It was natural... Nawaz Sharif parted company with Asif Zardari... and it happened in line with the script. The 'unholy alliance' broke down barely a week after Pervez Musharraf tendered his resignation.Nawaz Sharif lost his patience as usual. He had begged for exile after his failure to sustain incarceration in Attock Fort. He entered into an agreement with Musharraf for 10-year exile. However, he started campaigning to return to the country after seven years and finally did so by breaking the agreement.
This preamble reminds us how crudely our national politicians prefer to break promises made and entered into. Zardari did nothing new. He did not keep his promise late Benazir Bhutto had made with Musharraf through the infamous deal. Zardari, however, defended his decision of backing out purely on 'political reasons'. He did not take guidance from the religion we all are following. After all he was dealing with the worldly affairs.
One can consider merits and demerits of what Zardari did with Sharif, who voluntarily put his weight behind Zardari to take revenge from Musharraf. On the other hand, Zardari used Nawaz Sharif by all means and then threw him as a useless entity. Sharif bounced back by parting company with Zardari and is now ready to show his teeth to the latter.
The announcement of breaking apart from Zardari by Sharif hit the sky a day before the apex court was to take up Sharif brothers' qualification cases. Zardari can easily put the Sharifs down by using his muscles and good links.
One is amazed to see 1988-90-like situation: the PPP in the centre and the PML-N in Punjab. The difference is that there is no GIK occupying the tallest building at the Constitution Avenue this time, and Zardari is there in place of Benazir Bhutto. Sharifs have not learnt any lesson from history.
Two things are imminent: first, Zardari would drop himself in the lap of the establishment to seek its support (no matter whether or not this is forthcoming, though this support lacked in case of Musharraf). Second, Nawaz Sharif seems not ready to show any flexibility in his self-pronounced principles, and Pakistan may continue to suffer.
The bizarre politics, backdoor channels, open confrontation and use of power and money would be the order of the day in the near future. Our politicians are; thus, welcoming this Ramazan with their fists tightened and sometime hitting each other opponents' faces.
In the hindsight, the Chaudhrys of Gujrat have gained added significance and Maulana Fazlur Rehman getting another chance to play a role of "wheeler-dealer". The MQM and its leaders would love to see this "political wrangling" fuming.
Sharif's decision has marred the reputation of our political animals and it has brightened the chances of putting under threat the western-style democracy we all love so much. Pakistan and its people are a little unlucky to see democracy taking firm roots. Democracy always suffered because of the poor orientation and handling of the situation by our top leadership.
By contrast, Zardari has played his cards better than Sharif. And I have no doubt that Zardari is a better candidate for the office of the president than anybody else. So far, two other candidates have emerged on the scene: Saeeduzzaman Siddiqui and Mushahid Hussain Sayed.
Zardari stepped in as a sure-fire candidate. However, Siddiqui and Mushahid have jumped into the fray out of sheer compulsion for the sake of joining the race. They stand no chance to make into the former official residence of Musharraf. They are there only to show the world that they do not accept Zardari as president; thus, opposing his candidature. Poor politicians, poor planning!