Potpourri

Capital suggestion
GHQ: Over the past two years, Pak Army’s hard power – battle tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, artillery – hasn’t changed much. Pak Army’s soft power-image, public approval ratings, personal popularity of the chief-is now at its peak.
Three things: One, the GHQ is moving from arresting suspects on List B towards arresting suspects on List A (Dr Asim is the first). Two, the operation in Karachi has moved from being ‘targeted’ to ‘comprehensive’. Three, there’s a distinct move from ‘terrorism’ to ‘corruption’ (on August 25, for the first time, General Raheel Sharif publicly used the term ‘corruption’).
The billion dollar question is: what is the logical end? The beginning was a vacuum created out of governance failure. What followed was the army getting sucked into the vacuum. In 2013, governance failure in Karachi resulted in the killing of 2,507 (the highest number of any major city in the world). In 2015, post the Rangers operation, the number of people killed in Karachi has dropped by a wholesome 80 percent to around 414 so far. But, what is the logical end? Who is going to build the civilian capacity to govern?
PML-N: The ruling party remains suspicious – deeply suspicious – of the GHQ’s motives. Is the current drive to ‘cleanse’ the society a cover for something more incendiary in the future? On the ground, there’s been an incremental shifting of power from Islamabad to Rawalpindi. On the ground, there’s been an incremental surrender of authority and abdication of responsibility.
PM Nawaz Sharif is overwhelmed with several conflicting situations and pressures at the same time. PM Sharif is both heavy and juggling on the wire. Asif Zardari and Altaf Hussain are both demanding a softening up of the operation. The GHQ, to be certain, is in no mood to retreat. The PML-N’s political strategy hasn’t changed much: keep the GHQ’s cannons engaged in Karachi (away from Lahore); keep mega-projects going; avoid any direct showdown with the GHQ; ‘delay and derail’ the GHQ-led calendar of events.
The million dollar question is: when, and if, the accountability brigade will enter the land of five rivers.
PPP: Chief Secretary Sindh Siddique Memon is on a bail-before-arrest of Rs500,000 from the Sindh High Court (SHC). Inspector-General of Police (Sindh), Ghulam Haider Jamali, is under investigation by NAB (and so are Fida Hussain, AIG, Aleem Jaffery, DIG and Maqsood Memon, SSP). Chairman CM’s Inspection Team Abdus Subhan Memon is also on a bail-before-arrest.
Asif Zardari has four choices: de-empower the Rangers; resign from the assemblies; street agitation or fight it out in the courts. Well, de-empowering the Rangers could invite Governor’s Rule and the PPP is in no shape or form for any sustainable street protests. The PPP’s best bet seems to be making plenty of noise within the assemblies and fighting it out in the courts.
MQM: The only winner here is Altaf Hussain who has managed to stall the ‘minus-one’ formula. The resignation card has also worked out well in terms of media coverage (which has moved from a medial trial to the resignation rigmarole). The MQM’s political face is intact but its sector commander based enforcement mechanism has been shaken badly – not destroyed.
PTI: Imran Khan’s four-day excursion through Sindh has been a non-starter but the local government experiment is going well. There’s a severe governance vacuum and the PTI has an opportunity to fill it.
“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.” – Thomas Edison
The writer is a columnist based in Islamabad.
Email: farrukh15@hotmail.com. Twitter: @saleemfarrukh