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March 23, 2008

Musharraf To Administer Oath To New PM

On 25th
By Muhammad Khurshid

What a moment it will be when declared dictator President Pervez Musharraf

administers the oath of office to the new prime minister, chosen by Asif Ali, the
widower of Benazir Bhutto and chairperson of Pakistan People's Party, who lost her
life while fighting for democracy. The politics is the name of strange events. Now the
PPP of Benazir Bhutto has accepted Musharraf in his present role.
Pakistani press attached high hopes with the new prime minister. According to Dawn
newspaper comment, with Bilawal Bhutto Zardari ostensibly clearing the nomination
of the PPP's candidate for the coveted post, the way has been cleared for Yusuf Raza
Gilani to take the oath of office on Tuesday as Pakistan's 25th prime minister. A party
loyalist who passed years in jail while on trial for charges which a court later found
bogus, Gilani acquires the rare distinction of becoming the first PPP prime minister
who is not a Bhutto. Tomorrow's vote is a formality, but with the MQM joining the
PPP-PML-N coalition, Gilani is likely to get more votes than Ms Fehmida Mirza did
when she was elected Speaker with a two-thirds majority. While the uncertainty
about the prime minister's office is behind us, one cannot but notice the fissures in
the PPP and question the leadership's decision-making process, marked as it has
been by vacillation and diffidence. The Amin Fahim episode serves to highlight the
absence of a well-oiled consultative mechanism, and one is appalled that the PPP
Central Executive Committee, which includes some stalwarts since the ZAB days,
needed a 19-year-old to sell its decision to the party rank and file. If this is the
beginning of the new, democratic era, one wonders how things will go when the PPP
government is finally in the saddle and goes about meeting the gargantuan
challenges facing the nation.
A list of priorities for the Gilani government is not difficult to draw. The economy and
the menace of terrorism overshadow all other issues, including the nightmarish
power crisis. The prices have registered an overall increase, oil prices have been
raised twice in a fortnight, and the rate of food inflation is tormenting the people. Yet
no crash programme was devised to give some interim relief to the pauperised
people, because crisis after crisis - beginning with the sacking of the Chief Justice last
March - seemed to have paralysed the government machinery. A major task before
the new government will, therefore, be to restore the nation's confidence in the
administration's ability to look after the people's welfare and work with speed to
ameliorate the citizen's hardships.
Religious extremism and terrorism are destroying the very fabric of our society. Yet,
in spite of our role in the war on terror as a much-flaunted 'front-line state', our
people are less safe than they were seven years ago. While campaigning, the PPP
and the PML-N had both pledged to continue the fight against terrorism. But the issue
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is far more complex than the rhetoric would have us believe. The frequency of
suicide bombings has increased, and terrorists are striking deep into sensitive, no-go
areas. Reliance on force alone is not going to deliver. Which means the new
government has to develop a new policy based on national consensus to deflate the
terrorists and make Fata part of the national mainstream. We hope the country will
have a prime minister empowered to tackle the challenges, rather than a puppet on a
string with real authority lying elsewhere in the party hierarchy.
Authors Bio: Muhammad Khurshid, a resident of Bajaur Agency, tribal areas situated
on Pak-Afghan border is journalist by profession. He contributes articles and news
stories to various online and print newspapers. His subject matter is terrorism. He is
also heading Voice For Peace working against terrorism in tribal areas. The aim of the
Voice For Peace is restoration of peace in Bajaur Agency, tribal areas and whole
world.