Zardari: A Matchless Maverick -
Philosophy Of Mr. Zardari's Inimitable Politicking
Style
08 April 2012
By Saeed Qureshi
According to certain covert and overt reports, the sky
rocketing clout of Babar Awan is now fast plummeting
and might have already hit the abyss of ignominy. Here
are reports doing the rounds that president Asif
Zardari's disgust or displeasure with a close cohort
has reached the pinnacle point and he is even averse
to seeing him in party meetings. Of late his name as a
special member of the Parliamentary Committee on
National Security has been withdrawn and Qamar Zaman
Kaira has been appointed in his place.
Babar Awan has not only been the vice chairmen of the
PPP but also the frontline lancer to beat back the
attacks on the PPP from political adversaries, the
press and even the judiciary. But pride hath a fall or
more explicitly the higher one goes the steeper one
falls, are the clichés that comprehensively portray
the emerging situation in regards to Babar Awan's
ongoing pitiable plight.
As ill luck would have it, his downfall started with
his seeking exemption from representing himself as a
defense witness in support of the Prime Minister
Gilani in the Supreme Court on the serious issue of
writing a letter to the Swiss authorities for the
reopening of the money laundering cases against
president Zardari. That ill-fated decision was deemed
to be a breach of trust and indeed a betrayal by the
president and the prime minister.
The annoyance of the PPP's high command was so intense
that subsequent damage control or the containment of
the stupendously harmful fallout became impossible for
Awan: an overly blunt, fire-spitting, and as
egregiously aggressive in his posturing as
presumptuous in his unguarded outpouring.
He suffered from a double jeopardy for his scornful
comments against the judiciary when the Supreme Court
indefinitely suspended his license to practice law.
The Supreme Court further asked the Federal Government
to appoint someone else as their lawyer in the
Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto's murder case. Such are
tribulations of politics that a high profile celebrity
can become an object of indifference and degradation
like a swing of pendulum from a dazzling eminence to a
murky disgrace.
But that was digression. The subject of my today's
column was to highlight and bring into sharp focus the
inimitable genius of President Asif Ali Zardari to
browbeat his political contenders in political
brinkmanship. He has kept at bay the Nawaz League and
despite their stiff adversarial demeanor they cannot
effectively move to discredit or dislodge him because
of the lurking paranoid of the army's take over.
The most astounding accomplishment of AAZ is to bridle
his two shrewish and unpredictable coalition partners
namely ANP and MQM by conceding to their demands
howsoever untenable and excessive those might be. But
more amazing and perhaps befuddling is the
unconditional partnership from the Pakistan Muslim
league( Q) whose leaders not long ago would heap all
sorts of indignities and loathsome curses on PPP, its
founder members, the Bhutto family and the incumbent
ruling leadership of the PPP.
Mr. Zardari will not defend a person who declined to
defend his prime minister in a court. If he is reputed
to be a friend of friends, he is also notorious for
going tooth and nail against those who betray or ditch
him. The hearsay is that a prominent PPP stalwart
Senator Raza Rabbani was also administered the same
unpalatable dose of invectives and harsh tongue
lashing when he tried to assert himself beyond his
permitted stature. Otherwise he is a gentleman and a
scholarly figure in his own right.
Coming back to Asif Zardari's political jugglery and
genetically endowed ingenuity to stand his ground and
outmaneuver and outflank his contenders. The several
scores of political storms and tornadoes swirling
around the power boat of PPP, could have been driven
away only by an ingenious and a maverick as Zardari
happens to be. His making coalitions and breaking
these and then realigning with new political forces to
buoy up the head of the PPP above the turbulent waters
would be written in Pakistan's history as a craft that
was an exclusive preserve of Asif Ali Zardari.
Although he must have been tremendously frustrated by
the unending demands of both MQM and ANP which some
time are untenable, yet he did not let them off the
hook and kept pandering to them with conceding to
their demands by readily responding with quick
compliance.
He did not bother about JUI's parting company with the
PPP''s coalition government. Nor did be pamper or went
extra mile in case of the PMLN that otherwise was
crucial partners in the government. The two major
parties together in government could have the ideal
paradigm for a stable functioning of the democratic
dispensation.
He deliberately created frivolous bottlenecks and went
back on his written commitments with them to leave the
coalition on their own. In effect, however, he was
quite mindful that PMNL as a coalition partner would
be a millstone around the neck of PPP all along. He
used this second largest party for gaining an absolute
consensus for his own election in the parliament and
then pushed them away with a slight jerk of his leg.
With consummate shrewdness he has managed to sideline
the army's overbearing role especially that of the
military intelligence wing and ISI in the government
affairs that they have been playing by open and
clandestine dictations. The Osama Ben Laden
assassination at Abbottabad proved to be a blessing in
disguise and kind of proverbial silver lining for PPP
government that further undermined and diluted the
influence of the army beyond their military ambit.
He kept every political party in good humor till he
was unanimously elected as the President of Pakistan.
He kept away the utilization of the army to restore
law and order in Karachi and elsewhere in Pakistan
despite ubiquitous clamors and louder calls from both
public and the politicians. His knack to smile away
every adversity that befell and are still on the way
is a rare demonstration of his taking the challenges
with fortitude, confidence and ease of manners.
The bedrock of his political acumen and approach
towards the politicians and also the neighbors of
Pakistan can be summed up in one word: reconciliation.
No one among the politicians who were in power has
exhibited such large-heatedness and patently forgiving
postures that have turned out to be amazingly
rewarding for PPP government.
Apparently he never looked to be provoked or
outrageous or retaliatory to the persistent smearing
of his character by the press corps, the political
rank and file and the cross section of the Pakistani
society.
He has remained visibly unmoved, unconcerned and
brushed away the vituperation of being the most
corrupt president of Pakistan. He is also accused of
being an accomplice in the brutal assassination of his
wife and circumventing her will or fabricating it to
replace her. He seldom takes seriously the accusing
fingers pointed at him for his alleged involvement in
the murder of Benazir and his brother in law Mir
Murtaza Bhutto.
There are such disquieting and nerve-shattering
stigmas against him that should have the intensity to
knock any one's brains out. But he has been on the
whole tolerant and defiantly embarked upon his chosen
path of remaining cool and composed to the extent of
being thick-skinned. And that policy of exceptional
appeasement has paid dividends to him. This attitude
of pervasive accommodation is not applicable to the
party cohorts who would betray him. After all he has
the Baloch blood running in his veins.
That is the cardinal reason that the PPP government
that is sunk up to neck in corruption cesspool and
exposed to a host of legal, financial and moral scams
and scandals is still hanging on to power for four
years now. Mr. Zardari himself is retaining his
coveted presidency for more than three years. These
are laudable and momentous achievements if judged in
the face of the crises that hover round the PPP
government and its charlatans from prime minister to
an MNA and further down.
So Makhdoom Javed Hashmi brilliantly summed up the
entire philosophy of Mr. Zardari's inimitable
politicking style by saying that one needs to be a PhD
in understating how Mr. Zardari conducts himself in
politics, deflects the poignant challenges, disarms
the opponents and emerges unscathed.
©
EsinIslam.Com
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