Pakistani Politics

The lawyers have held their much-trumpeted long march and their leaders say it turned out to be a great success. They claim that hundreds of thousands of people participated in the march and crow about their arguable success in mobilising the common man against what they allege to be the timidity of parliament.

First the claim of having mobilised the common man is questionable as people did come out of their homes to take part in the march but their number was not as huge as the organisers have wanted people to believe.

If anything, the show was subtly hijacked by the political parties, most of which, including Qazi Hussain Ahmad’s Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) and Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI), did not contest the last general elections and are as such not part of parliament.

As regards the JI, lest it is forgotten, it was instrumental as a member of the MMA in giving indemnity to President Pervez Musharraf through the 17th Amendment ñ a fact mentioned by the court hearing the petition against the president’s re-election. It can be deduced from this that the JI, along with many other actors, played the most vital role in bringing the country to this pass.

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By Rauf Klasra

Benazir Bhutto, trying to avoid any risk from her Larkana home constituency, is quietly using a 32-year-old London law graduate — now a potentially strong PPP candidate — against Maulana Fazlur Rehman in Dera Ismail Khan, to secure her own return to parliament after nine years.

NA 24, DIK, from where PPP’s Faisal Kundi and the JUI Maulana are now contesting, is the constituency from where Zulifkar Ali Bhutto lost to Maulana Mufti Mahmud, father of the present JUI leader.

But Ms Bhutto has awarded the PPP ticket to Faisal, the son Fazal Karim Kundi, who took the Bhutto revenge on the JUI family by defeating Maulana Fazlur Rehman in the 1990 elections from the same seat. Kundi is now a major threat to Fazlur Rehman and Benazir has smartly started negotiations on seat adjustment with the Maulana to secure presence of both the leaders in the next assembly.

An ambitious Fazlur Rehman, whose dream of becoming the prime minister might be shattered in case he suffers a defeat at the hands of Faisal Kundi, is also eager to enter into seat adjustment for obvious reasons both at Larkana and in DIK.

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By Hamid Mir

The Manifesto 2008 of the Pakistan People’s Party is surprisingly quite disturbing for the establishment as it is closer in its thinking, formulations and content to the PML-N of Nawaz Sharif rather than the liberal anti-extremism agenda of Pervez Musharraf.

Released by Benazir Bhutto recently, it has surprised both her critics and especially diplomats in Islamabad because it is not according to the policy direction of Pervez Musharraf. Many critics though are still of the view that she is helping Musharraf by participating in an election without pressing for the independence of the judiciary.

Some are even claiming that both Benazir Bhutto and Maulana Fazalur Rehman are negotiating with Musharraf secretly but the new manifesto has a very different message. The PPP has rather strikingly demanded that military dictators responsible for subverting the Constitution in the past must be answerable to the people of Pakistan. This would be of serious concern to Musharraf as he is the only one alive to face the consequences.

Understandably, the new manifesto has many other points on which President Pervez Musharraf will disagree with the PPP. Firstly, the PPP claims, as against Musharraf, that it was Benazir Bhutto who gave freedom to Pakistan’s electronic media in the first place.

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By Rauf Klasra

The mystery of Nawaz Sharif’s missing passport, which almost sent the former prime minister Shaukat Aziz to jail, was resolved on Sunday when the PML-N leader returned from his exile on the same passport.

When Sharif had attempted to return on Sept 10, his passport had become a major source of concern as he refused to hand it over to the authorities. The Supreme Court, hearing a contempt petition, demanded that the passport be produced.

As an eyewitness to the passport episode, this correspondent traveled with Nawaz Sharif on Sept 10 from London to Islamabad, it was evident that Nawaz refused to hand over the document because he feared foul play.

He handed over the passport to a friend who slipped it out of the airport and sent it back to London. When the contempt case was filed in the Supreme Court, the furious judges demanded that the passport be produced or they would convict and sentence the then prime minister Shaukat Aziz.

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By Babar Dogar & Faizan Bangash

Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif landed in the Punjab capital on Sunday evening,vowing to end dictatorship in the country and to restore the judiciary to its pre-November 3 status. With the sudden return of the Sharif family from their over seven-year exile, the political situation in the country seems set to change dramatically.

At the airport, where thousands of party workers had gathered, Nawaz Sharif refuted all allegations and rumours about a deal with President General Pervez Musharraf, saying there was no question of any deal with the military-led government. “We are here for the restoration of the judiciary and democracy, and we are determined to launch a struggle against dictatorship in Pakistan,” pledged Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Mian Nawaz Sharif, immediately after his arrival.

The Sharif family, including Nawaz Sharif, Shahbaz Sharif and other family members, reached the Lahore airport in a special Saudi royal plane at around 6:25 pm. He was received at the airport by his senior party leaders as well as a large number of party workers. As soon as Nawaz and Shahbaz came out of the lounge, the PML-N workers, who had forced their way into the airport lounge and the reception area of the airport despite various obstacles, lifted them onto their shoulders and raised anti-Musharraf slogans. Later, the two brothers stood atop a jeep, waving to their party workers.

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By Faizan Bangash

After seven long years, the PML-N Quaid Nawaz Sharif and his brother Shahbaz Sharif would end their exile when they set foot at the Lahore Airport on Sunday afternoon.

Besides the immediate family members, extended family members may also accompany the two brothers in their flight back home ahead of the crucial parliamentary elections. It was for this reason that the Sharifs, who are scheduled to be transported to Pakistan in a 13-seater special aircraft of the Saudi royal family, were making hectic efforts to secure a larger plane. Sources said the Sharifs would land in Lahore between 2 to 4 pm Sunday.

According to sources, the former premier would get protocol with two bullet-proof cars already at the airport to take the Sharifs to their home. However, the sources said the final decision whether Nawaz should use a truck or the bullet-proof cars for the homecoming march would be made later.

Nawaz Sharif is expected to first visit his political constituency and the Data Darbar before going to his Jati Umrah residence on the Raiwind Road.

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By Kamran Khan

Just three weeks after pushing Pakistan into the second emergency rule of his eight-year reign, President Gen Pervez Musharraf appears to have survived the strongest challenge yet to his hold on power. The Pakistan Army is still standing solidly behind him, the United States is ‘’pretty comfortable’’ with the situation and his fractious political supporters are busy in getting their act together for the elections.

Based on this recovered confidence, anchored in American and Army support, President Musharraf is now getting ready to step down as Chief of Army Staff within the next few days, say his associates.

According to an important aide, President Musharraf’s articulation of views and candour were at their best when he spoke to President Bush in an unpublicised telephone conversation early last week. During this dialogue, he convinced Bush that the emergency was imposed for “only a few weeks” in the best interests of democracy. This landmark telephone conversation between President Bush and President Musharraf, kept secret from the media in both countries, was also used by Musharraf to provide a timetable for the complete restoration of democracy in Pakistan to the person who is perhaps his best international friend.

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By Muhammad Saleh Zaafir

A top security official who accompanied President Pervez Musharraf to Riyadh stayed back and held an important meeting with former prime minister Nawaz Sharif in the presence of Saudi royal family members, according to well-placed sources.

“The Saudis succeeded in creating a minimum understanding for peaceful coexistence between the two sides,” the sources said. This understanding can lead to Sharif leaving Saudi Arabia in the next few days and probably returning to Pakistan. Whether he goes first or sends his brother or other family members is to be decided by the Sharif family.

Saudi Arabia’s envoy in Pakistan, Ali Saeed Awadh Assiri, who played an important role, is also staying back in Jeddah. He came to the airport to see off President Musharraf. Diplomatic sources told The News here on Wednesday the understanding between the parties would unfold through actions in the days to come but the president had undertaken one of his most successful political sojourns outside Pakistan.

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By Ansar Abbasi

Opposition political parties are in complete disarray, badly divided and lack unity to chalk out a joint strategy to outsmart those calling the shots on behalf of President General Pervez Musharraf.

Everything is going according to the script written by these presidential men, but there is a big if. The camp is concerned that everything may turn topsy-turvy if the impossible happens i.e boycott of the elections by the united opposition.

Much depends on Pakistan People’s Party Chairperson Benazir Bhutto, who after a brief display of her true colours of a genuine opposition leader has yet again started showing signs of a compromised leader. The recent visit of John Negroponte, the US Deputy Secretary of State, has immediately changed the tone and tenor of the fiery Benazir, who is the only crowd-puller presently in the country.

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By Ansar Abbasi

Pakistani investigators and agencies have an excellent track record of solving major terrorist and other crimes and the FBI or Scotland Yard have never been officially invited to conduct any probe, even during the two tenures of Benazir Bhutto in the late ’80s and ’90s.

The PPP leader’s mantra for foreign help to probe into the Oct 18th terrorist attack is not only in conflict with her own track record but it also sounds unconvincing if the official record of Pakistani investigators is examined. This record shows that the Pakistani agencies and investigators have solved almost every high- profile terrorism case, including incidents of suicide bombings. In the case of Karachi, the results are claimed to be almost 100 per cent.

That Benazir Bhutto during her rule relied on local agencies was confirmed by Maj Gen (retd.) Naseerullah Babar, who served as interior minister in BBís second term. When contacted he told this correspondent with great pride that during BBís tenure all major cases of terrorism were tracked down within days without any foreign help.

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