Farrukh Khan Pitafi’s Official Website

News has just arrived that Salmaan Taseer has been nominated for Punjab’s gubernatorial gadee. While it is still unconfirmed, contrary to many sentimental types, I consider it a welcome development. Primarily because it shows that the role of army officers, both serving and retired, in government is now ebbing. Lt General (retired) Khalid Maqbool was an ex-serviceman and I think even Pakistan Army principally agrees that it should have nothing to do with politics. I consider it yet another masterstroke of Asif Ali Zardari. Not only has he replaced an ex-army officer (who would have proven very difficult to remove) with a man who is trusted by the Pakistani establishment, a proof of which is his recent stint as a Federal Minister in a caretaker set up, but who has long term ties with the People’s Party. In one stroke of genius not only has he removed a political liability in shape of Maqbool, but extended olive branch to someone who is not only influential in his own right but also whose loss would have driven the liberal class of the country irreparably.

Granted that in recent days Mr Taseer had chosen to side with Musharraf yet may we ask was it not natural for a liberal man to lean with someone who had brought a message of moderation not extreme, especially in a vacuum where the leadership of the country’s mainstream parties was in exile? Mr Taseer’s newspaper Daily Times, it must be remembered before the second imposition of martial law had continuously argued in favor of engaging the mainstream political class rather than relying on political left-overs or religious zealots. Perhaps this decision can prove to be the beginning of an era when the liberal class of the country can start uniting again to pull the country out of the mess that an eight year dictatorial rule has brought it into. Pakistan People’s Party it must be remembered is a liberal party and any liberal man who has stayed with the party for quite sometime like Salmaan Taseer and Hafeez Pirzada cannot be considered outcasts even though they might have had close friends outside the party.
Let me also make a crucial point here. Those who have been criticizing the Pakistan Democratic Alliance (PDA) comprising PPP and PML-N in failing to integrate absolutely overlook a fact that both parties have formed a coalition even though their leadership agrees that they basically have different set of priorities. Do whatever you like the PPP will remain a liberal party and the PML-N a relatively conservative force. Their coalition is not like the MMA where all religious parties representing same set of principles sit together and yet fail to integrate. The alliance is meant for a transition from dictatorial rule to democracy. Once unfettered democracy is restored in the country, these parties will have the right to pursue their individual agenda independently. Yet I do not doubt that this alliance was meant to last and my hunch is it will during the period of transition. Unfortunately if it is weakened for a while that is basically because of the trigger happy lawyers, parties that boycotted the elections and then regretted on February 18 (and I am not talking of Achakzai or Hai Baloch, who are requested to pull themselves out of the APDM mess), and to an extent the judges. Please remember that there is a key difference between friends and exploiters. While exploiters only use a carrot and sticks policy to obtain what they want from you, friends show tolerance for your momentary failures and help you get on with life despite such failures. Friends don’t impose deadlines on you even though you yourself may have committed the blunder of issuing one voluntarily. By pushing the coalition too hard, the lawyers and the APDM parties have weakened their own power base. But while coming under pressure from these elements the PML-N might have committed a blunder of exiting the federal cabinet in earnest, I am sure it is a pragmatic party and will soon rejoin the ministries once it sees that the people’s party means what it says. I think the PML-N should act wisely by going a bit low key till the time the issue of judges is resolved. However as far as I understand Mr Taseer’s appointment does not present any challenge to the Punjab government. Had the PPP wanted to bring Punjab government under pressure it would have chosen to retain Maqbool rather than bringing in a politician.
I remember that when a few months back when I had published here a list of Pakistani traitors and included all of the caretaker ministers with the exception of Salmaan Taseer and Mubashir Lucman, someone had questioned these two omissions and I had replied tersely that you’d have to wait and see. I think the time has come to show how right I was.
To cut the long story short it is a very wise decision and while we keep losing sanity to emotions from time to time, there is no gainsaying that the reunification of the country’s liberal or even its start is a very very very welcome development. While the damage done by the dictators can one day be undone, the essence of democracy is liberty and freedom. The liberal class then needs to accelerate the process of overcoming the rifts caused by dictatorial rule and their mutual integration. Welcome back Mr Salmaan Taseer and best of luck.

Posted on May 15th, 2008 under Favorites, General •  Print This Post •  Email This Post • RSS 2.0 feed • Leave a response, or trackback