PRESS GALLERY – No fireworks – the ‘Q’ grumbled and the ‘N’ played it out. It was expected that the PML-Q would create havoc and the National Assembly would witness a rare commotion after the PML-N’s assault on its camp in the Punjab but it all went smoothly as if the script for the day had been agreed to by both adversaries. The captain of the Q’s wrecked ship was, however, seen clinging to the wreckage with no chance of being rescued in the troubled political waters.
Once a diehard PPP jiyala, who fell in love with a dictator and joined his bandwagon of turncoats, Faisal Saleh Hayat had no moral ground to condemn what the PML-N did to the PML-Q. However, he questioned the PML-N’s high moral standards which it had been trumpeting for years and now brazenly compromised them when it came to real-politick. Though legally the formation of a parliamentary group is permissible, morally a lota is a lota whatever label you place on it – patriots or unification bloc.
While the PPP members thumped their benches when Faisal pungently criticised the PML-N for promoting “lotacracy” in the name of democracy, they purposely sat relaxed as their participation in the Q-N rant would also drag them in the fray for also making a similar but an abortive attempt to take on the Sharifs with the support of the Chaudhrys in the Punjab.
Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan was not present in the House and it was for Khwaja Saad Rafique to defend his party. The otherwise a big mouth, Saad surprisingly and unusually remained polite with Faisal. He denied any horse-trading and justified the formation of a separate group of ‘Q’ dissidents as legal, terming the development return of the renegades back to the “mother party” but could not name who in this bloc of turncoats had deserted the PML-N to join the Chaudhrys – most of them had made it to assemblies for the first time under the umbrella of General Pervez Musharraf.
As the Q’s house of cards has started crumbling with the ‘N’ now consolidating its base, the Chaudhrys clearly seem to be losing their strength as all their once staunch associates have opted to sit on the fence and watch the final showdown between the protagonists of the two Leagues, as Saad predicted, is now a matter of time – the break-up of the ‘Q’ had already started with the creation of the Likeminded group and the formation of the unification bloc dealt a fatal blow to it.
Shaikh Waqas Akram, however, exposed the real face of “Muslim League” for always being ready to join a dictator. He did not spare even the PPP saying that every major party in the country had its “general” – Ayub, Yahya, Zia and Musharraf. But he prayed that if now the Q-leaguers confessed their political crime let them say sorry the way others did after the exit of their respective generals from political arena.
But Nawaz Sharif does not seem to be in a mood to “forgive” the Chaudhrys – the acrimony goes back to 1980s and now it’s time to politically cut them to size. Though the Chaudhrys will not give in easily as they too know the tricks of the trade, the situation is not likely to swing in their favour. Aitzaz Ahsan, also a Chaudhry, has surely flabbergasted the House of Gujrat with his interpretation of the situation that it’s not the Unification Bloc that faced disqualification rather those disobeying the majority’s decision could be disqualified – the Chaudhrys are no more in majority in their own party.
