Javed Hashmi and Shah Mehmood Qureshi, two upright politicians from Multan, are on their way out of their respective political parties – the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) – for a crime unforgivable in the country’s so-called democratic system: telling the truth. Legislators from both parties, in off-the-record interactions, told Pakistan Today that their leaders were in no mood to forgive either one of the “culprits” and they had been unofficially kicked out of their parties and were no longer part of the parties’ decision-making process.
Though PPP Co-Chairman President Asif Ali Zardari and PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif had already sidelined both Makhdooms for their frank and candid views, their recent public posturing on national issues has pushed them over the edge. Their formal exit, however, awaits official announcements by the parties they have served for decades. The irony is that despite the advent of an independent judiciary and a relatively freer media in the country, the autocratic mindset still rules the political parties, which are being treated by their leadership as family empires rather than democratic outfits.
Though the country’s politicians talk a lot of democracy and of a democratic culture, no political leader is willing to tolerate a difference of opinion or independent views, or to promote a democratic culture within their party. Whoever speaks against the will of the party leader is sidelined and shown the door. Incidentally, Qureshi and Hashmi have many things in common and both are respected amongst political and social circles.
They contested elections against each other from the same constituency – NA-148 Multan. Both come from non-Syed, Makhdoom families and both are considered smart politicians who have sacrificed for the restoration of democracy in the country. Even though both politicians began their careers during the dictatorial rule of General Ziaul Haq, both of them later fought against former president General Pervez Musharraf to revive democracy.
Hashmi was jailed for “treason” during Musharraf’s rule. He also led the PML-N in the absence of Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif when the brothers were exiled to Saudi Arabia under a deal with General Musharraf in 2000. Party leaders believe that the Sharifs could not swallow the “truth” often spoken by Hashmi during party meetings, and he was soon sidelined. His support for the creation of new provinces, especially the Saraiki province, also drew the ire of the Sharifs, who think of Punjab as their political base and believe that creation of new provinces there would undermine their stronghold.
His family thinks he has suffered a brain haemorrhage because of the consistent stress he has been under, as despite his sacrifices and struggle against the military dictator, he was sidelined and the Sharifs gave Chaudhry Nisar a leading role in the party. Party leaders said that Hashmi’s recent outburst at the current session of the National Assembly, asking the Sharifs to apologise to the nation for their “underhanded deal with a dictator”, is being taken as a betrayal by the party.
The same is the case with Qureshi, whose categorical refusal to take oath as federal minister for water and power instead of foreign affairs has enraged President Zardari. Qureshi, as the foreign affairs minister, had taken a tough stance on the issue of CIA operative Raymond Davis and within two weeks, he lost first his ministry and later his membership of the party’s elite panel – the Central Executive Committe. Qureshi was considered to be very close to former PPP chairwoman Benazir Bhutto, and his family says this fact has worked against him, for Zardari is bent on discarding all those who were close to Benazir.
