Ali Baba’s fellow
Is there any flat vacant at Edgware Road, London? That is where the future of Sheikh Rashid lies in waiting. With his defeat in his mother constituency NA-55, the lesson is delivered: opportunism has no more places to stay in the political domain of Pakistan. With that democracy has matured one step further; with that the voters proved their political maturity; and with that democracy got suitable for the genius of the Pakistanis.
Tyranny ravaging Rashid was not only that he was traitorous to his previous affiliations, the leadership of the PML-N, but also that he ganged up with a dictator, General Pervaiz Musharraf, and helped the dictator perpetuate dictatorship. The voters of the NA-55 might have felt cheated on that account. Further, the ultimate victims of the political circus staged by Rashid and alike were the people of Pakistan who remained deprived of representative democracy for almost eight years.
During his pro-Musharraf spell, Rashid defended and justified all the ills done by Musharraf. The people of Rawalpindi were expecting from him to play a role in defusing the Jamia Hafsa crisis in July 2007. Rashid did not do that because he was bent on pleasing his master, Musharraf, to whom he used to call ‘Syed Musharraf’ – to rave about Musharraf’s puritan character. Perhaps, Rashid had calculated that Musharraf was there to stay for a longer stint and that the role of the army could not be minimized from the political sphere of the country. That assumption was the life and blood for all the brags Rashid used to utter publicly. Rashid intertwined his future with Musharraf. Nevertheless, criminal silence of Rashid on the Jamia Hafsa issue cost him election in 2008. Ijaz ul Haq also met the same fate because of the same reasons.
After Nov-3 (2007), when Musharraf deposed and detained the judges of the Supreme Court, this was Rashid who used to swank louder than Musharraf about impossibility for restoration of the deposed judges. Subsequently, Musharraf had to flee from the national political scene and take refuge in London but Rashid – the last man standing – is yet to join him.
By his deeds, Rashid could not prove himself the ‘Son of Rawalpindi’ but the son of the land where every rising sun was considered god and thereby worthy to be worshipped. On the other hand, Javed Hashmi proved himself an antithesis to Rashid. Hashmi remained imprisoned during most of Musharraf’s tenure. Rashid used to jeer at Hashmi for his being honest in democratic character and loyal to the party, the PML-N. Hashmi braved every odd coming in his way and is now enjoying both respect and freedom while Rashid has domed his political career and earned disgrace. Nevertheless, a Pir Pigara may born in Rashid making predictions for others but nothing to serve for himself. The Awami League of Rashid has been defeated thrice at the hands of Awam (people) making the neo-born party taste sudden death immediately after its birth.
For the democratic future of the country, the electoral defeat of Rashid was a must thing to have happened. The first reason is people relying on undemocratic forces to ensure their rise as politicians should be discouraged. Secondly, politicians banking on the undemocratic forces to do the voters’ job to cast votes in their favour should be dispirited. The role of the ‘angels’ had marred the democratic face of the country making the voters irrelevant to the whole electoral process. Resultantly, the political spectrum got abundant pliant politicians ready to speak the language of benefactors if and when required.
Rashid knew well that his political survival hinged on the goodwill of those ‘angels’. Rashid was so confident in receiving benevolence from those quarters that he did not hide the prop from general public: Rashid’s association with the ‘angels’ was otherwise an open secret. To the ‘angels’, Rashid might have promised reciprocity as he delivered to Musharraf. Unfortunately, in the general election of 2008, the ‘angels’ could not descend in droves to help Rashid out. Consequently, Rashid licked dust.
One thing is clear that the electoral constituency of the NA-55 now belongs to the PML-N. The PPP bet the wrong horse and not only violated the spirit of the CoD but also lowered the hopes of win of the PPP in any forthcoming elections. Nawaz had to come personally to the NA-55 to ensure victory of the nominee of the PML-N, Malik Shakeel Awan. Nawaz’s arrival meant that the PML-N was sure that the PPP vote would be cast in favour of Rashid. That was how the bad blood created between the two signatories of the CoD. Faisal Raza Abidi, backed by the presidential camp working in Punjab, must be embarrassed of his efforts to stir the PPP voters in favour of Rashid: the end is not justifying the means adopted by the presidential camp through the proxies.
On the other horizon, the Prime Minster Yusuf Raza Gillani was all out to mend fences with the PML-N leadership at Raiwand, Lahore. The Minister of Finance Shaukat Tareen became the casualty of that episode. Tareen had to resign from his ministerial post because the audio tape of the dialogue exchanged between Gillani and Nawaz at the occasion of a joint press conference in Raiwand brought shame for him. Now, the need to get Ishaq Dar back to improve the economy sector depends on whether or not the 18th Constitutional Amendment is passed in March 2010.
Anyway, in the fall of Rashid are the lessons to be learnt by many including Maulana Fazal ur Rehman of the JUI-F. Nevertheless, Chaudhrys of the PML-Q must be rethinking of their strategy how to forward their political future in the changed atmosphere charged with political awareness of the voters. How many more vacant flats are required at Edgware Road, London, is yet to be seen? Ali Baba must not feel lonely and bore there.
qaisarrashid