Articles of the year 2015
Published on June 16th 2015
LAHORE: The election of a dacoit on the PML-N ticket spotlights flaw in the scrutiny system both on the political and election commission side.
This was the headline in the Nation of the 5th November 2015.
There were reports of how the PMLN leadership had taken serious note of this matter and a high level enquiry old be held to establish the fault lines that allowed such an incident. This scrutiny is desperately needed, as the upper echelons of the political parties have already allowed a person convicted of felony to be elected unopposed to the highest office of the land- the Presidency of Pakistan. The system has already been twisted beyond repair, and allowed this President to usher in a Prime Minister who was involved in a cheque for 450 million Rs to be received in the PM house itself. This case is still pending in the courts.
Surely this does seem to prove that criminals have already ensconced themselves in high office where no doubt they are executing more corrupt deals. Both PPP Prime Ministers stand convicted of serious economic crimes, and are awaiting conviction. This is just the tip of the iceberg, and only Heaven knows how many such criminals have slipped through the net using loopholes conveniently placed to assist their escape.
This does bring us to the all important issue of the PPP bouncing back into play. The political forces including Imran Khan seem to be giving a wide berth as if Sind is the political heritage of the Bhuttos- a private preserve meant only for the Bhuttos, and even the Zardari children need a Bhutto suffix to have any chance in Sind. Meanwhile Faryal Zardari would be defacto supremo running the show. This facile manipulation of the names, and the acceptance by Imran and Nawaz of the Bhutto/Zardari dominance over Sind shows how completely the areas have been demarcated and accepted by Imran ,Nawaz, and the Army. Except for Pagaro all the other Sindhis acknowledge their subservience to the Bhuttos. This was stamped in place by the relegation of the Soomros to a distant second place in the provincial hierarchy by Zia ulhaq when he chose Junejo over Soomro as Prime Minister. The Soomros have never recovered their true front ranking, and the Junejos are too small a tribe, to mount a serious challenge to the power of Pagaro. The Soomros were the larger tribe, and had many members well placed in the bureaucracy while, the Junejos other than Mohd Khan were relatively unknown, and after Mohd Khan’s death their influence has waned considerably. The only other name could be the Jam Sadiq Ali clan, that gained tremendous influence through Sadiq Ali’s time as Chief Minister of Sindh, which has been far in excess of his successors, who have been sadly disappointing in performance and have suffered in consequence.
This is a short sketch of the power structure of Sindh, and the above does not explain the lack of a serious challenge to the Bhuttos, and worse the wide room being given by the Nawaz/Imran/Army, to allowing patronage to a new entrant. This is intriguing, and inexplicable. Nawaz and Imran have not visited Sindh, and this is staying any attempts by the new entrants in the provincial power game. Nawaz it appears is abiding by his earlier promise of support to Zardari for his ‘five year deal’. But is this fair to the PMLN, or to Sindh? Let alone the effect on the Federation? Even the Army should sit up and take notice of the vacuum created in Sindh allowing a corrupt PPP to continue its plunderous reign, that is giving the otherwise sterling performance of the Army a bad name. Everyone has started to believe that Zardari has forced the mighty Pakistan army to blink, and worse slowed the Army cleanup campaign and may even have halted the cleanup. The whole of Pakistan is expecting Gen Shareef to launch a real cleansing of the Augean stables, but the gradual slowdown has worried the people, and is damaging the good work that has been achieved in the Northern areas, and in Karachi. But if the same faces appear again, and Zardari and co are seen to be enjoying their ill gotten gains in nearby Dubai, seemingly thumbing their noses at the Pakistan establishment and the Pakistani Army.
Gen Raheel Sharif is at the crossroads for himself and the country. A wrong turn could be devastating for all that believe in him, and could leave Pakistan at the mercy of people who have plundered the Nation, and have proved themselves to be the biggest enemies of Pakistan.