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The PML-N chief Mian Nawaz Sharif held a Pakistani-style political meeting here in London last week, studded with sycophantic slogans, declarations of undying loyalty to ‘the Quaid’ and pious claims of putting right all of Pakistan’s wrongs for which, as always, the previous government was held responsible. All of it was perfectly in keeping with the fact that there are no political parties in Pakistan in a sense even remotely resembling the term as used here in the UK; what Pakistan has are cult organisations and this gathering was in honour of the main cult figure.
Mian Sahib stated that the ‘tehrik’ was on now which would take Pakistan to its objectives and that he and his party were still firm on what they had said in the past. If politics is about flexibility, a little less firmness would perhaps not be entirely amiss, but such irrelevant thoughts are neither here nor there. He said that “the agencies”, that much maligned rag toy of Pakistani politics, should not be dabbling in politics and that unless the pre-November 3 judiciary was restored, Pakistan would have no respect in the comity of nations nor would any of its problems be solved. The logical conclusion from that must be that prior to November 3, when the “real” judiciary was there, Pakistan had full respect in the comity of nations and no problems, both very dubious conclusions. He promised that the judiciary would be restored, if not in 2008 then in 2009 and if not in 2009 then the year after. He felt that the judges should have been restored on the day the Prime Minister announced their release but irrespective of that, restored they would be. He claimed that nothing by way of development had been done in the last eight years and that it was his government that had made the only meaningful contribution in the power sector.
Mian Nawaz Sharif said that the agenda of his party was to establish the rule of law, restore the judiciary with a view to having an independent judiciary, end the role of the army in politics, establish supremacy of parliament so that that forum decides issues like that of FATA, and to have accountability so that those who have been responsible for treason can be brought to book. The reference there was only too obvious.
In fact, the strident anti-Musharraf mood of the gathering had been laid well in advance when Lord Nazir Ahmed, the Labour peer from the northern town of Rotherham, called for Musharraf to be hanged in front of the National Assembly building. Though nobody in the audience appeared to regard this even slightly amiss, there are many worrying conclusions that can be derived from such frenzied statements. Firstly, Lord Ahmed is a member of the upper house of the British parliament and a member of the Labour Party, the party that is in power, which has good relations with the Government of Pakistan and whose leaders, as far as one can make out, have good relations with the President of Pakistan, which at the moment, for better or worse, happens to be Pervez Musharraf. It would be interesting to know the Labour government’s reaction to Lord Ahmed’s comments. Secondly, it is not known just what purpose is served by holding such a
This washing of our dirty linen in various corners of the globe does not particularly contribute to unity among expatriate Pakistanis and this lack of unity is felt most acutely when British Pakistanis find themselves unable to present a united front against their problems here in
the UK. |
meeting five thousand miles away from Pakistan. This washing of our dirty linen in various corners of the globe does not particularly contribute to unity among expatriate Pakistanis and this lack of unity is felt most acutely when British Pakistanis find themselves unable to present a united front against their problems here in the UK. One Pakistani leader lampooning another may be the very stuff of political spectacle in Pakistan but here it somehow presents itself as less than glamorous. The High Commission, given the fact that High Commissioner Wajid Shamsul Hasan is a PPP member and given the delicate nature of PPP-PML-N relations, is obviously unable to do anything and one therefore has a situation in which the office that represents the government of Pakistan is unable or unwilling to do anything even when a Labour peer publicly calls for the head of the government of Pakistan – which, I repeat, the High Commission represents – to be hanged, very much against the policies of the Labour party and government. It is a messy scenario albeit in that at least, there is a faithful reproduction of the situation in Pakistan.
It was also more than just slightly surprising to see Pakistani-origin Labour MP Mohammmad Sarwar share the dias with PML-N stalwarts like Zafar Iqbal Jhagra, Chaudhry Nisar, Ghaus Ali Shah, and of course, Mian Nawaz Sharif himself. For Mohammad Sarwar has been a diehard PPP supporter for as long as one can remember – as he himself mentioned in his speech on the occasion. His views on the restoration of the judiciary seemed to be in total unison with that of the PML-N leader and he even went on to say that he had made two predictions in the recent past, one that Mian Shahbaz Sharif was a future chief minister of Punjab and the other that Mian Nawaz was a future prime minister of Pakistan and further that one of the predictions had come out to be true. One cannot see the PPP leadership clicking their heels and dancing with unrestrained joy over that sort of fortune telling. But it makes one realise, even at this distance from Pakistan, that there are severe strains within the PPP and that the chances of a split in the party are very real.
But if the tenor of the speeches did not differentiate from a political meeting in Pakistan, the setting certainly did. Held in a posh central London hotel, there was a slap-up lunch to reward the faithful – what many clearly thought was the business end of the afternoon. None of the usual English luncheon menu of sandwiches, salads and coffee here; rather, some of the richest pulao accompanied by varieties of aromatic curries, all to be washed down by an enchanting selection of fruit juices. One got the almost inevitable impression that the fruit juices washed down not only the rich food, but with it much of the pious intentions expressed earlier that afternoon.
