How right was Javed Hashmi, a politician who has been fighting against the establishment and a staunch supporter of democracy in Pakistan, when he said that in order to understand Zardari, one must have a PhD in politics. By nominating Mian Manzoor Watto the president of PPP for central Punjab and Tanvir Kaira as the general secretary, a veteran political matchmaker and a new generation jiyala of PPP, Asif Zardari has sought a balance to achieve his ultimate objective of retaking the central Punjab from Sharif brothers, who have been ruling the largest province, with 62 percent of total population and has a key role in army, establishment, bureaucracy and judiciary.
Mr Watto was received by a large number of PPP worker when he arrived at Lahore the other day. While addressing the party workers, he demanded that Sharif brothers should resign on moral grounds from politics after the Supreme Court verdict as both brothers received money from the ISI to stop the PPP from coming into power in 1990. Mr Watto also criticised CM Punjab’s mega Lahore Rapid Bus Transit Project costing about 75 billion rupees which is not going to solve the public transport problem of the city. Mr Watto said that this amount should have been used to repair the roads in all the districts of Punjab which were in deplorable conditions. He asked the PPP workers to trust him. Although he had only joined the PPP five years ago, he would win the next elections for PPP to form its government in Punjab.
The students of politics and political analysts know that Punjab politics is based on castes, personal contacts and horse trading. Mr Watto is a master of making allies and satisfying the needs of candidates of rural Punjab. He has been the speaker of Punjab Assembly and the chief minister Punjab and knows the worth of each politician in Punjab. Mr Zardari, by appointing Mr Watto and making alliance with the PML-Q, has divided the Muslim Leagues. The politics of ideology is no more important than winning the elections. With Imran Khan’s PTI losing popularity due to his ambiguous stand against the Pakistan Tehrik-e-Taliban, the election of 2013 is becoming a real political battle for Takht-e-Punjab.
S T HUSSAIN
Lahore