More to it than meets the eye
Many continue to wonder whether Zulfiqar Mirza is a protagonist in a high drama with a complicated script or merely a loose canon. He has resigned from party and government offices and has been deprived of the basic membership of the PPP for violating party discipline. But intriguingly, his resignation from the membership of the Sindh Assembly has yet to be accepted despite his unending harangue against the policy of reconciliation with the MQM. He still claims to be a Zardari and PPP loyalist and has said he would treat anyone criticising the president as his own enemy. Yet there is no end to his high pitch condemnation of Rehman Malik who too is considered the president’s loyalist. This would give some a sense of déjà vu, reminding them of a ‘good’ Ayub Khan surrounded by ‘bad’ advisers who were to be held responsible if the country was going to the dogs and not the president who himself had chosen the advisers. Mirza now calls Malik a traitor, a term which one had thought had been dropped from the political vocabulary. Is it a repeat of the episode where a Socialist Sheikh Rashid and an Islamist Kausar Niazi fought in public as both vied with each other in their claims of loyalty to ZAB?
Mirza got an enthusiastic reception in Lyari where the recent operation had led to resignations from the PPP membership and noisy protests against the government. He worked hard to divert the public anger towards Rehman Malik who he claimed had got the killers released and asked Mirza to stop arresting them or the army would topple the PPP government. In an indirect challenge to the nationalists who are trying to occupy PPP’s turf, Mirza claimed he had issued 300,000 arms licenses to people of Sindh instead of raising empty slogans. He appealed to true patriots that he said included the COAS, Corps Commander Karachi and ISI chief to play their role to protect Pakistan
As behind-the-scenes talks between the PPP and MQM fail to produce results, Mirza’s stance becomes harder. He now demands the dismissal of Governor Ishratul Ibad also. He has challenged his leadership’s policy of reconciliation maintaining that Benazir Bhutto never talked about reconciliation with blackmailers and terrorists. It would be simplistic to dismiss Mirza as a loose canon.