Cat & mouse game continues
Press Gallery
Saeed Minhas
Islamabad: The limbo over 20th amendment seems to have gone into a never-ending phase for Prime Minister Gilani as for the second running day he kept waiting for Chaudhry Nisar in the National Assembly with the hope to table the amendment and pretend to the rest of the players in the power-game that its business as usual.
Meanwhile, concerns of the Baloch members including Aziz Kurd, Yaqoob Bajinzo and even Bushra Gauhar over the deteriorating law and order situation in the largest province of Pakistan and even the hot-talk between MQM and ANP did not provoke any response from Mr. Gilani. As one of the Peoples Party MP put it that it’s not only the strategic absence of Ch. Nisar from the assembly and neither it has anything to do with the US Senate Committee’s concern over Balochistan but its mainly the sword hanging over his head from the Supreme Court which has made him look worrisome and may be a bit out of sorts as well.
To add more fuel to this, Nawaz Sharif has also hinted at prolonging the talks over the proposed amendment and seems in no hurry to get his or other suspended MPs restored. Though, Khursheed Shah was seen over the moon just two nights back in the parliament House when he informed the big bosses that talks have been fruitful and Nawaz League is brought into the fold by giving them whatever they wanted in lieu of their support for the amendment.
The next Day Ch. Nisar had to attend the anniversary of his mother therefore his absence made sense but his illusive absence on the second day running certainly made everyone raise eyebrows. Mr. Gilani spent some 40 minutes in the House on Thursday and again another 45 minutes on Friday just to get the information that now he has to ensure some ‘gifts’ for MQM and may be few other independents too to make sure that the bill is tabled and gets moving.
Is Nawaz playing along the lines which hinges on the borders of various conspiracy theories lurking around the parliamentary corridors these days? Nawaz Leaguers don’t want to talk on this because they want to be named in the possible political exit—which many are calling these days as assassination—of the chief executive of the country on the hands of a contempt plea.
Core committee of the Peoples Party, which is in perpetual state of emergency for the last couple of years, meanwhile was reported to have another meeting at the presidency the other night to discuss the constant pressure coming from Supreme Court and its repercussions.
Various camps within Peoples Party, however, had different view on the second-time summoning of Mr. Gilani to the Supreme Court. Those living under the shadow of the top boss believe that instead of adhering to what Aitaz Ahsan has been proposing since long (to write a letter to Swiss authorities) should always be kept off the table and in the process if another victim (Babar Awan consider himself as one or even the first one in the current bout) falls down, it will just help the party in the upcoming planned or triggered general elections.
Those on the other side the party fences believe that in this house of cards, if one card is taken or disturbed than party should get ready for a triggered response not only within party but in the whole country. They strongly believe that in this odd game of goliaths it’s not what it looks like. Someone else is pulling the strings to create a fresh breed of political martyrs to help some potential new players try their luck on the top with the help of hidden hands.
Which way the party bosses are likely to go is not sure to many MPs in the parliament and all of them were seen waiting for one Goliath to win these unending rounds so that they can make a beeline for the winners. Outside the parliament we can of course see Nawaz Sharif and how can we forget the rise of Imran Khan in this game and many other waiting for a change which eventually can bring them in power with their unannounced agendas.
Will this unpredictability of the parliament ever end? A simple answer to this is that without bringing real democracy inside the political parties and without adhering to the good norms of governance, neither any political personality nor any government is going to survive these typical palace intrigues. With the powers centered around party chiefs and political dictators acting with impunity, chances of a real change seems remote.
Hat might have been one of the reasons that repeated pleas from the Baloch leaders in both Houses of the parliament fell on deaf ears of the government because when they don’t have any response to offer the best way is to ask Rehman Malik to play around with the galleries. Like Khursheed Shah’s committee, Rehman Malik has taken it upon himself to brief the house on Baloch problem but as Shah’s committee could never finalize anything in past six months neither we can expect anything concrete coming from Malik, commented a hyper Baloch leader.