Return to the 90s?

Asif Ali Zardari has certainly learned the art of maintaining silence before a storm. The former president and the PPP’s co-chairperson stayed relatively silent for longer than expected as his party leadership took to criticising the arrest of his close aide Dr Asim Hussain and the warrants issued against key party members. With PPP leaders taking the front line and issuing strong warnings against Zardari’s arrest when he returns from London, the political leadership of the country was waiting for Zardari to issue his response. Zardari’s response did not disappoint but has raised many questions. Zardari has primarily accused Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for reverting to the revenge politics of the 1990s. The accusation was a surprise since neither Nawaz nor the PML-N has been the face of the current operation in Sindh and Karachi – although they seem to have supported it rather enthusiastically. While Zardari pointed to the countrywide actions against PPP leaders, which included the arrests of Qasim Zia, Senator Bangash’s son and Dr Asim, and arrest warrants for Yousaf Raza Gilani and Amin Fahim, the trigger is most certainly the surprise arrest of Dr Asim. Zardari has obfuscated certain facts, including the fact that the corruption inquiries into Zia, Gilani and Fahim were older ones in which the PPP leaders had refused to comply with the ongoing investigations. In a sense, while the timing may have coincided with Dr Asim’s arrest, the courts were left with very little choice but to arrest the leaders for inquiry. Zardari has also criticised the FIA and NAB for hounding Sindh’s bureaucrats.
What is worth noting is that unlike the last time Zardari spoke – lashing out at army generals – in his recent outburst the PPP leader has avoided mention of either the Rangers or the army and kept his criticism focused on the PML-N and the prime minister. While Zardari criticised federal agencies, including NAB and FIA, the statement appears to be more of an olive branch to the establishment by shifting the criticism to fellow politicians. Zardari did not stop at criticising the PML-N leader, he also pointed to instances in which PML-N members were accused of corruption but were still serving in government without the noose of arrest and court cases hanging over them. Zardari seems to be saying that the PM House is directly responsible for immobilising the Sindh government. However, it must be remembered that only a week back, it was his party’s chief minister that was cozying up to the PM on the latter’s visit to Karachi. Did the PPP just discover that the PML-N had been behind the targeting of the party all along or is it just a desperate attempt to put pressure? There are many dead horses that the PPP leader has tried to raise, including the Model Town and Asghar Khan cases, to hit the PML-N leadership. The PML-N has rejected all accusations of revenge politics. There are certainly legitimate questions about why government departments in Sindh alone are being raided at whim and not other provinces. However, blaming the PML-N is a partial truth. Zardari certainly knows that the power lies elsewhere. This is not the 1990s. The mechanisms being used in Sindh are entirely new.