In the shadow of cold and hot wars

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By Shaheen Sehbai

WASHINGTON: In a monumental non-event which could otherwise have been a moment of glory for President Asif Ali Zardari, the new parliamentary year was welcomed but with evident symptoms of at least two serious cold wars being fought in the background.

The Sharif brothers snubbed the president by their absence and PML-N spokesmen rubbed salt by giving provocative justifications, marking the intensity of one cold war. The president himself rubbed the judges with his own salt by praising Babar Awan and Rehman Malik and telling them in a tongue in cheek manner to “judge every one with the same yardstick.”

“Accountability,” he said, “should not be selective.” and the text of the speech released officially by the state-run APP carried the word ‘NOT’ in capital letters. His message to the judges was simple: “Let there be no different laws for different people.”

Looking at Mr Zardari on TV screen, with close up shots most of the time, he looked pensive and tired, not in his usual effervescent mood, hardly smiling, even at the applause that he received on many occasions. The only time he was visibly smiling was when he praised Rehman Malik and some people shouted back something to this effect “Bus Karo Baba” or “Maaf Karo Baba”.

Interestingly his speech was longer than last year, delivered on March 28, but seemed full of rhetoric and promises and claiming credit for things which he had done under pressure, and for which more than his party and his ministers deserved a presidential mention. For instance when he hailed Babar Awan more than Raza Rabbani, the man who made the 18th Amendment happen was almost hiding his face in his hands.

Since the speech was written by sensible script writers, it contained some otherwise serious phrases which, coming out of Mr Zardari’s mouth and not a president who had respect and credibility, looked like insulting the intelligence of the people. For instance he said: “The Government believes in transparent accountability of all.” Of course what he meant was all minus he and his cronies.

He also mentioned the investigations of Benazir Bhutto’s murder in such a finely tuned phrase that many TV channels and reporters immediately thought he was going to launch a national probe which he has been avoiding since her assassination. On a close reading of his words, what Mr Zardari said was a carefully drafted statement which had no practical implication and meaning.

He used this phrase: “We are also mindful of our obligation to carry out a national investigation.” Whatever that means is obvious because what he could simply add, and did not, was that we are only mindful but will do nothing about it. Many reported this as a declaration that Zardari will investigate the murder.

Several other diplomatically couched statements were also of interest and got little attention, the most important being his remark about the local bodies elections. The president, almost in passing, dropped a bomb shell on the MQM, his party’s coalition partner in Sindh when he said: “The year 2010 should be the year of building of national consensus, on holding elections to local bodies.”

This obviously means that he has no intention of holding the election in 2010 and this year will be consumed in building a “consensus” which, in the PPP parlance now known to all, is a synonym for “indefinite delay” as happened with the 18th Amendment.

No MQM leader was immediately available to comment on this statement as the main bone of contention between the two partners is when the local bodies elections will be held and whether they would be free and fair. When the consensus building process will be carried out in 2010, the MQM can rest assured that local bodies elections are not in sight of the PPP. How this will impact the MQM voting on the 18th Amendment is still not clear but it certainly has the potential to turn a major issue into a crisis.

The irony of this statement was that it came immediately after President Zardari made this remark: “As we move on, let us also learn from our mistakes.” Obviously he seems slow in that learning process.

At a sensitive time when everyone has eyes and minds focused on repatriation of millions of dollars in his Swiss accounts, a smart script writer inserted this line in his speech which made him look like a snob. “The first time foreign remittances exceeded 800 million dollars last September,” Zardari said, as if he was happy that people were sending their dollars back home. But he must have repeated these words several times in his mind: Don’t ask me?

An amazing statement he made was saying that growth in rural economy was tremendous! Can you believe that, asked a regular Press gallery writer? He did not say anything specific on the economy or how the government planned to tackle major issues but mentioned loadshedding. Last year he had given the figure that the PPP had inherited a 3,500 MW shortfall. Now PEPCO has announced that the shortfall in power generation across the country was in excess of 5,200 MW. So who is to be blamed for the extra loss as there was no explanation in the president’s speech.

Interestingly Zardari made a profound remark that “if we keep aside our prejudices and egos, we can move mountains.” Whether the script writer had explained to him what this meant is not clear but certainly when he said he was moving in “the annals of history” his ego must have received a big boost.

Conversely his ego is his biggest problem as he thinks that even if his peon is sacked because of corruption or incompetence, it will mean he has been attacked. So the more Babar Awan comes under fire, the more closer he gets to Zardari and more national awards he is going to get.

A point to note was that he clubbed praise for the armed forces, rangers, police and citizens of Pakistan in the war against terror in one line but had a special acknowledgment of services of Mr Rehman Malik for his courage. The subtlety, or notoriety, of the statement would not have been lost on General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, sitting in the special gallery. Not surprising then that TV cameras caught the General yawning during the speech, at least once for sure.