The way the prime minister had mishandled the Geo-ISI standoff, he has made some permanent but very dangerous enemies. The weekly rendezvous between the army chief and the interior minister and the Punjab chief minister are not meant to exchange pleasantries, discuss the weather, or appreciate the delicacies of the military kitchen.
The only man successfully protecting the democratically elected government of the PML-N, at the moment, is Chief of Army Staff Gen Raheel Sharif.
People close to the prime minister say he is anxiously waiting for the retirement of DG ISI, Lt Gen Zaheerul Islam, due in late October. The names of Maj Gen Arif Warraich and Maj Gen Rizwan Akhtar have already surfaced as possible successors. It is likely that the government will nominate someone in September.
Gen Islam is related to PML-N Chairman Raja Zafarul Haq and senior leader Raja Ashfaq Sarwar. These family connections are being utilized to maintain peace until his retirement, according to some aides.
Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) Chief Imran Khan repeatedly declared that “the umpire” would soon raise his finger – a popular reference from cricket. The batsman we all know is Nawaz Sharif. But who is the umpire? The PTI chief did not elaborate.
Senior PTI leader Shafqat Mehmood asserted that Mr Khan was referring to the judiciary, which would soon end the unconstitutional government of Sharif. However, recent judgments and observations of the apex court tell a total different story.
When Mr Khan began his Azadi March from Lahore, he was confident to bring down the Sharifs even before reaching Islamabad. Analysts say someone must have whispered in his ear that the army would play the same role that it did in 2009, when Nawaz Sharif had led a procession from Lahore to Islamabad to restore Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry and other judges. The much anticipated phone call to Prime Minister Sharif was never made. The strategy of shock and awe failed to work, primarily because Mr Khan could not manage to bring more than a few thousand people at the outskirts of Islamabad.
[quote]The strategy of shock and awe failed to work[/quote]
Some believe the Plan-B of constituting a government of technocrats was ready to be implemented. Several players were shortlisted to run the interim setup for two or three years. Perhaps Mr Khan failed to read the script in which he would have no role after the opening scene. The other politicians grasped it well and managed to isolate the PTI.
Recently, the PTI upped the ante by tendering resignation from the National Assembly. It did not bode well for the party. Nine out of the 34 MNAs did not submit their resignations at all. Secondly, a majority of 25 MNAs addressed their resignations to the party chairman instead of the National Assembly speaker. Under Rule 43 of the National Assembly, these cannot be considered resignations. The PTI MNAs will have to resubmit their resignation letters addressing the National Assembly speaker if they genuinely want to resign from the House.
Now, PTI MNAs Gulzar Khan and Mussarat Adnanzeb are spearheading a move to create a forward bloc in the party.
Analysts say the PTI chairman is a prisoner of his own words. He has taken himself to a summit where he believes stepping back even slightly will make him fall from popularity.
Rangers guard the parliament against the followers of Tahirul Qadri
Ideally, Mr Khan should be credited for bringing the most important issue of electoral rigging and reforms in the mainstream national discourse. The PML-N, a status-quo party, would otherwise never agree to making structural changes in the system.
But they don’t understand that the PTI chairman is already a winner. He has forced the PML-N government to form a Supreme Court level judicial commission to investigate the entire 2013 elections. He has compelled the government to appoint the next director generals of NADRA and FIA and the secretary of Election Commission of Pakistan with his consent – the three most important offices to investigate the electoral rigging.
The PTI chairman’s only demand that the government is not accepting is the resignation of the prime minister even for 30 days.
One fails to understand what difference it would make if Mr Sharif is no more the prime minister. The entire PML-N cabinet would keep on working and may influence the investigation.
Shafqat Mehmood says the resignation of the prime minister would create a psychological impact on the civil bureaucracy. “It would change the atmosphere. And we would then expect fair investigations.”
“Out of question,” retorts Irfan Siddiqui, special adviser to the prime minister. He said the entire PML-N would resign if the rigging allegations were proven. “But you cannot punish anyone without proving the allegations,” he argued.
PML-N sources did not rule out the possibility of Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif’s resignation. It might assuage Tahirul Qadri to some extent, who demands an eye for an eye in the Model Town incident. Senior PML-N leader Khawaja Saad Rafique did not deny when he was asked if the chief minister was resigning.
Meanwhile, the Constitutional Avenue has turned into a large urinal. The reek is unbearable, the walk impossible. The doctors who visited the site said the place was a breeding ground for the spread of polio virus and other contagious diseases.
