The denouement of the NRO drama came late in the night, but only after President Zardari lost the game of numbers. Oblivious of the ethical aspect of the NRO and how its adoption by the parliament could undermine the sanctity of the democratic process, his political managers had been deeply engrossed in scouting 'ayes' for the NRO bill - bolstered as they were by their success at the committee level.
They had no idea that by the end of the day, the PPP would be all-alone, deserted by its coalition partners. During the day, Nawaz Sharif advised President Zardari not to table the NRO and Shujaat Hussain had warned that his party would oppose the bill. But the tipping point came when Altaf Hussain dropped the bomb-shell by asking President Zardari to 'offer himself as a sacrifice' in order to save the system.
A fig-leaf to conceal the retreat was not difficult to locate. Earlier, in the evening, in a bid to defuse tension on the floor of the National Assembly, Prime Minister Gilani had the government "yet to determine" what to do with the NRO. This indeed is the most spectacular defeat President Zardari had to savour since the judicial crisis. But he could avert both the debacles - only if he had accepted the ground reality that the elections did not give the PPP absolute majority in the parliament.
Then, there was this Sharifs-led PML (N) which had won the majority in Punjab, the largest province of Pakistan. But it was a nice live-and-let-live beginning for the political process, until the schemers got the better of President Zardari and he started showing his teeth to Nawaz Sharif, casting to the winds the struggle the latter had waged hand-in-hand with Benazir Bhutto against Musharraf's dictatorial regime.
Now that he is back to square one, he is expected to rethink his political options. No doubt he has to lean on other parties to revamp the ruling coalition, which is there and is likely to survive the NRO defeat. But isn't it also a fact that his coalition partners did not come out on his side, neither at the time of the judicial crisis nor now.
For President Zardari and his party the best, workable option remains a working relationship with the PML (N). There is an adequate common ground for the two to rebuild their co-operative relationship, which can be expanded by President Zardari through taking some confidence-building measures - maybe by picking up the pace to give practical form to the Charter of Democracy, in parts, if not fully.
By sticking to the tainted constitutional position as an all-powerful President in a parliamentary form of government, he tends to justify Musharraf's autocratic rule. It is time he not only shun the path his predecessor took but it is also a constitutional requirement that he should be apolitical as against his presently dual role as Head of State and head of a political party. Asif Ali Zardari should rise above party politics and act as everybody's president who represents the unity of the Republic.
The tendency to paint the Zardari-Gilani government move to withdraw the NRO from the parliament as its defeat is natural, but given the very tough times we are passing through, as a people and a country, one may not be out of sync with reality by proposing that this episode be treated as a watershed.
We have to move on. Sometimes, as this Monday when terrorists struck twice during the day with a deadly harvest of human life and limbs, one gets the eerie feeling that our elected representatives are, perhaps, more interested in power plays than helping people cope with their mounting problems. One may ask: Is it the forces alone that should confront terrorism? Where is that kind of grand strategy which should put our act together? Then our national economy is in a tailspin.
For our parliamentarians to act, there is a whole lot of work cut out to transact post-haste. For too long it has been fondling with the idea of restoring the constitution to its pristine form by cleansing it of distortions injected by General Musharraf. Our request to them: Step forward and do it - before it is too late.
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