CITY NOTES
After Kenya’s messy presidential election, where it seems corruption was not an issue, Pakistan has been shown how things are done in Thailand, where the PM has been slung out of office on his ear, because he was disqualified by the Supreme Court. He has been replaced by a former Army chief, who will act as a caretaker till elections are held.
The PTI is not sure. For it, the key question is whether the dismissed Prime Minister was corrupt. The really key question is whether Thailand has got anyone like Imran Khan, or whether they have to rely on the old-fashioned, boring and fallible method of actually putting an accused person on trial, and getting a conviction. If you have anImran Khan, then accusation is guilt. Imran’s saying that someone is corrupt, imported or traitorous automatically means that that person is corrupt, imported or traitorous.
There’s another thing we haven’t tried, and that is to have a former Army Chief as caretaker PM. That is a fruitful avenue, and might come closer to the reality of the country. We’ve had retired judges, which represents another part of the establishment, so why not a military man? Will this leave chiefs less inclined to impose military ruler, knowing that they could become caretaker PMs?
I’m not sure, because a CMLA (or Chief Executive as Musaharraf was) is master of all he surveys, and can amend the Constitution and law with one stroke of his pen. A caretaker PM is bound by the Constitution. Also, if you impose military rule, you remain COAS. A retired chief is just that: retired. Thus he can’t do as much for his institution as a CMLA can. Still, it’s better than nothing. Asd a Test case, offer Musharraf the job (he’s eligible as a former chief). And then watch him jump at it.
At the moment, though, I don’t think we can expect the COAS to want the job of caretaker PM. There have been some of the worst floods of our history. Well, actually, of this century, which is not that very old. The magnitude of the floods can be judged by how strident are the cries demanding aid. The argument is that Pakistan is suffering abnormal weather because of the polluting activities of developed countries.
It’s a little like the argument in favour of kiddie porn. At least we’re earning foreign exchange. Pervez Mushasrraf once famously supported Basant because it earned foreign exchange. This was when glass-coated twine was slicing through children’s throats. No one was tough enough to actually say it, but the films of kiddie porn sent abroad earned foreign exchange.
So I suppose if a few kids drowning in the floods earn some foreign exchange for the country, theirs is as much a national service as that of those kids whose throats were cut by glass-coated twine or those who were criminally assaulted on camera in Kasur.
I know floods come every year, but these were beyond the average. Luckily, Lahore has not had it worse than average, but that’s no compensation for the devastation that occurred in Sindh and Balochistan. But then you’ve got those people whose only concern is the foreign exchange. They are also being distracted by the investments of $3 billion each by Saudi and Qatari business groups, which are thinly veiled frontmen for the royal families. Of course, as there’s no such thing as a free lunch, the investments are to be accompanied by a handing over of the family silver. Like PIA’s Roosevelt Hotel in New York, which some Qataris are interested in. Problems will arise when there’s no more family silver. But until then, let’s go generating foreign exchange. Remember, the West will pay heavily for us to give up our nuclear assets. And what price recognising Israel? What deal need we strike to acknowledge India as the regional hegemon?
Meanwhile Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has been receiving the phone calls the callers dreaded making. The Presidents of UAE, Turkey and Iran all phoned to express their sympathies, and though they probably tried to keep quiet, couldn’t help blurting out, “Saadday laiq koi khidmat?” (Can we help?) And thus allowing Shehbaz to say that Pakistan is a poor country which has always looked to its brothers. That would leave the Iranian President to day that his country was under sanctions, the Turkish to say that his is a poor country, and the UAE President to mumble.
