The political circus in Pakistan

The standoff between Pakistan’s judiciary and polity has intensified once again with the country’s much-celebrated Chief Justice, Ifthikar Mohammed Chaudhry, sacking Pakistan Prime Minister, Yusuf Raza Gillani. His sin was that despite repeated reminders from the Supreme Court, he refused to re-activate the corruption case against his mentor — Pakistan President Asif Zardari.

A new Prime Minister has been appointed from Mr Zardari’s party, the Pakistan People’s Party. That the new Prime Minister, Raja Pervez Ashraf, himself has been charged with corruption from his days in the water and power ministry, has not come in the way of his elevation. A two-term Member of National Assembly, he won the contest for Prime Minister handsomely, with the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam chief, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, withdrawing at the nth hour, and his party not participating in the election.

One saving grace in this Islamic country with a troubled history with democracy — during half of its Independence, Pakistan has been ruled by the Army — has been the failure of religious parties to come to power. As a visitor to Pakistan, I’ve often had this comment made to me, rather triumphantly: “We have kept our Mullah-led parties in check, whereas you people have made BJP, the hardcore Hindutva party, such an important player in India.” That Islamic militancy is now raising its ugly head in the country much more forcefully is of course another story.

Interestingly, in Egypt, Muslim Brotherhood member, Mohamed Morsi, has been declared President of the country after a deeply polarising poll, in which he got 51.73 per cent of the vote.

A public hero

Returning to the judicial-political battle, Justice Chaudhry emerged a hero during the Musharraf era, when in 2007 he defied the then Pakistan President. With the legal community and a civil society disenchanted with its politicians joining hands, General Musharraf had to bite the dust.

Now, Justice Chaudhry has turned his guns on President Zardari, and wants the Pakistan government to actively pursue the corruption charges against its chief mentor, something unheard of in this part of the world.

Mr Zardari has sacrificed Gilani, and put Mr Ashraf in his place. But Mr Ashraf’s reign in the Power Ministry was marred by charges of not only inefficiency, but corruption too. It won’t be long before Chief Justice Chaudhry puts pressure on the new prime minister to actively pursue the case against President Zardari. This will trigger a bigger crisis in a country where general elections are scheduled in March 2013.

Business community resigned

Just as the political parties and civil society, business and industry circles in Pakistan too are divided over the choice of their new Prime Minister. Mr Aziz Memon, chairman of the Kings Group, that deals in textiles, pharmaceuticals, cement, etc. told Business Line : “The present change of Prime Minister from Yusuf Raza Gilani to Raja Pervez Ashraf is no change. Both are from the PPP; the Cabinet remains same and so do the economic policies. Hence, for the business community there is no worry or concern.”

He adds that the recent Budget too has been “friendly to business, the small slide of our rupee against the US dollar (much smaller, alas, than the crash of the Indian rupee) is helping exporters, and the stock and real estate markets have shown a positive trend.”

He admits, though, that the “judiciary and executive remaining at loggerheads is not good and we hope better sense will prevail and they will start thinking about national interest and cool down.”

But Mr Majyd Aziz, President of the MHG Group and a former president of the Karachi Chamber of Industry and Commerce, even while endorsing Mr Memon’s views that nothing will change, says that Pakistan’s business community is not too happy with the choice of Mr Ashraf as the country’s new prime minister. Businessmen consider him a “weak entity and are of the opinion that he would be merely following orders from the Big Mansion” rather than act independently to improve the situation in Pakistan.

‘Raja Rental’

“The mess he created in the Rental Power Plants has clouded his reputation and businessmen see this as an extension of the proliferation of corruption that is the hallmark of this coalition government. The continuation of the same faces in the Cabinet further solidifies the opinion of the business community that he is more of a caretaker than a working Prime Minister. He may play to the gallery when meeting his constituents or addressing the crowds but this would not earn him Brownie points. The perennial load shedding has played havoc with the country and, rightly or wrongly, he is also being blamed for this mess.”

The rental power plants, to which Mr Aziz is referring, have been a huge skeleton in the new Pakistan premier’s cupboard, and he is often referred to as “Raja Rental”, particularly by the Opposition parties.

He is accused of misappropriation of funds from the rental power projects, when he held the power portfolio. He was taunted thus by Opposition members last Friday when he made his way into Parliament.

Mr Aziz adds that there is resentment against Mr Ahmed from not only the PPP’s coalition partners, but the party itself. “They have reluctantly supported the President’s decision but they are getting flak from their rank and file.”

But the new Pakistan Prime Minister is not likely to get a decent breather before Justice Chaudhry — whose son faces charges of mega corruption — asks him to urge the Swiss authorities to pursue the corruption case against President Zardari.

In this background, the general expectation in Pakistan is of elections being advanced by a few months. So the kind of regard or respect Mr Ahmed gets, for stepping into Mr Gilani’s shoes — that were not large by any stretch of the imagination — will be scanty.

Pakistan is already embroiled in political uncertainty and instability, particularly in the context of its present icy relations with the US, which has been its long-time friend and mentor.

The only bit of cheer Pakistanis can have is that their army is in no mood to take over.

For the time being, it is content to confine itself to the barracks and sulk at the US, which so cheekily slipped in its Navy Seals into the garrison town of Abbottabad and killed Osama bin Laden without as much as a whisper to their Pakistani friends in uniform!