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: farrukh15hotmail.com. Twitter: saleemfarrukh