As the Mutahidda Majlis-e-Amal steps up the heat on the government on the issue of the NSC (national security council) bill, the national accountability bureau (NAB) has moved in to place some MMA leaders in the NWFP on its scrutiny list for misappropriation, abuse of authority and financial bungling.
| This'd be the government's counterattack, for which by now they should have lots of ammunition. Power politix in Pakland consists in large part of pawing through the boodle... |
The battle lines are surely being drawn. On Wednesday, in BBCâs Hardtalk Pakistan, General Pervez Musharraf lambasted the MMA on a range of issues. The government is also cut up with the alliance for going back on its word to support the NSC bill, an understanding which the government claims was part of the package deal on the Legal Framework Order. In the wake of this come the moves by NAB and the Joint Director Intelligence Bureau (IB). The two organisations have recently exchanged information on Lutfur Rehman, the brother of Maulana Fazlur Rehman, chief of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-F, Asif Iqbal Daudzai, the minister for information, and Zafar Azam, the man responsible for several ministries, among others, industries, law and labour. Lutfur Rehman is the political deputy to his elder brother, and the actual front-man for all his non-political business.
Daudzai and Zafar Azam represent the JUI-F in the provincial cabinet. Asif Daudzai, Peshawar-based officials told TFT, until becoming a minister was running a private school near Peshawar.
| That'd be a religious school, of course... |
A former ANP (Awami National Party) student leader, Daudzai joined the MMA just ahead of the October 2002 election. He is generally known for his love for things material, giving rise to numerous colourful stories about him.
The ANP is the closest thing to a liberal party that Pakistan has, he obviously saw which way the wind was blowing before the elections.
Zafar Azam is reportedly a US national and owns a Restaurant cum Club in Alexandria in Virginia. Insiders say he is an adept political wheeler-dealer and generally gets it right about which side of the bread is buttered. Affiliated with the JUI-F since 1993, Azam is reportedly close to Aftab Sherpao as well.
| Sherpao is a PPP bigwig. Another one with a foot in each camp... |
NAB, which deserves credit for having recovered billions in bad loans from the nationalised banks has also come under fire for allowing itself to be used as a political tool by the government. It is still a party to cases against two federal ministers Faisal Saleh Hayat and Aftab Sherpao. In fact, Pakistan Peoples Party accuses NAB of midwifing the birth of two factions out of the original PPP: the Patriots and the PPP (Sherpao). Insiders now say the NAB might be out to do a Caesarean section on the MMA to break it up and get it off the federal governmentâs back. Of course, the strategy becomes viable because most politicians have skeletons in the cupboard and it is easy to put them on the chopping block.
| It should be even easier when you consider the sizes of the egos involved. I'm surprised it hasn't happened yet. I put it down to Qazi's leadership — and the number of gunnies at his command. |
The federal government also knows that not many will mourn the demise of the MMA government in the NWFP, which is already under fire for having done next to nothing for the public.
| They've painted over some signs, and shut down any legal liquor stores that were left... |
Bad roads in most parts of the province including the capital Peshawar, incessant water shortages, shortages of staff and medicine in state hospitals and dispensaries, and a free run of MMA zealots on musicians (when the instruments of musical bands and singers in the Dabgari area were openly assaulted and torched with little resistance from the police) and the rough treatment meted out to cable operators in certain parts of Peshawar are all indicative of the lack of government control over provincial matters. The Taliban-like attitude is also breeding anti-MMA sentiment, an intelligence official told TFT. This officer is tasked with ascertaining the popularity of the provincial government. âThis is politics and all sides are playing dirty,â says an analyst who thinks the government would sooner make a deal with the more amenable JUI-F than with the strident Jamaat-e Islami. âMaulana Fazlur Rehman has more to lose and he is a smart politician. The question is, what would it take for him to bridle the JI?â says a source.
Probably not much. |