PPP fails to put up a show in NA on Musharraf’s exit

View from the Gallery

ISLAMABAD: It was an anti-climax of sorts by legislators of the National Assembly on former dictator Pervez Musharraf’s legal departure from the country. Some spirited agitation was expected from the Opposition on the lawful yet hasty exit of the former dictator from the country.

Leading lights of the Opposition had cried foul all day Thursday as government didn’t use its executive muscle to bar Musharraf from travelling abroad in the wee hours of Friday. Multiple options were on the table, every one claimed, if the PML-N government wanted to restrain the former president from proceeding abroad.

But the agreed scheme of things revolved around getting rid of this unwanted irritant in the civil-military relations. So Musharraf had to be set free, not to come back till Premier Sharif was firmly in power. Any 2014 Dharna like situation in future could be any body’s guess. Glued to their prized ministries, Premier Sharif knew fully well the compulsory agitators in his cabinet would fall in line. And, all happened as per expectations.

The politically happenings of the day proved a damper for the young PPP chairperson, some sarcastically call him as twitter-in-chief. In absence of a firm grip on modern day political ground realities, he issues spirited, strong, statements that are not often implementable.

The same happened Thursday night. Furious over government’s inaction on Musharraf’s unstoppable travel plans, the young and politically naive PPP Chairperson demanded of the party folds to agitate this government move for letting the former dictator go scot-free.

It couldn’t be executed effectively at any level, except one or two mentionable places of interior Sindh, and Gilgit Baltistan etc. Interestingly, the call was not officially owned or statement to this effect released to the media properly, so that any failure could be covered under the garb of ambiguity, miscommunication. Splashed across television screens, not as headlines, but (breaking) ticker material, the whole scheme was carefully crafted for media consumption.

Remember, the last reconciliatory statement Zardari sb issued through his media buddy in Lahore, but never owned it fully. Or even issued proper clarification after pointed questions were raised over his political approach to walk one step forward and take two steps backward when it comes to dealing with power establishment.

The Zardari doctrine, unleashed after 2008 elections, paid some immediate dividends to the PPP for sticking to power, but party’s overall image and long standing political position has been eroded fast. Keeping this firmly at the back of their minds, this was perhaps the major reason for a no-show by PPP cadres in the National Assembly, all day on Friday. The relentless Shazia Marree’s effort to take on the government in the last hour before adjournment was not more than filling in the blank. None of her mentionable colleagues was there to back her up. On this day, PPP legislators were at least expected to deliver some hard-hitting, nerve wrenching blows to treasury which seemed subdued by Musharraf-related overnight developments. But that was not to be. So they were more inclined to toe time-tested “reconciliatory policy” of the old political guru, the PPP Parliamentarian President Mr Zardari, rather than the young emotional Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto. Thus the by-product. For a long haul now, PPP finds it unable to take it to the streets, especially in mentionable urban areas of the country. Remember the last time PPP staged a formidable, popular show?

PTI’s mild opposition to the development was though understandable. The compulsory agitators in PTI wanted to play it safe. From party supremo Imran Khan to Jahangir Khan Tareen, none wanted to annoy the garrison. Knowing fully well why ally Sheikh Rashid was quick in welcoming the government decision to free Musharraf from Exit Control List (ECL) clutches, Khan and companions relied more on indirect political taunts.

Hours before his departure to India to see the Pak-India cricket match, the PTI leader fully knew the political undercurrents and garrison’s sensitivities regarding Musharraf. So he switched to lighter tone, rather than his usual furious rhetoric. PTI legislator Murad Saeed was however caught off guard. The young legislator, a permanent feature of the television talk shows, rose in the National Assembly to score some points as he saw federal minister Ahsan Iqbal seated on the front row. He wanted the firebrand Musharraf hater minister to resign after former general’s easy exit made possible by the PML-N government.

The minister and a few of his colleagues came under attack on Thursday by media for their previous hard-hitting, sentimentally forceful statements regarding the former military dictator. In one such statement back in year 2014, Ahsan had literally vowed to resign if Musharraf didn’t submit before law. With his sound bites becoming a permanent source of recall from the past, the minister says he stood by his words.

But since the former President submitted before the court of law in 2014, and was not allowed to board a special plane waiting for him at Chaklala then, the ongoing criticism is just “unnecessary”. Fair enough. Ahsan Iqbal can claim so and get away with it. He has to his credit a long struggle against Musharraf’s military rule. So Murad Saeed was just to trying to play it to the galleries.

But, at the end of the day, the PTI legislator didn’t have the last laugh. He wanted to leave the House after another volley of criticism against the ruling Sharifs. The treasury back benchers shouted, made him come back and listen to the counter arguments. The government media brigade member and legislator Talal Chaudhry pounced on PTI leadership as Murad criticised the ruling Sharifs and their children for keeping their wealth in foreign lands. In a tit-for-tat response, Talal asked the PTI leader to bring back his children from the elitist environment in London to the “revolutionised” KP province where the party claims to have turned around everything. Sitting at the far end of Opposition back benches, Murad could only fume in anger. It was not his day, and this was not a television talk show.

Footnote: The PPP-PTI-JI opposition claims government will not vote out PIA Corporation Bill in the joint sitting of the Parliament on Monday. A briefing by all concerned government ministries to the joint opposition is slated for the afternoon that day. Despite the goody-goody atmosphere, the treasury is all geared up for fireworks that evening, if the briefing flops in case of an almost impossible give and take.