Spotlight: MLN wakes up from the wrong side of its bed!: In 'supreme national interest' what PPP-MLQ discussed and what they discussed not!

The TV channels are having a great time screening and rescreening the choice words used by the likes of Pervaiz Elahi, Chaudhry Shujaat, and Mushahid Hussain among others about the PPP government of President Zardari. Equally interesting words used in not too distant past by PPP tops about the Q-League and the Chaudhrys are also being recalled with great relish.
While PPP never tired of using the "Qatil" epithet for people who will shortly be welcomed to their bosom, red carpet and all, and accorded places of honour in the government, likewise the "Q" people who never lacked a dirty word for PPP and its leaders appear now to be ready to grab the opportunity to embrace them and become part of a "national government".
ALL IN THE NAME OF NATIONAL INTEREST As we have said before this is the Swan Song (a term derived from the legend that swans sing beautifully and mournfully just before they die) or the last hurrah of PMLQ and the Chaudhrys ruling it. Its present clout arises from the numbers in Parliament bequeathed to it by recent history which is no longer relevant and unlikely to repeat itself. There are already dire predictions of how President Zardari will make mince meat of PMLQ and the Chaudhrys once the Budget is passed with the needed numbers provided by them.
A discussion in progress over several weeks now strictly in the national interest may have been concluded (it was) and an agreement signed and announced already (it was) as you read this but it will not reveal all that was discussed and agreed. It will be in order therefore to try to look under and behind the "negotiations in national interest" between President Zardari and the Chaudhrys by asking some questions as follows:
DID THEY DISCUSS ..........? Did they discuss the remedies to save the starving masses from further starvation and related suicides and the means of alleviating their misery? Did they discuss disease, hunger and homelessness of flood-affected people whom state help is yet to reach?
Did they discuss the plight of millions of underage boys and girls out of school because their parents cannot afford schooling? Did they discuss the shame of ghost schools with no teachers (who dutifully report once a month to collect their pay minus the necessary greasing), crumbling walls, doors and windows missing, no water, no toilets, no furniture and how to go about setting things right?
Did they discuss the murderous attacks by Drones which are becoming more numerous and more lethal? Did they discuss what to do to help families rendered destitute when Drone attacks killed their breadwinners? Did they discuss our ignoble Minimum Wage and ways of increasing it suitably?
Did they discuss implementation of short-cabinets decision enshrined in the 18th Amendment? Did they discuss the ruin of the whole economy by ever increasing load shedding and ways of curbing it? Did they discuss the rampant corruption especially at the higher levels of our power structure and how it was eating into the vitals of our life and what to do about it?
Did they discuss that we are going to face a disastrous water shortage across Pakistan mainly due to India stealing our water by constructing dams in violation of international agreements while we slept soundly? Did they discuss the vital-to-Pakistan Kashmir problem and the fact that Kashmiris are feeling increasingly betrayed by our policies which lets India ignore international agreements and continue their murderous suppression of Kashmiris?
Did they discuss the Dual citizenship question now before parliament and its passage and implementation? Did they discuss the "War against terror" in progress for some years now which does not appear to be coming to an end and absence of any role in it by the Civilian pillar of the State?
Did they discuss the massive use of false NICs in the last general elections and how a repeat was to be prevented? Did they discuss the matter of fake degrees allegedly used by some 300 members to get elected? Did they not discuss ..........? Did they not discuss the NICL case and how to administratively kill the case against Moonis Elahi?
Did they not discuss the Punjab Bank scam in order to stop its progress in its tracks since it allegedly points an accusing finger at big wigs in PML-Q? Did they not discuss the bothersome Judiciary and more ways of "fixing" it? Did they not go into the Fake Degree scandal and how to block the Courts from moving further in the matter to save the remaining tenure of MNAs and MPAs belonging to both parties engaged in talks "in the national interest"?
Did they not mainly discuss the parliamentary seats that would be allocated to MLQ in the next elections? Did not their discussions centre around ministries to be allocated to PML-Q? Did they not discuss at considerable length plans to scuttle the PML-N majority in Punjab?
Did they not discuss at great length the creation of a Deputy Prime Minister position for Pervaiz Elahi? Did they not discuss the Hajj scam and ways to block the Judiciary from tracing the scam allegedly to a scion of the PM family? What about the answers Surely your guess is as good as mine. If the answer to all or most of the first set of questions is negative in truth, the answer to most of the questions in the second set would be positive. From what has trickled down so far it can be safely presumed that, such is the case. So what can anyone expect from the agreement except more of the same. In fact much more of the same while it lasts! Brace for the worst!
And what is PML-N doing? And while PPP and PML-Q were burning the midnight oil in "national interest" what has PML-N been up to? Some days back PML-N had at long last declared its intention of "coming" to Karachi following MQM's public meeting in Lahore. We have often wondered in these columns what was taking them so long! One ostensible reason was commitments Nawaz Sharif may have made in the alleged "deal" that let him free from jail and gave him a luxury ride to Saudi Arabia. Even after the alleged expiry of the said restrictions with the beginning of 2011, however, Nawaz Sharif's reluctance in pursuing his political goals (can anyone tell us what they are anyway?) is a minor mystery of current politics in Pakistan. An intention was declared some days ago by a second tier PMLN leader of holding a public meeting in Karachi shortly. Better late than never, one thought, although it would have been by some as a knee jerk reaction to the MQM foray in Lahore. But then there was silence again.
PML-N has also other problems on its hands including lost ground in the Hazara area and PPP-PML-Q support for a Seraiki province. Its week showing as the main opposition party in and out of Parliament will also erode its prospects. Its role in the Raymond affair and its weak and sporadic opposition to Drone attacks makes it a case of wanting to eat one's cake and having it too!
Nothing is known about the progress of its periodically projected plans to organize the party, hold elections within the party, project its vision, launch a membership drive and so on. More recently following news of PPP-PML-Q patch up nearing success PML-N has tried to enter into a sort of political partnership with Sindh's nationalist parties, which will further cloud its traditional vision. One opportunistic marriage of convenience does not justify or warrant another!
PML-N IS HELD HOSTAGE TO ITS CHIEF'S AVAILABILITY The party appears hostage to good health of its Chief and the time he can spare from his business activities in Pakistan and abroad for political activity. We wonder why the party cannot see its way to forming empowered action committees with young and energetic party activists like Saad Rafique, Ahsan Iqbal and others like them to breathe life into long promised membership drive, clarification of party vision and strategy, party elections at grass root and higher levels, reactivating the party in areas which have been deliberately left out of party attention and activity and so on. The tactic of "authorising" the party chief to do all those things is a non-starter which has non-started, time and again.
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