so and he is amerikan so must always
be right. On the other hand
support for BJP in India, well, than means Hitler has more-or-less
been reborn, arre, the fascism and look they have the swastika
already !!
What a joke! What hypocrisy! You must think we are really, really stupid. Good luck with your hatemongers. I have a feeling that you might need asylum someplace outside pakistan sometime soon.
Welcome back ! Andnso surprise, you are spending your time ``explaining`` how heavy support for fundamentalist
parties in Pakistan doesn`t mean anything. And yes, some guy
called Lieven also think so and he is amerikan so must always
be right. On the other hand
support for BJP in India, well, than means Hitler has more-or-less
been reborn, arre, the fascism and look they have the swastika
already !!
What a joke! What hypocrisy! You must think we are really, really stupid. Good luck with your hatemongers. I have a feeling that you might need asylum someplace outside pakistan sometime soon.
#127 Posted by SameerJB on October 16, 2002 7:33:23 pm
omar_r_quraishi: I picked up that incident from an article in this edition of south asia tribune at www.satribune.com I will go back and provide you with actual url. It was expected because MMA has won Islamabad seat and area around Faisal mosque, F-8 area, is little upper middle class with some people who do not mind little freedom of fashion, perhaps. At the same time it is very close to mostly conservative Afghan refugee dominated G-8 sector.
Here is another intersting information, I picked up just now from an article by Shahwar Junaid in today`s Nation daily:
[One assessment is that the government was not able to manipulate the election machinery in the NWFP and Balochistan to the extent that it would have liked to and local staff did not cooperate in the manipulation as required. The percentage of votes cast in both provinces remained consistent at about 24 to 35 per cent, regardless of the affiliation of successful candidates. Elsewhere in the country, in every constituency where pro-government parties won, the number of votes polled was about 10 to 25 % higher than the norm and the additional votes were cast in favor of the winning, pro-government candidates.]
I guess, pro-government voters in winnable constituencies were more enthusiatic than other places? Interesting ``conspiracy`` theory?
Here is another intersting information, I picked up just now from an article by Shahwar Junaid in today`s Nation daily:
[One assessment is that the government was not able to manipulate the election machinery in the NWFP and Balochistan to the extent that it would have liked to and local staff did not cooperate in the manipulation as required. The percentage of votes cast in both provinces remained consistent at about 24 to 35 per cent, regardless of the affiliation of successful candidates. Elsewhere in the country, in every constituency where pro-government parties won, the number of votes polled was about 10 to 25 % higher than the norm and the additional votes were cast in favor of the winning, pro-government candidates.]
I guess, pro-government voters in winnable constituencies were more enthusiatic than other places? Interesting ``conspiracy`` theory?
#128 Posted by jay on October 17, 2002 7:49:53 am
MISSING PAKISTANIS
One of the strogest proponents of the 3 percent theorists and the publicist of moderate democracy loving pakistanis, Mr Tahmed is missing since the elections. YLh, of course since his deportation has not been able to find much time. If these two can accept their complete misreading of the pak psyche and the rise to power of the children of TNT, it could just be the moment of pride for pakistan, two who have learned from chowk.
One of the strogest proponents of the 3 percent theorists and the publicist of moderate democracy loving pakistanis, Mr Tahmed is missing since the elections. YLh, of course since his deportation has not been able to find much time. If these two can accept their complete misreading of the pak psyche and the rise to power of the children of TNT, it could just be the moment of pride for pakistan, two who have learned from chowk.
#129 Posted by omar_r_quraishi on October 17, 2002 7:49:53 am
sameerjb-- thanks v much for the reference -- ill check it up -- and the reference to the nation article -- well there r lots of theories going around and no one really thinks -- at least not in the press -- that the results and the MMA win was completely manipulated --
pmishra2 -- hahah your funny dude -- the extrapolations that you infer show you have a very fertile imagination -- no i didnt think everyone here is ``really, really stupid`` -- just you ! hahah -- and that too im saying for a reason coz most of your posts on chowk seem to be thoroughly reactionary and quite devoid of either reason or good taste -- and pmishra2 at least the BJP did not need any rigging to win ! or the shiv sena for that matter, probably your party of first choice, or is it the RSS or the VHP ---
arjun -- be my guest and go and check that thing on google -- u wont find any letter like that -- quite the opposite actually -- but anyway go ahead and be my guest --
pmishra2 -- hahah your funny dude -- the extrapolations that you infer show you have a very fertile imagination -- no i didnt think everyone here is ``really, really stupid`` -- just you ! hahah -- and that too im saying for a reason coz most of your posts on chowk seem to be thoroughly reactionary and quite devoid of either reason or good taste -- and pmishra2 at least the BJP did not need any rigging to win ! or the shiv sena for that matter, probably your party of first choice, or is it the RSS or the VHP ---
arjun -- be my guest and go and check that thing on google -- u wont find any letter like that -- quite the opposite actually -- but anyway go ahead and be my guest --
#130 Posted by soysauce on October 17, 2002 9:06:57 am
Unkalji,
Haha you do seem to have a sense of humor after all.
I have heard of Parkarvarkar (raise the petticoat).
Haha you do seem to have a sense of humor after all.
I have heard of Parkarvarkar (raise the petticoat).
#131 Posted by arjun_m on October 17, 2002 1:34:47 pm
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#132 Posted by jay on October 18, 2002 7:26:10 am
TEARS FOR PAKISTANIS,
There was a time following the islamic revolution in Iran, the educated were welcomed in the west, as poor sould could not take the yoke of islam. Today the situation is very different, every pakistani has been tarnished with the jihadic brush. For the least of reasons, they are being deported, student visas are rarer than moderate muslims in pakistan. It is a pathetic stuation for the likes of ylh who have tasted the freedoms of the west, now has to grow a beard just to survive. The situation is far worse for women, the likes of anNy who happen to have a mind of her own.
At last the educated have been forced to pay the price for their silence, for their support for jihadists disguised as freedom struggle or great low cost military strategy. All of the ones who refused to say aloud or even accept that killing of kafirs is not jihad have to grow beards to cover their emberassment or be under burkha to show their insignificance.
At last the monster from the TNT embriyo is emerging.
There was a time following the islamic revolution in Iran, the educated were welcomed in the west, as poor sould could not take the yoke of islam. Today the situation is very different, every pakistani has been tarnished with the jihadic brush. For the least of reasons, they are being deported, student visas are rarer than moderate muslims in pakistan. It is a pathetic stuation for the likes of ylh who have tasted the freedoms of the west, now has to grow a beard just to survive. The situation is far worse for women, the likes of anNy who happen to have a mind of her own.
At last the educated have been forced to pay the price for their silence, for their support for jihadists disguised as freedom struggle or great low cost military strategy. All of the ones who refused to say aloud or even accept that killing of kafirs is not jihad have to grow beards to cover their emberassment or be under burkha to show their insignificance.
At last the monster from the TNT embriyo is emerging.
#133 Posted by pmishra2 on October 18, 2002 8:50:54 am
omar_r_quraishi #128
In spite of your ``sophistication`` you are unable to distinguish between an indian nationalist and a BJP follower with Sarvarkar-Jinnah TNT ideology. Oh well, the loss is yours...
One final comment on your elected mullahs. Overall, this is a good thing. They are a real part of Pakistan and represent a small but significant sections thinking. By bringing them into the democratic process, there is hope that in 20-30 years time you may move out the morass you are in. Sticking with military rule means that you will never leave the morass. Excluding them against the peoples will will lead you straight to Algeria.
Again, if you need asylum in india sometime soon, drop me a line..
In spite of your ``sophistication`` you are unable to distinguish between an indian nationalist and a BJP follower with Sarvarkar-Jinnah TNT ideology. Oh well, the loss is yours...
One final comment on your elected mullahs. Overall, this is a good thing. They are a real part of Pakistan and represent a small but significant sections thinking. By bringing them into the democratic process, there is hope that in 20-30 years time you may move out the morass you are in. Sticking with military rule means that you will never leave the morass. Excluding them against the peoples will will lead you straight to Algeria.
Again, if you need asylum in india sometime soon, drop me a line..
#134 Posted by SameerJB on October 18, 2002 8:13:40 pm
Plot thickens! From News daily for people interested in detailed political landscape of Pakistan.
The brewing deadly intrigue
By Nusrat Javeed
ISLAMABAD: Within the crowd of our intrigue-addicted notables with agricultural land that has assembled in the Q-faction of Pakistan Muslim League these days, a deadly intrigue is brewing. It`s immediate objective is to delay, if not scuttle for good, the nomination of Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali as the prime ministerial candidate of the party, which had emerged as the single largest group after elections held on Oct 10.
The long-term objective, however, is to check the growth of Chaudhrys -Shujaat Hussain and Pervez Elahi- as the ultimate king makers and power brokers. The ongoing game also has the making of a proxy war, ganging some discreet political managers of the Musharraf government up against the most trusted principal secretary of his, Tariq Aziz.
It will be for the first time since holding of elections that Central Working Committee of the Q-faction of PML meets in Islamabad on Saturday. After expected postmortem of their failings at polls, the movers and shakers of the ``king`s party`` have to get down to the business of government formation. And you begin doing that by nominating a prime ministerial candidate. Putting the obvious two and two together, most Islamabad-based journalists had already narrowed their choice to Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali in this regard.
Jamali could also make it to Prime Minister`s office in 1985, when another military government was moving to put a civilian face on it after holding the non-party elections. Elahi Bux Soomro and late Muhammad Khan Junejo were the others. The ``path dependent`` observers were compelled to imagine that going through the similar motions in 2002, the military government of General Musharraf would either go for him or Soomro.
Speaker of the dismissed national assembbly of 1997, Soomro, had lost elections from the home constituency of Jacobabad. The wagging tongues of Islamabad insist that Elahi Bux lost because his own nephew, Mohammadmian -the incumbent governor of Sindh, was not very motivated to help his rise. The drawing room gossip also claims that those factions of Jamalis who are settled in Jacobabad were also ``worked upon``. So, Mir Zafarullah ends as the one and only candidate vying for the prime ministerial office from the PML-Q.
Whatever the truth, Jamali had certainly emerged as the most formidable candidate since compilation of the election result. The most solid point going in his favour is the fact that his elections would give Pakistan a Prime Minister for the first time, from a strategically placed province with abundance of tapped and untapped resources of energy. Islamabad has seldom acknowledged the worth of this province. That led to a lot of anger and resentment there, which the election of Jamali may help assuaging.
But only the dispassionate commentators, who are not in the game of grabbing power, could foresee the feel-good sides of the possible election of Jamali. The real players of the palatial intrigues see things differently. And to many of them, Chaudhrys of Gujrat had emerged as the most powerful family since the fall of Nawaz Sharif in Oct 1999. ``If not checked here and now, the family has all the potential of turning unmanageable in the end. As the House of Ittefaq proved to be after years of growing under the patronage of General Zia`s military government,`` they say.
Chaudhrys maintain the lifestyle and mindset of proud and rustic Jats from Gujrat. But the feudal families of Punjab, the English colonialists would mention in official gazetteers, consider them ``upstarts.`` The Sharifs of Lahore were placed in the same category. And after enduring them for over 20 years, ``the gentlemanly class`` of our rural notables is pretty weary of this type. They rather suspect the Chaudhrys taking the same path to upward mobility in power politics the Sharifs had traveled before.
Many from amongst the recently elected members of the national assembly on PML-Q tickets also belong to ``the gentlemanly class`` of Punjab. A good number of them had already reached Islamabad to smell and participate in brewing games. And the most popular is the one ``forewarning`` the-powers-that-be. ``Don`t give a free hand to Chaudhrys, when it comes to select a Prime Minister,`` is the desperate, one-line message. What has really hit the panic button is the quick act of Chaudhry Pervez Elahi in collecting numbers, which could smoothly take him to the Chief Minister House of the most powerful province, Punjab. Nawaz Sharif had also reached Islamabad after consolidating his position in that office.
Zia had alienated the mass of Sindhis by hanging Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. As if to compensate he appointed Muhammad Khan Junejo as the Prime Minister after holding the non-party elections in 1985. Though a thoroughbred democrat, Junejo was a lie-low type who also was tight-fisted in doling out the state patronage. As the chief minister of Punjab, Nawaz Sharif was the other extreme. In no time he began outshining the PML President, Junejo, and start building the populist constituency of his own. After defying the first government of Ms Bhutto from 1988 to 1990, he doubly enhanced his stature and relevance.
The opponents of Chaudhrys allege that the Jats of Gujrat are planning the repeat of his tactics. ``They are propping Jamali to Prime Minister`s office.
For, he has no popular constituency. To survive, he would always be looking up to the chief minister of Punjab and his official and private resources for keeping the majority in the future assembly intact. And we don`t need elaborating the rest,`` begin the conspiratorial whispers in Islamabad these days.
Every journalist prefers the short and sweet of the intrigues coming his or her way. Don`t blame this correspondent, therefore, to instantly getting to the question: ``Who else, if not Jamali?`` None of anti-Jamali operators, one has been talking to since Thursday, provided any answer. Most of the time is still spent in drumming the ``disastrous consequences`` of giving Chaudhrys a free hand. Yet, the contours of the game-to-be are becoming clearer after hours of separate conversations with a score of PML-Q leaders, elected to the national assembly on Oct 10.
To delay or pre-empt the nomination of Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali, some are definitely set to play the ``Punjab card`` at PML-Q meeting Saturday. It`s to be recalled and rubbed in that it was a ``dynamic Punjabi`` from Lahore, whom the military had removed on October 1999. Though candidates sticking to the Nawaz faction fared miserably during the recently held polls, the dispassionate analysis of them proves that the toppled prime minister continues savoring a deeper and vast constituency, at least in the urban areas of Punjab.
``The future Prime Minister must come from Punjab to make Nawaz history,`` many voices are set to demand at PML-Q meeting. It would also be better if the person looked for were associated with Lahore as well. Though the sluggish mien of Mian Azhar could hardly sell in the macho streets of the Punjab metropolis, the handlers of PML-Q had built many hopes about him. He had lost and we are only left with Humayun Akhtar returning to the national assembly from Lahore on PML-Q ticket.
Humayun had looks, which could kill. He can even hire the most deadly spin-doctor from the image building industry of New York. But the military elite will hesitate, at least at this stage, to launch him to the Prime Minister`s house. Just for the reason that he is the son of a former head of the ISI who led waging the jihad in Afghanistan. The ``negative`` sides of the family tree of Humayun can go in favor of another urbanite Punjabi, Khurshid Mehmud Kasuri. He also has funds to dispose off for building the image of a dynamic deliverer about his person. His launch can also help assuaging the alarmist concerns MMA had set amongst the liberals of this world after resurgent with a bang on Oct 10. Yet the question: How the propping of urbanites, the likes of Humayun and Khurshid, can satisfy the Mians, Ranas and Sardars of the rural Punjab who also feel uncomfortable with Chaudhrys for they are Jats. And not the ``valiant`` Rajputs or the ``assiduous`` Araeens, for example.
``The populists`` are often tempted to act on whims anywhere in the world. Nawaz Sharif was also prone to it, no doubt. But he had developed the authority of putting ``all-chiefs-no-Indians`` variety of ``Punjabi notables`` under his disciplinary thumb. All have now become equals in that faction of the PML that had ditched him after the fall of Oct 1999. Fasten your seat belts. We are about to board a fast train to highly engaging power games.
The brewing deadly intrigue
By Nusrat Javeed
ISLAMABAD: Within the crowd of our intrigue-addicted notables with agricultural land that has assembled in the Q-faction of Pakistan Muslim League these days, a deadly intrigue is brewing. It`s immediate objective is to delay, if not scuttle for good, the nomination of Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali as the prime ministerial candidate of the party, which had emerged as the single largest group after elections held on Oct 10.
The long-term objective, however, is to check the growth of Chaudhrys -Shujaat Hussain and Pervez Elahi- as the ultimate king makers and power brokers. The ongoing game also has the making of a proxy war, ganging some discreet political managers of the Musharraf government up against the most trusted principal secretary of his, Tariq Aziz.
It will be for the first time since holding of elections that Central Working Committee of the Q-faction of PML meets in Islamabad on Saturday. After expected postmortem of their failings at polls, the movers and shakers of the ``king`s party`` have to get down to the business of government formation. And you begin doing that by nominating a prime ministerial candidate. Putting the obvious two and two together, most Islamabad-based journalists had already narrowed their choice to Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali in this regard.
Jamali could also make it to Prime Minister`s office in 1985, when another military government was moving to put a civilian face on it after holding the non-party elections. Elahi Bux Soomro and late Muhammad Khan Junejo were the others. The ``path dependent`` observers were compelled to imagine that going through the similar motions in 2002, the military government of General Musharraf would either go for him or Soomro.
Speaker of the dismissed national assembbly of 1997, Soomro, had lost elections from the home constituency of Jacobabad. The wagging tongues of Islamabad insist that Elahi Bux lost because his own nephew, Mohammadmian -the incumbent governor of Sindh, was not very motivated to help his rise. The drawing room gossip also claims that those factions of Jamalis who are settled in Jacobabad were also ``worked upon``. So, Mir Zafarullah ends as the one and only candidate vying for the prime ministerial office from the PML-Q.
Whatever the truth, Jamali had certainly emerged as the most formidable candidate since compilation of the election result. The most solid point going in his favour is the fact that his elections would give Pakistan a Prime Minister for the first time, from a strategically placed province with abundance of tapped and untapped resources of energy. Islamabad has seldom acknowledged the worth of this province. That led to a lot of anger and resentment there, which the election of Jamali may help assuaging.
But only the dispassionate commentators, who are not in the game of grabbing power, could foresee the feel-good sides of the possible election of Jamali. The real players of the palatial intrigues see things differently. And to many of them, Chaudhrys of Gujrat had emerged as the most powerful family since the fall of Nawaz Sharif in Oct 1999. ``If not checked here and now, the family has all the potential of turning unmanageable in the end. As the House of Ittefaq proved to be after years of growing under the patronage of General Zia`s military government,`` they say.
Chaudhrys maintain the lifestyle and mindset of proud and rustic Jats from Gujrat. But the feudal families of Punjab, the English colonialists would mention in official gazetteers, consider them ``upstarts.`` The Sharifs of Lahore were placed in the same category. And after enduring them for over 20 years, ``the gentlemanly class`` of our rural notables is pretty weary of this type. They rather suspect the Chaudhrys taking the same path to upward mobility in power politics the Sharifs had traveled before.
Many from amongst the recently elected members of the national assembly on PML-Q tickets also belong to ``the gentlemanly class`` of Punjab. A good number of them had already reached Islamabad to smell and participate in brewing games. And the most popular is the one ``forewarning`` the-powers-that-be. ``Don`t give a free hand to Chaudhrys, when it comes to select a Prime Minister,`` is the desperate, one-line message. What has really hit the panic button is the quick act of Chaudhry Pervez Elahi in collecting numbers, which could smoothly take him to the Chief Minister House of the most powerful province, Punjab. Nawaz Sharif had also reached Islamabad after consolidating his position in that office.
Zia had alienated the mass of Sindhis by hanging Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. As if to compensate he appointed Muhammad Khan Junejo as the Prime Minister after holding the non-party elections in 1985. Though a thoroughbred democrat, Junejo was a lie-low type who also was tight-fisted in doling out the state patronage. As the chief minister of Punjab, Nawaz Sharif was the other extreme. In no time he began outshining the PML President, Junejo, and start building the populist constituency of his own. After defying the first government of Ms Bhutto from 1988 to 1990, he doubly enhanced his stature and relevance.
The opponents of Chaudhrys allege that the Jats of Gujrat are planning the repeat of his tactics. ``They are propping Jamali to Prime Minister`s office.
For, he has no popular constituency. To survive, he would always be looking up to the chief minister of Punjab and his official and private resources for keeping the majority in the future assembly intact. And we don`t need elaborating the rest,`` begin the conspiratorial whispers in Islamabad these days.
Every journalist prefers the short and sweet of the intrigues coming his or her way. Don`t blame this correspondent, therefore, to instantly getting to the question: ``Who else, if not Jamali?`` None of anti-Jamali operators, one has been talking to since Thursday, provided any answer. Most of the time is still spent in drumming the ``disastrous consequences`` of giving Chaudhrys a free hand. Yet, the contours of the game-to-be are becoming clearer after hours of separate conversations with a score of PML-Q leaders, elected to the national assembly on Oct 10.
To delay or pre-empt the nomination of Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali, some are definitely set to play the ``Punjab card`` at PML-Q meeting Saturday. It`s to be recalled and rubbed in that it was a ``dynamic Punjabi`` from Lahore, whom the military had removed on October 1999. Though candidates sticking to the Nawaz faction fared miserably during the recently held polls, the dispassionate analysis of them proves that the toppled prime minister continues savoring a deeper and vast constituency, at least in the urban areas of Punjab.
``The future Prime Minister must come from Punjab to make Nawaz history,`` many voices are set to demand at PML-Q meeting. It would also be better if the person looked for were associated with Lahore as well. Though the sluggish mien of Mian Azhar could hardly sell in the macho streets of the Punjab metropolis, the handlers of PML-Q had built many hopes about him. He had lost and we are only left with Humayun Akhtar returning to the national assembly from Lahore on PML-Q ticket.
Humayun had looks, which could kill. He can even hire the most deadly spin-doctor from the image building industry of New York. But the military elite will hesitate, at least at this stage, to launch him to the Prime Minister`s house. Just for the reason that he is the son of a former head of the ISI who led waging the jihad in Afghanistan. The ``negative`` sides of the family tree of Humayun can go in favor of another urbanite Punjabi, Khurshid Mehmud Kasuri. He also has funds to dispose off for building the image of a dynamic deliverer about his person. His launch can also help assuaging the alarmist concerns MMA had set amongst the liberals of this world after resurgent with a bang on Oct 10. Yet the question: How the propping of urbanites, the likes of Humayun and Khurshid, can satisfy the Mians, Ranas and Sardars of the rural Punjab who also feel uncomfortable with Chaudhrys for they are Jats. And not the ``valiant`` Rajputs or the ``assiduous`` Araeens, for example.
``The populists`` are often tempted to act on whims anywhere in the world. Nawaz Sharif was also prone to it, no doubt. But he had developed the authority of putting ``all-chiefs-no-Indians`` variety of ``Punjabi notables`` under his disciplinary thumb. All have now become equals in that faction of the PML that had ditched him after the fall of Oct 1999. Fasten your seat belts. We are about to board a fast train to highly engaging power games.
#135 Posted by dullabhatti on October 18, 2002 9:54:00 pm
Sameer: Here is my tribute to the great Punjabi poet Ustad Daman in his istyle. I am sure if he were alive he would have said something similar.
saadi paalicy bass ayho.
Fissile dao, Missile lao.
Camp kholo, RiyaleaN badle,
band karo phir DaaleyaN badle,
paise nu apna Khuda kaho..
Fissile dao, Missile lao.
khabay gwanDi nu dewo unglaN,
sajjay gawandi nu wando raflaN,
puThi je paindi jaapay baazi,
Dhihla munh kar, bholay ban rahvo..
Osamay nu pakRo, te Laden lukao,
doweiN paasay,behja behja karao,
eho je veile nai murh murh aunday,
dowiN hathi laddo bhoro ji bhoro...
Wazarat te Sadar nu akhaN wikhao,
kare oon aan je, thallay chuk laho,
jado loRh jaapay, jadoN jee chahwe,
apnay hi mulakh nu ja sar karo..
Fissile dao, Missile lao.....
bhukhay awaam da karo na jhohra,
Europe America ch rakho phera tora,
kade New York, kade Tora Bora,
aidhar di suno, udhar jaa kaho...
Fissile lao, Missile dao.
saadi paalicy bass ayho....
saadi paalicy bass ayho.
Fissile dao, Missile lao.
Camp kholo, RiyaleaN badle,
band karo phir DaaleyaN badle,
paise nu apna Khuda kaho..
Fissile dao, Missile lao.
khabay gwanDi nu dewo unglaN,
sajjay gawandi nu wando raflaN,
puThi je paindi jaapay baazi,
Dhihla munh kar, bholay ban rahvo..
Osamay nu pakRo, te Laden lukao,
doweiN paasay,behja behja karao,
eho je veile nai murh murh aunday,
dowiN hathi laddo bhoro ji bhoro...
Wazarat te Sadar nu akhaN wikhao,
kare oon aan je, thallay chuk laho,
jado loRh jaapay, jadoN jee chahwe,
apnay hi mulakh nu ja sar karo..
Fissile dao, Missile lao.....
bhukhay awaam da karo na jhohra,
Europe America ch rakho phera tora,
kade New York, kade Tora Bora,
aidhar di suno, udhar jaa kaho...
Fissile lao, Missile dao.
saadi paalicy bass ayho....
#136 Posted by omar_r_quraishi on October 19, 2002 7:58:24 am
pmishra2-- hahha surely u jest yaar -- no thanks but not interested in seeking asylum anywhere in the foreseeable future -- as for the `morass` we are in why dont u worry more about gujarat yaar -- and speaking of asylum are you sure your not in one ! hahah --
#137 Posted by hari on October 19, 2002 11:39:04 am
P Mishra, Omar et al:
I read that the women from Banu and other areas in NWFP, BALUCH etc were not allowed to vote(on the most part);
Wouldn`t that invalidate the election that MMA is so proud to announce?
I read that the women from Banu and other areas in NWFP, BALUCH etc were not allowed to vote(on the most part);
Wouldn`t that invalidate the election that MMA is so proud to announce?
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