The Supreme Court (SC) having given notice to several respondents in the Manzoor Ijaz – Haqqani Memo issue, the govt resorted to its usual ploy of attempting to frustrate the course of justice. The first salvo was Dr (??) Babar Awan’s vitriolic attack on Tariq Khosa, appointed by the SC as a one-man Commission to enquire into the veracity of the accusations and the replies thereof. Both as a superbly competent professional and as an icon of integrity, Tariq Khosa was eminently qualified for the task entrusted to him by the SC. Awan repeatedly takes the low road in keeping with his personality profile, which honourable and upright person would like his family to be subjected to his gutter nonsense? Awan may have successfully frustrated the SC initiative, it may turn out to be a Pyrrhic victory in the face of possible contempt of court proceedings. Incidentally it is high time some habitual liars were made example of by the SC for blatant perjury.
Initially claimed to be a heart ailment, speculation of a number of suspected Presidential ailments turned out later to be probably a minor stroke. The “all is well” video clips on the prodigal’s return to the country displayed visible signs of damage on the left side of the face. His return did quell rumours somewhat, whether these take on further life will only be known in the coming days.
With selective memory, Gen Jones belatedly recollected in his affidavit to the SC that Manzoor Ijaz had talked to him about the Memo a few days before May 9, thereby casting doubt about the timeline in Ijaz’s affidavit. The PM immediately declared sotto voice with a bland face that the whole fuss was over and the Memo had become a non-issue, the SC showed no sign that they agreed with him. In any case, a counter-affidavit filed by Ijaz within hours effectively refuted Jones’ afterthought.
Very much like happened in late Z A Bhutto’s case, instead of trying to demolish the criminal evidence and taking the forensic evidence apart, the defence is political. PPP functionaries are going to town in the character assassination of Manzoor Ijaz (belatedly they are now targetting Shuja Pasha). Focus is made on DG ISI’s tour of Arab capitals soon after the May 2 fiasco, supposedly to take their approval for “removing” Zardari. It is mindboggling why anyone staging a coup in Pakistan would seek Arab approval? Duly reported in the media at that time, Pasha did go to some Arab destinations in May to apprise them of our point of view in the Abbottabad fiasco. Such “spin” first surfaced in early Nov, but was seized upon by Zardari’s men (and women) on the strength of an “Omar Warraich” article of Dec 13, and duly referred to by the govt in their submission on Dec 16 to the SC, Talk about clutching straws! How and why did the President find time to meet this “despicable character” in a Washington Hotel, courtesy of Pakistani Ambassador Husain Haqqani, for 45 minutes during his State visit to the US in 2009?
The SC observed that if the President chooses not to reply to the allegations raised in the petition than by default he is accepting its substance. If Asif Ali Zardari does not distance himself from Haqqani, he will be in deep trouble because of the rule of law. As it is, giving Presidential protection to Haqqani renders guilt by association. If the President does cast Haqqani out in the cold, than the nature of Haqqani will take its course, where is the surety he will not turn State’s evidence to save his neck?
Political Pakistan is undergoing wholesale transformation. To start with the emasculation of the PPP from its pre-eminent status as the only real national party of Pakistan is a real tragedy. Asif Zardari may have concentrated political power as never before since late Z A Bhutto’s rule but his close aides are Johnny-come-latelies to the Party. The PPP old guard has been discarded or sidelined, some left the Party out of sheer frustration and the dissenting voices of those sulking in their “winter of discontent” have been stifled by various means, fair and foul, mostly foul. The masses being disenchanted with Shahbaz Sharif’s running of the Punjab, PML (N) has also lost ground. Mian Sahib has not helped by standing by Ataullah Khan Mengal’s side while he was calling the Pakistan Army “a Punjabi Army”. While “kill and dump” methods must be stopped forthwith, Mengal does not seem to have any qualms about “Baloch youth” murdering those “Punjabis” living for ages in Balochistan. Ch Shujaat Hussain having sacrificed politics at the altar of Moonis Elahi’s greed, PML (Q) continues to disintegrate, albeit in slow motion. By the way, has anyone heard of (or from) Zulfikar Mirza lately?
With “electables” joining Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf in droves, (PTI) now looks like a political party should. The situation is now ripe for the acid test of popularity at the polls but this cannot happen without a resolution of the NRO and the Memogate scandal, that is the domain of the SC. Political power seems to have perceptibly shifted from the Presidency to the PM’s House or is this only an illusion? The PM’ handing over the telephone to Kayani while receiving a call from Zardari from Dubai put the Army Chief in an awkward position vis-à-vis public perception about a “deal being struck”, that was probably Gilani’s aim, reinforced by the President’s return the next night. This constant spinning of the truth defines Zardari’s PPP, our uniformed persons repeatedly get entangled in such a web.
PPP are great at spinning facts but spinmasters are far different from those who manipulate the web successfully for public perception. Given that Zardari was “hors de combat” in the American Hospital in Dubai and Haqqani’s evil brilliance immobilized because of the emasculation of the communication access that is his power potential, how were both the judicial and political process successfully delayed from coming to their natural conclusion? That “filibuster” is the mission statement of the ‘webmaster”!
A webmaster’s duties include devising and operating strategy, overseeing not just the technical aspects of governance but also management of the content thereof. In the political sense a “webmaster” controls the bureaucracy and runs a parallel govt from behind the scenes. With absolute charge over all functions and functionaries, he overrides the democratic facade “as and when required”, changing rules of business at will. Sharifuddin Pirzada was a webmaster for several military dictators in the legal sense, Tariq Aziz was useful to Musharraf more in the political sense. Given his mentor’s lack of experience in governance. Zardari’s “consigliere” casts a much wider web and manipulation thereof. His unlimited access to him also gives him much more authority. Operating mostly in the shadows, the webmaster is not answerable to anyone but the “boss”. Being cocooned from attribution and calling in umpteen favours given by him to the media, he is buffered from accountability of any kind.
The constant evil that our present webmaster exudes has put every institution in the nation at risk. If the institutions collapse, the nation also will!
Courtesy: The News
