FROM A RINGSIDE SEAT

President Pervez Musharraf can retain military uniform after December 31, 2004. This is the end result of many months of relentless struggle by the government- matched by equally dedicated resistance by the Opposition- which culminated on Monday in the approval of the bill earlier passed by the National Assembly under the rubric: The President to Hold Another Office Bill, 2004. But, will President Pervez Musharraf retain the uniform. Let us hear what S M Zafar, the President's chief interlocutor in the dialogue with the MMA on the Legal Framework Ordinance which finally mothered the 17th Amendment, has to say.
As the Senate discussed the uniform bill over the last four days S M Zafar's book "dialogue" that narrates the nitty gritty of the government-MMA parleys was extensively quoted by the opposition senators in their bid to establish that the government was backing out from its earlier commitments. Zafar was mostly present in the House and listened all this but did not react, unlike the general practice in the House when members immediately spring up to clarify their position on point of personal explanation. Nor was he willing to offer his side of the story outside the House to general public or the media. He was thought to be 'repenting' having penned this venture. But that was not to be. After the leader of the House, Wasim Sajjad had wound up the debate on the uniform bill the chair offered the floor to Zafar, in an unusual gesture.
"I stand by whatever I said and whatever I wrote", said Zafar, in the resounding applause by the opposition. In his several meetings with President Musharraf he found him a leader of "rare quality capable of changing the course of history, as Quaid-e-Azam did".
The bill is "premature and unnecessary", as "power lies in his leadership nor one or two offices". He also responded to the senators' observations on his use of Allama Iqbal's verse "Piaada to baichara hai aik mohra-e-nacheeze, Farzeen say bhe poshida hai shaatir ka irada", on which Zafar's book concludes. They had seen the use of this verse a way of hinting the unpredictability that could haunt the future of national politics. " Only God is the unbeatable chess player", was his response.
The mystery that S M Zafar said what he said, to great chagrin of the government and triggered loud desk thumping by the Opposition, further deepened when he walked out from the House when the bill was put to the voice vote. As to why he disappointed the government will be known in not too a distant future, but opposition's Farhatullah Babar did play the role in it.
Zafar had told Babar that "he would not disappoint his conscience". On Saturday, Syed Mushahid Hussain had let in a whiff of fresh air into our rotting Byzantine politics by pleading the release of political prisoners. Rightly, one swallow does not make summer, but probably two can. The fact that the ruling party general secretary was promptly contradicted by the Prime Minister is an interesting as well as intriguing development.
It was a day of great speeches, all by the senators from the opposition. Farhatullah Babar said General Musharraf was already armed with enormous powers under Article 58(2)(b), as head of the National Security Council and powers to make key appointments. The general had also re-written the Constitution "to suit his own political ends and had installed a handpicked parliament and cabinet through rigging and gerrymandering". Why the General still craved for more powers?
Babar said that if General Musharraf as President dismissed the Parliament and his order was struck down by any chance by the Supreme Court he would have to abide by the SC verdict. But if he also held the position of Army Chief he could defy the SC order and impose yet another martial law and suspend the Constitution. The General wanted to remain in uniform to take care of such an eventuality because he did not trust his own handpicked parliament, the PPP Senator viewed.
Farhatullah Babar said that the bill was actually to empower the army chief to become the President and not to empower the President to also wear military uniform. "Hold on to your turbans" (pugree sambhal jatta, pugree sambhal way), he warned the Parliament members of the treasury benches. He said the "Shaatir" (chess player), referred to by S M Zafar, was planning to wriggle out of his commitment to shed uniform. He reminded the warning in the Quran that Allah was the greatest of planners before Whom all mundane planners paled into insignificance.
Farooq Naik called the bill "total fraud on Constitution", saying constitutionally speaking what cannot be done directly cannot be done indirectly. The bill would change the basic structure of the Constitution, he said, and warned the senators that they should desist from becoming party to covering a crime against the country's basic law. Safdar Abbasi told the famous story of the emperor who was naked but his courtiers told him he was wearing the most beautiful dress-until a child asked him "where are your clothes?"
"This is a defining moment in the history of Pakistan when on its own accord the parliament is abdicating its own powers" observed Raza Rabbani.
From the government side Tariq Azeem and Wasim Sajjad spoke on the bill. While Tariq Azeem talked of the past, the leader of the House said it is not uncommon that in a democratic set-up one individual may be holding two or more offices, like Lord Chancellor in Britain. He also pointed out that the uniform bill is a "transitional arrangement". As Law Minister Wasi Zafar stood up to speak the Opposition left the house. It was its second walkout. Earlier, the opposition senators staged a walkout protesting the official impediments to funeral arrangements for Mian Sharif in Lahore.