Ground Report

Musharraf has increasingly become uncomfortable with the way PML(Q) and MQM have handled the protesting lawyers. The Chaudharies of Gujrat have played an important role in devising the strategy  of brutally crushing any form of protest. The Chaudhries are  aware that in the current situation Musharraf needs them desperately, which has led them to dictate their own terms. In near future, things are, however, not so rosy for PML(Q) and MQM in general and the Chaudhries in particular. Musharraf and his immediate confidantes have started to realize that they have turned into a political liability. Top military commanders have already confided to some sources about their annoyance with their blatant disregard of human and constitutional rights. Musharraf too has shown signs of discomfort with his uneasy alliance with the Chaudhries, and has therefore still kept a back door dialog with the PPP and PML(N). The news is that after his election he will be looking for new coalition partners. ISI and NAB have already opened files for probing Chaudhries’s financial matters as well as their involvement in current wheat crisis. It is believed that immediately after the presidential election, Shaukat Aziz’s government will be dismissed on charges ranging from corruption, violation of basis rights, to the contempt of court and Nawaz’s deportation, and this time the Chaudhries would be made the scapegoat for the current situation in the country. Military commanders have indicated another major operation in Karachi to get rid of the rogue elements as well as to win the support of alienated people of Pakistan.