Zardari denying the obvious

Giving new meanings to old words

“We don’t want to weaken our institutions… Stop our character assassination. Or if we started yours, God knows how many generals from the time of independence will be made accountable… You are here for three years. We are here forever… Stop bothering us. Or we will bring you down brick by brick.”

Suppose one doesn’t know the background of all this or who said it and why. But can one be such a goof not to know whom these words are directed at? Yes, of course, these are army generals, not militants, nor extremists. They don’t have institutions. They don’t have generals in their ranks. They are not here for three years. They don’t indulge in character assassination. And they don’t bother people; they just slit throats.

So, who is Asif Ali Zardari trying to make a fool of? The people? Oh, no way. There are 200 million of them. And all of them certainly can’t be made a fool of. The army generals? Well, No. They aren’t the ones to befool in the face of such blatant personal and institutional affront. At best, one can only fool around with the idea and take some psychological solace out of it.

But why the need to backtrack on such obvious things which can turn one into a laughingstock? Will it make any difference? In other words, will it achieve its objectives? And what are those objectives? It is obvious that Zardari wants to make amends for the insulting words he said in a fit of anger but he wants it to appear like clearing a misunderstanding. And that has made it a joke because the message was so clear and the harsh words so carelessly selected that they left no doubt whatsoever in anyone’s mind about the inner bad feelings of the person who uttered them and the meaning he wanted to convey. And that made it such a serious affair.

The message of Asif Zardari to the army is to forget the diatribe and forgive him. But neither can he say it – as it will seriously damage his political stature which is already in the doldrums – nor can the army forgive such a thing from a person and party which it loves to hate so desperately for so long – as it is not used to such a public insults – or forgiving them. The need was apparently felt when another one from the ‘political tribe’ was being made an example of for committing such a blunder. Like Altaf Hussain before him, Mr Zardari either miscalculated his party’s popular strength or he simply bluffed at a wrong time. But both of them, with varying degrees, threatened, insulted and abused the institution of the army and its generals.

And now, both of them are trying to make friends with the powerful establishment. Both of them are vying forgiveness; but in vain. Both of them continue to pay the price according to the severity with which they had attacked the most important informal political player. Hence, Zardari, like Altaf Bhai before him, first ran out of the country then started praising the armed forces’ ‘sacrifices’ and then the institution of the army itself. But seeing no desired impact he has come down to telling them that he is sorry about what he said and that he should be forgiven.

There are many reasons for that. As said earlier, one is to avoid facing the same situation that befell upon the once invincible Bhai of Karachi. The other is to avoid facing the wrong end of the not-so-visible stick of the establishment. The third is to dodge the eminent disappearance from the political scene that is being feared due to dwindling popularity of the PPP and animosity with the armed forces. The fourth is to try to befriend that powerful institution and thus try to get, with its backing, a lease of life as a reinvigorated political party.

This is not the first time that PPP is offering an olive branch to the military. At the start of Karachi Operation, PPP made an indirect but very potent offer through its chairman, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari when he threatened ‘Altaf Uncle’ to make life a living hell for him if he didn’t restrained his ‘na malooom afrad’. It was a subtle message to woo the establishment that if wanted to make friends with them they are ready to provide the political support that will be needed during the next phases of the operation. But, alas, it wouldn’t happen; the friendship hand was shunned. And the responsibility of the statement was thrown solely at the door of bacha Bilawal.

The moment was again seen ripe for the purpose when the political side of the Karachi Operation was started to be addressed at long last with the emergence of Mustafa Kamal, et al. from within the MQM. But whether it will get a different response compared to that of the last time depends on so many factors. Currently, there are so many projects running simultaneously under the aegis of the army; Karachi, Afghanistan, war against terrorists and extremists all across the country, the campaign for an unblemished public image and last, but not the least, the behaviour of the Nawaz-led federal government. Serious setback/s on any one or some of these fronts may elicit a favourable response, or else!

At the moment, however, it is not likely to happen. First, because there is less likelihood of the emergence of such a bad situation in the near future which can nudge the military establishment to the extent that it may consider an alliance of sorts with a party like PPP and a person like Asif Ali Zardari. Along with that, situation seems so favourable for the army while PPP is popularly so weak that it makes the chances of both of them coming together so thin and unprofitable. The time-old institutional hate in the armed forces – coupled with the element of distrust – against PPP and its leadership is also so deep that they can be so easily forgiven. And to cap it all, siding – or seen to be siding – with a party and a leadership after all these years of being portrayed – at the behest of the establishment itself -as corrupt, disloyal to the country and responsible for most of the ills the society is faced with, is a specter that is enough to frighten the establishment to death; it will be like tarnishing its own image and going down the drain along with the condemned for no faults of its own.

Be that as it may, the powers that be today have the initiative and opportunity to correct mistakes of the past made by different people in different set of circumstances; mistakes and distrust of the past that have possessed our present and held hostage our future. Politics have to be practiced and country run by politicians. There is no alternative to that. If this class hasn’t come up to needs of the time and expectations of the masses it is because POLITICS here has not grown in a natural way; nor have POLITICIANS. But that doesn’t mean that we should continue with the follies of the past and carry this baggage forever.

Further weakening of any political instrument (party, institution, organization) in an already weak political environment will not serve any purpose except bartering away the future of the nation and leaving it beating about the bush in its search for a prosperous, developed and democratic future. Not all the problems Pakistan is faced with can be solved by a single class, party or institution and/or by use of strong-arm tactics alone; societies don’t run that way anymore. The most developed and prosperous societies today are those which are more inclusive and more democratic; and which are more compartmentalized in the sense that different sectors are run by those who are trained for it. Here too, political class and political parties should be helped and encouraged to improve their performance; not thrown out of the race altogether.