Embarrassed Generals:
Media Clampdown: PML-QA(A)
By
LampPost
ISLAMABAD: What will a beleaguered General Musharraf and his semi-intelligent
ISI political manipulators do now? The mess around them has been
growing like a nuclear cloud and the more they try to contain
it, the bigger it grows. Even the top members of his uniformed
junta have been caught it the dirty games going on and some are
already feeling the egg yolk on their faces. Their wives are asking
embarrassing questions about their powers and claims to push their
horses to the winning line.
Just
look at what is happening in this city of Byzantine intrigues,
though that “B” City would be feeling pretty small
anyway. Lahore’s Corps Commander Gen Zarar and his 3 “General
cousins” pushed their family mate Humayun “Dollar”
Khan into the ring as their candidate for the top PM slot in the
National Assembly. The naïve political arguments they gave
were that Humayun was from the City of Nawaz Sharif, an urbanite,
the “most educated MNA” in the House, had 
managed
multi-national corporations (Pepsi’s Pakistan franchise),
won elections 4 times and had a lot of money. No body would listen
to these “weighty” arguments in Isloo City. So Gen.
Zarar and others were frustrated, so much so that Humayun himself
went to attend the Press conference by Choudhry Shujaat, where
he announced Zafarullah Jamali as the PML-Q candidate, a surprise
for many within the party and even Mush himself.
But
the real shock was for Mian Azhar, the poor soul who lost everything
in this game, his party leadership, his seat, his chance to get
into the Senate. LampPost learnt that Azhar was on the 
Motorway
near Behra when Choudhry Shujaat called him on his Cell phone
and told him he had picked Jamali as the man for the post. When
Azhar tried to argue, Choudhry cut the line and never dialed again.
Azhar was furious but Jamali was launched without any one from
Azhar camp knowing or involved. Now he wants this decision rolled
back and Choudhries would not budge. There is now talk in the
air the PML-QA may now give birth to another child, PML-QA(A),
which is Azhar’s group. On Sunday Azhar had a party meeting
at his Lahore house and all the defeated candidates were there,
crying over spilt milk. Not one elected MNA and only two or three
elected MPAs may join this new group, if at all formed.
Azhar was not the only one surprised
by the Jamali announcement. Another disgusted man was Sardar Farooq
Khan Leghari who canceled his meeting of National Alliance and
is now reportedly making secret contacts with PPP and Benazir
Bhutto’s trusted men to get back into the Opposition umbrella.
The Gujrat crowd out-maneuvered him as well.
Even Big Mush was taken aback as
the Gujrat Choudhries had upstaged Mush’s attempts to strike
a deal with PPP as personally Mush wanted Makhdoom Amin Fahim
to head the new government, that being the most practical way
of meeting the challenge of the Maulanas. Mush even went to the
extent of swallowing his pride and talking to prisoner Asif Zardari
in jail. What a climb down for the man who would not even think
of Benazir and Zardari ever having any say in Pakistani affairs.
Now his ISI was begging him in jail and Zardari was standing tall,
refusing to talk to any one about any underhand deal. That is
where foolish advisers and stupid policies can lead novices in
politics to.
LampPost
learnt that in the secret negotiations the ISI stalwarts had with
Zardari, they used threats of the stick more than offering carrots.
They talked about ISI making an example of Zardari, and said he
would have to face the music if he did not agree. The toughened
Asif 
practically
said “Get Lost, what else can you do to me that you have
not done.” Later in a Lahore court appearance, he made political
statements a la Nelson Mandela, of standing firm on principles
etc.
The
credit for all this must really go to the commando brigade of
General Mush. He has produced a situation in which all his political
enemies are looking taller and he and his bunch of turncoats are
looking like the horse traders of yester years, ready to compromise
on anything and everything, just to hang on to power. But to keep
the politicos in line the Mush brigade is adopting some really
dirty XXX tricks as well. Recorded CDs of some prominent politicians
are doing the rounds in Islamabad which show their dirty jobs,
secretly taped. Any one of them, going out of line will see himself
performing on the Internet, soon. So beware!
The climb down by Musharraf has been
phenomenal. His dash to Saudi Arabia, in the middle of all this
maze of intrigues was also intriguing. LampPost learnt that in
his quest for a deal with Benazir, as against the Mullas, Mush
was asked to provide “sovereign Arab guarantees” by
Benazir Bhutto. So he rushed to the Saudis and from there calls
were made to the UAE Sheikhs to intervene and be the guarantors.
They were ready to come to his rescue and that is what triggered
the intense speculation in Islamabad that Zardari was almost being
flown out of the country. But Asif has learnt some lessons from
the Nawaz Sharif episode, or it would be better to say Benazir
has got herself educated. She refused to make any deal which compromised
her position, mainly because voters had given her the trust despite
all the machinations of the military regime. So now she felt exonerated
in the eyes of the people of Pakistan and thus was not ready to
deal with the army unless her own terms were accepted.
Another secret success Benazir had
was in the Commonwealth where her letter almost tipped the balance
and the CW ministers again refused to admit Pakistan’s military
regime back into its fold. It was a sorry slap on the face for
General Musharraf but dirty tricks always come back to haunt.
Musharraf’s problem is that
his allies are too weak and totally undependable. PML-Q is a party
of turncoats who left the Nawaz League for green gardens of power,
no matter under the shadow of the guns. They have always been
doing this floor crossing and horse trading. The Generals, back
in the 90s were furious at the buying and selling of MNAs by PPP
and PML. Remember Swat and Murree and Marriot episodes when MNAs
were kept locked but provided with wine, women and wealth.
Those good times are about to return
under the “principled and honest” regime of General
Musharraf as LampPost has learnt the law to lift the ban on floor
crossing is ready and could be promulgated any day. This appears
to be the last ditch effort, a shameful one though, by the army
to cook up a majority for its cronies in the House. ISI believes
at least 10 or 12 PPP MNAs would switch sides and some from PML-N
may also join the Treasury benches. But still the numbers game
is defeating the army brigades and Opposition would be formidable,
blowing away any dummy prime minister in no time.
Still in the numbers game, the PML-Q
does not seem in a mood to accommodate all the federal ministers
who have applied for Senate tickets. Finance Minister Shaukat
Aziz, Interior Minister Moinuddin Haider, Railways Minister Javed
Ashraf Qazi, Law Minister, Khalid Ranjha, Commerce Minister Abdul
Razaq Dawood and two provincial ministers have applied. Javed
Ashraf Qazi has shot himself in the head with the Siddiq ul Farooq
episode and his cheap, ‘bazaari’ interviews on BBC
and ARY TV. Shaukat Aziz, Moin Haider, and Ranjha appear to be
winners so far.
Another battle of wits is going on
inside the religious alliance. Qazi Hussain Ahmed and Maulana
Fazlur Rehman are not ready to trust each other when it comes
to their future political goals and government formation. Qazi
has made it clear to friends and foes that he will like to sit
on the Opposition benches, but Fazlur Rehman is said to be in
love with PPP and has already got the endorsement from ARD, which
is trying its best to rattle the Musharraf applecart.
Two candidates appear serious about
heading the Senate and the National Assembly. The first is ex-chairman
Waseem Sajjad who had to make a mercy plea to General Musharraf
to write off the defaulted amounts for his misused official telephones
and Mercedez cars when he was chairman in the past. Mush was considering
the request and so we may see a write off of defaulted money and
then elevation to the Acting President’s post. Many in PML-Q,
PPP and MMA would not like that.
For the Speakership Pindi’s
Sheikh Rashid Ahmed is a serious candidate. If Jamali, a loner,
can become PM, why another loner can’t be speaker, he argues.
He would be a great speaker though, the way he attacks opponents.
Outside
politics, some strange things are happening on the media front
and Mush’s government is bent upon proving that all its
claims of a “totally free Press” are empty slogans.
Last week an ad in all newspapers warned them not to use material
printed in South Asia Tribune.
Click here for full story But the biggest blow was given to
the new TV channel GEO which was producing a wonderful live political
program, hosted by well known journalist Kamran Khan of Washington
Post fame. When KK started interviewing politicians live,
and they used the channel to totally discredit official versions,
the Information Ministry panicked and on Oct 31 stopped GEO from
showing live interviews. What a shame and where does this leave
the claims of a free media, even under the new laws? All credit
to KK, however!
LampPost learnt that GEO was also
hitting hard at official channel PTV by lampooning their coverage
of news and events, “in the officially certified truth”
fashion. GEO had launched a weekly show “Piti Hui News”
(meaning beaten up stories) in which it showed how official PTV
was dealing with facts in its own distorted, fictional way. PTV
was losing viewers and credibility and so they hit back with the
ban on Kamran Khan.
Email
Story | 
Discuss Story
