Zardari: A bull in a China shop?

[LRE]

News Analysis

Monday, February 15, 2010
By Absar Alam

ISLAMABAD: After the demise of even working relationship between the executive and the judiciary, the second casualty of the current collision course among the state institutions is the departure of trust between Pakistan’s two main political forces.

On Sunday afternoon, during a discussion between Nawaz Sharif and the columnists, when a senior journalist referring to President Zardari’s reckless decision-making instinct and the damage it was doing to democratic institutions, termed him “A bull in a China shop,” he was not completely wrong.

Many present there agreed with the analogy but differed over the strategy to handle this “Bull in a China shop” as an equally impulsive reaction would endanger the national unity as well as the survival of the democratic system.

Almost at the same time, when a few journalists asked Sharif to “go tough and announce ‘get-Zardari’ movement,” Governor Punjab Salmaan Taseer’s henchmen in Lahore were giving last touches to an effigy of Pakistan’s former prime minister which, minutes later, went up in flames to mark the beginning of the latest round of saber-rattling between the PPP and the PML-N.

To bridge this now unbridgeable gap between the PPP and the PML-N, two weeks ago a senior diplomat from a friendly Arab country met Sharif with a deal offer from Zardari. The suggested trade-off was that the PPP would agree to implement the Charter of Democracy completely given, the PML-N would support President Zardari in ‘handling’ the Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry and agree with the fresh appointment of judges against the existing vacancies according to the CoD formula.

With a total distrust in Zardari and his promises, the PML-N rejected the offer and asked for an unconditional agreement on the removal of 17th Amendment from the Constitution and the implementation of the CoD in letter and spirit.

“We cannot trust a flamboyant Zardari who behaves like a small-time trader,” a hawk in the PML-N camp, who influences Nawaz Sharif’s opinion, said. Hawks, such as Law Minister Babar Awan and former attorney general Latif Khosa, have an equally influential access to Zardari’s ears.

The result of this confrontation between the political rivals is going to give the coalition government in the Punjab a death blow, as the PML-N has decided to sack the PPP’s ministers in Punjab “if situation does not improve within next a few days.”

The PML-N has also decided to pull out of the committee that is formalising the amendments in the Constitution. Political analysts believe that the latest turn in the events would hurt the democratic process and the political parties, which would emerge weaker after this cockfight.

“What President Zardari now has to understand is that he is in a much weaker position after his latest debacle in his war on the judiciary,” the analyst said. “Zardari needs Sharif more than he needs him.”

Agreeing to saner voices among the journalists and to avoid any confrontation on the provincial lines, Sharif refused to give any deadline or demand Zardari’s resignation on Sunday but the situation demands Zardari, being the President of the country, reciprocate magnanimity as well to save the fragile democratic system from anymore destruction.

At this critical time, Zardari needs stability in the country to let his party complete its tenure in office. To get what he wants, he will have to learn to give the opposition much more of what they want. A mature approach towards politico-legal issues will only strengthen the political forces.


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