FROM A RINGSIDE SEAT

Our government never tired of giving new hopes. Every time the government twists some events happen on international level in such words from which it concludes that these events will do better for us in short to medium terms. These new hopes always come at a time when we start feeling dejected.
It was the Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani who tried his best to give us a new hope at the floor of the National Assembly on Thursday, saying: "Something good is in the store for Pakistan in the guise of Barrack Obama, the US president-elect." This is not a direct quote from the Prime Minister brief speech, but this could be crux of what he spoke in the directly-elected house of the parliament.
The US is in transition and situation regarding predator attacks will improve once this process is over. In other words we were told that we will have to wait till January 20, 2009, the day when Democrat's Obama will formally take over his charge as next US president. The Prime Minister was repeating almost what had already been said by our foreign minister a few days ago.
This new hope emerged when some opposition MPs including PML (N) leader Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan were trying to create an atmosphere of hopelessness in the house. It will not be out of context to mention here world, at large, has great expectations from Obama. Our Prime Minister and our government are also having some hopes and Gilani explained just one of them.
There was nothing new in the Prime Minister's speech, but since the words were coming from a head of the state, therefore, they should be given weight. I think the Prime Minister repetition of the Foreign Minister's words was an attempt to clarify that government was seriously perturbed over Wednesday missile attack in NWFP's southern district Bannu. This was the first alleged US attack in any settled district outside Federally-Administered Tribal Area (Fata).
Before February 18 general elections, it was said that dictatorship is the worst enemy of the country and the political forces will steer the motherland out of the crisis in the post-Musharraf period. The people expectations were dashed to the ground as the elected government, which is in place for the last nine months or so, failed to tackle the war on terror in an effective manner with the US and the international community. "Not even a single step in right direction has been taken by the government," a leader put it so.
It is also a fact that the people expectations from political government were too high. This is, perhaps, the first political government which has been elected with almost consensus. The military generals are on the back foot because the forces are fighting militants and army leadership is denting the damage to military done by Musharraf. In this scenario something big had to be done as drones' attacks violating our sovereignty have increased rather than decreased in post-Musharraf Pakistan.
We had expectations from our own government. We did not know that our government will give so much importance to new US administration. I could not properly grasp the Prime Minister's point of linking peace in the country with the new US administration. In their election campaigns, the PPP leaders had never told their voters that they will have to wait for change of guards in the White House.
If democracy is panacea for all the ills Pakistan is having, which claims to be, then why does the democratic regime put every thing in the new US administration's bag? The rulers must know that Obama will serve the interests of the US and its people.Never expect too much from the new US administration. Yes, financially Pakistan is crippled at present. But this is the time that we look for home-grown solutions to the problems.
Terrorism is, no doubt, an international phenomenon; however, we cannot solve it if we agreed with US prescriptions. We had some good years of a kind of economic prosperity during which it was claimed that Pakistan had broken the begging bowl. Even in those years, the rulers always toed the Washington's line. On political front, for the government things will not remain as friendly as it was some days ago. The PML (N) have started coming hard on the PPP.
This friendly atmosphere, which has been in the hand of the present government, is deteriorating. The attitude of the PML (N) lawmakers in the National Assembly is an indication that confrontation between the two major political parties is in the offing. The tug of war between governor and the chief minister of Punjab has started resonating in center. President Zardari phone call to Nawaz Sharif did a little help in bridging differences of the two parties.
For the sake of opposition, the PML (N) walked out of the house in protest on Wednesday when the government was passing the IRO bill 2008, aimed at lifting ban labour unions. The PML (N) was not having any divergent view to the legislation in totality. "Mere registration of protests against the US attacks is not working. Something should be done within parameters of UN charter to tackle the US adventurism inside Pakistan," he said.
The UN charter is relevant document and this issue must be looked into, he opined. Raza Rabbani, minister for inter provincial co-ordination, was prompt to respond to Chaudhry Nisar assertions in the National Assembly. It was not in distant past that these two leaders were very close to each other when the two parties were united against the former military dictator.