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Friday March 29, 2024

Noora kushti

By Dr Farrukh Saleem
December 27, 2015

Capital suggestion

The Federal-Sindh-wrestling match is not what it appears to be. To begin with, there are four players – the PPP, the MQM, the PML-N and the GHQ. If you take out the GHQ, there is absolutely no real tussle between the PPP and the PML-N.

The PML-N, the PPP and the MQM are all status-quo players in the sense that all three were quite content with the state of affairs as they existed prior to the Rangers raiding Nine-Zero and then arresting Dr Asim. The PML-N and the PPP have the Charter of Democracy while the PPP and the MQM had developed vested political and economic interests in the maintenance of the political-terror-finance nexus.

The GHQ, at one point in time, appeared as if it were serious in breaking the status quo. The army’s perception management machine was all gearing up to enable the guns bring down the political-terror-finance status quo. But then something terrible happened – Dr Asim, the person, was arrested and Dr Asim, the phenomenon, was left untouched.

To be certain, there are two Dr Asims – the person and the phenomenon. Dr Asim, the person, was arrested by the Rangers and has already gone through countless remands and innumerable interrogation. The state is now being unfair on Dr Asim, the person, a citizen of Pakistan.

Yes, there’s a Dr Asim in most political parties. Dr Asim who is close to both Asif Ali Zardari and Altaf Husain has been under arrest but all other Asims are out on the loose. The move by the GHQ to break the status quo is now being labelled by the PPP and the MQM as a ‘witch hunt’, more of a campaign directed against the PPP and the MQM than a move to arrest the Dr Asim phenomenon.

On December 6, the Rangers’ special police powers expired. On December 16, the Sindh Assembly passed a resolution that extended the Rangers’ powers but only conditionally. On December 18, the Sindh home ministry forwarded a summary to the Ministry of Interior. On December 22, the federal government rejected the summary (and extended the powers on its own). On December 23, the Sindh cabinet decided that “if the federal government failed to address the concerns of the Sindh government on the powers of the Rangers” the Sindh government would go to court.

This is the essence of noora kushtis. The PML-N, the PPP and the MQM need to derail the GHQ’s moves that they consider ‘trespassing’ and the joint strategy they have is ‘delay and derail’.

The Rangers blundered by arresting Dr Asim, the person, and letting Dr Asim, the phenomenon, off the hook. The political parties have now successfully managed to politicise the Rangers and all their moves. History stands witness that principled moves must be above political lines and across the board – or they’ll be labelled witch hunts, fishing expeditions and inquisitions.

This is what a professional wrestler once confided: ‘In all noora kushtis the match duration, main moves, finishing moves and outcome are all predetermined. The major events of the match are planned and discussed beforehand, and so is the outcome. Each match is assigned a producer, who will plan the major events of the match in consultation with the wrestlers.’

Someone intelligent once said: “professional wrestling is clean and everything else in the world is fixed”.

The writer is a columnist based in Islamabad.

Email: farrukh15@hotmail.com. Twitter: @saleemfarrukh