The divided opposition

During this last lap in the run-up to the presidential election, the opposition seems to be losing unity of thought and action. While the Pakistan People's Party is still groping its way out of the labyrinth of power-sharing mechanism, the Jamaat-i-Islami appears determined to throw out the military regime log, stock and barrel.
And, in between are busy at work various groups and parties, including practitioners of realpolitik like Maulana Fazlur Rehman. This picture of opposition's divided vision came up in full relief on Friday when the All Parties Democratic Movement (APDM) met to decide the future course of action against the upcoming re-election of President Pervez Musharraf.
Among the various moves it would undertake with a view to pre-empting Musharraf's bid, it was decided that all sitting members of the national and provincial assemblies belonging to the APDM parties would resign. Since the biggest chunk of these members belongs to the Jamiat-i-Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) faction of the Muttahida-Majlis-i-Amal (MMA), the leaders present at the APDM conclave felt relieved at receiving an assurance of full cooperation from the second-in-command of the JUI(F), Hafiz Hussain Ahmad.
But that feeling of relief was to disappear soon enough. Within hours of learning that his party would join the resignations campaign, the party chief, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, who was in Makkah on Umra pilgrimage, rang home to let everybody know that the APDM decision of resignations was contrary to his understanding of the issue.
As reports in the media indicate, Maulana Fazlur Rehman was piqued at the lack of political maturity exhibited by his allies in the APDM, in that they were, rather mindlessly, lunging at the government much before it was necessary. He was also upset at the Jamaat-i-Islami demonstration in front of the Supreme Court building where the apex court was hearing a petition filed by none other than the Jamaat chief Qazi Hussain Ahmad. One wrong step and the country can have another spell of Martial Law, was his admonition.
The tenuousness of the opposition's unity is likely to come under further strain in the coming days when the events are likely to gather pace. For one, President Musharraf may deliver a shock to the opposition by doffing the uniform even before his re-election. New promotions in the army top brass place him in a position where he can readily induct his replacement as army chief. It would be also instructive for the opposition to understand that the Supreme Court can also deliver it a stunning disappointment.
One should not forget that the imbroglio presently engaging the apex court is the making of the MMA when it helped the Musharraf-led government pass the Seventeenth Amendment to the Constitution. At that time the MMA was hell bent to bail out the embattled government of President Musharraf, pushing aside with disdain any advice to the contrary.
If the MMA now says that its constitutional help was made to secure transition, why then does it object to the PPP's bid at doing the same? And, how does the MMA justify its coalition partnership at the provincial level with the "evil" forces it is not ready to touch even with a pair of tongs at the centre? So they say, sow the wind and reap the whirlwind.
The opposition would be well advised not to rock the boat now that its principal objective that Musharraf should shed uniform is very much in sight. Let there be presidential election, followed by general elections where the opposition should try to win majority and form the government. Too much of raking over the past would not help anyone, much less the general masses who have been glum spectators of this game of musical chairs for so long.