Let’s get the important stuff out of the way first. Has the monsoon broken or not? Oh, I know we’ve had the requisite torrential downpours, but is it official without Shehbaz Sharif inspecting streets wearing his Wellington boots. Or maybe he’s given them to son Hamza.
I hope his wife hasn’t thrown them away, because that’s the usual wifely reaction to anything that tracks monsoon water into the house. In fact, that was the difference between Shehbaz and the PTI: neither his predecessor as |PM (Imran Khan) and his successor as CM (Usman Buzdar) possessed a pair of Welllington boots, and spent the monsoons in their offices, tucking into hot pakoras and equally hot milky tea. Shehbaz’s can-do reputation was primarily based on those Wellingtons, which showed that he waited before going for those pakoras.
But maybe neither father and son are thinking about pakoras, or even where he blessed Wellington boots have gone to (probably in the store), what with their attention being on the by-elections to the seats vacated by the Election Commission of Pakistan which threw out the dastards who voted for Hamza in the CM’s election. Hamza is particularly watchful, because the results will determine whether he will remain in office.
Perhaps more important, even ther PTI manages to win any seats, he will be honour-bound to fall on his sword. In fact, it was the failure of his predecessor, Usman Buzdar, to do the honourable thing, as the PTI suffered by-election defeat after by-election defeat in Punjab, that caused not only the fall of his government, but the loss of government by his party in the Centre.
The Chief Minister of a province is supposed to ensure, through the good offices of the local administration, the police and the revenue staff, that his party wins the by-election. The ECP has unaccountably stopped him from spreading official largesse in the constituency, and has even stopped the provision of free electricity to lifeline consumers. In fact, he was probably lucky that the petrol price cut was not reversed by the ECP. And just as the hikes had come on Friday, may there be a further cut next Thursday.
I wonder if Shehbaz or Hamza saw any lesson in how Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapakse was first chase out of the Presidency, and thew forced to send his resignation from Singapore, where he had gone via Male, where the Sri Lankans there had hooted him out. I know that Sri Lanka is going through a severe economic crisis, and has defaulted, but that’s no way to treat a retired lieutenant-colonel of the Sri Lankan Army.
Rajapakse was not the only world leader to fall, for Boris Johnson has had to resign as British PM. Meanwhile, former Japanese PM Shinzo Abe was shot dead, thereby achieving the fate that Imran has been warning that he faces.
In the midst of all this, we had the strange episode at Bhera, of Ch Ahsan Iqbal being hooted at by a family, being called a thief. The family later supposedly realized it had gone too far, and went to see Ahsan Iqbal at Eid. Look at the things people have to do to get to see a minister. Surely just asking his office for an appointment would be a less certain, though less troublesome, method of getting to meet him.
The whole episode provided some net practice to the PTI, which will need it for the cacophony of rigging charges they will raise after the by-elections. The PTI clamoured about the family’s meeting with Ahsan Iqbal that it was the result of pressure from the Punjab government. I would tend to agree. I mean, when did the family suddenly realize that Ahsan Iqbal was not a thief? Or were they merely sorry for their way of saying so, even though they still felt their opinion was justified?
Well, the Supreme Court has come out with its detailed judgement on National Assembly Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri’s ruling dismissing the no-confidence motion. It didn’t say that Article 6 proceedings lay, though a concurring note did say so, and the main judgement hinted as much.
But, I’m not sure anyone should opt for a trial. Look, Musharraf got bail in that case, but he was a retired COAS. Mere civilians can’t expect any such indulgence. In fact, conviction will merely show that politicians are dastards and scoundrels, not worthy of being trusted with the nation’s security.
