SPOTLIGHT: big blow pro status quo! initiative slipping from Zardari to Musharraf?

One might have reasonably expected Salman Taseer, governor designate of the Punjab province, to have adopted a conciliatory approach towards PML(N) despite the latter's reservations about his appointment and their boycott of the inaugural function. Like the president, if I may use a cliché, a governor in a parliamentary democracy is expected to be above party politics.
But no! Before a partisan crowd, immediately after the swearing in, he came out with both barrels firing, in effect aimed at the majority party of the province. He declared his intention of turning "Punjab into Larkana" or words to that effect!
This kind of a beginning by the governor does not make sense if it were his intention to perform his functions wisely and judiciously and to thus win over parties other than the one to which he declares his affiliation. His attitude makes sense only if his mandate is to dislodge and destabilise the coalition government in the province and "cleanse" it of PML(N) members and thus pave the way for a new coalition. However, such belligerent display of partisanship could boomerang and give rise to Punjabi political bias cutting across party lines.
Who are the main players behind this fresh, aggressive move? Consider first Mr Salman Taseer himself. He is obviously playing his part according to the script given to him. What he expects to gain thereby for himself, we do not know. But it must be something substantial!
Next consider the President. Appointing governors in consultation with the Prime Minister is his prerogative. Strangely, it appears our constitution does not require the president even to at least consult the relevant provincial government as well. Now, the President has been the subject of daily attacks by PML(N) leaders in and out of government for some months now. It was to be expected that the party would therefore be near the top of the President's list of people (perhaps next only to "deposed" CJP Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry), to be dealt with severely and on top priority, blow for blow.
The choice of Mr Salman Taseer, a man with an on-and-off sort of PPP background, and one who is said to enjoy the President's trust and to have a history of animosity towards Nawaz Sharif, is therefore quite in line with the above analysis. As for Mr Salman Taseer's belligerent attitude, this must reflect the role assigned to him by the President who would desire nothing better than to see the back of PML(N) and Nawaz Sharif from the provincial government.
And last but not the least, consider Mr Asif Zardari. In his inaugural speech the new governor declared, loud and clear, that Asif Zardari had given him the task of strengthening PPP in the province. If Mr Zardari was quoted correctly, one would not know how to reconcile his sweet, brotherly messages to Nawaz Sharif, with this latest broadside! In fact it must be clear to every one except perhaps to coalition partner Nawaz Sharif that the vast chasm between Zardari's sweet talk and his actual deeds has been obvious since several weeks now.
Mr Zardari has come a long way from the time his name was recalled in percentage terms and in connection with cases involving several financial deals in the country and abroad and with a prominent murder case. From nearly all of these he has now been happily cleared. The development is said to have come about as a windfall result of the deal brokered by America between Benazir and Musharraf over a period of nearly two years and well before Benazir's assassination.
The NRO was said to be an important part of this deal whose details were said to have been painstakingly worked out between Mr Rahman Malik on behalf of Benazir and others on behalf of President Musharraf. Apart from this, as acting chairman, Mr Asif Zardari is now the leader of the biggest political party in the country in which he had no apparent role while Benazir was the party chief.
Zardari would never want to risk these gains by allowing CJP Iftikhar back on his seat to the position he held on 2 November 07. Neither would the President want to risk his position by letting this happen. This makes for a really strong bond between Zardari and the President. Nawaz Sharif's political failure is that he has not been able to see this clearly enough weeks ago.
Since Zardari is finding it increasingly difficult to renege on his promises to restore the judiciary, he is desperately trying to find a way to fulfil them in such a manner that CJP Iftikhar's wings are effectively clipped and he is consequently not able to upset the applecart so painstakingly put together.
In the above scenario, the initiative in the country's political affairs appears to be slipping steadily from Zardari's hands into the President's and the political future of the country from "change" to "status quo ante" or "as things were before".([email protected])