Send in the Clowns!

[muse]

Trump card
Mahmud Sipra


New York billionaire Donald Trump is known for many things besides being the driving force behind some iconic real estate developments and record matrimonial settlements in today’s world of pre-nuptial agreements.

One of his other commercial successes has been the popular TV programme called ‘The Apprentice’, the show that has spawned a number of similar reality programmes and given a whole new meaning to the phrase, ‘you’re fired’!

Now it seems that dreaded phrase has entered the realm of Pakistani bureaucracy. Everyone seems to be getting fired.

The Secretary of Finance who was recently hired became cannon fodder — he was fired simply because his appointment had been made by PMLN elements of the coalition cabinet.

The Chairman of PTV finally fell on his sword because he was a left over from the previous government. He has been replaced by a man of many words who has displayed a remarkable talent for hopping, skipping and jumping from one television channel to another.

Now unless there is more than one Dr Shahid Masood, the man who having completed his “apprenticeship” at two other private channels, is now Chairman of PTV. This is a perfect example of a man who can safely sing “Been there, done that” to the tune of Send in the clowns.

I don’t know who gets the credit for this double shuffle but as PTV still comes under the aegis of the Information Ministry I suppose Ms Sherry Rahman may have had something to do with it! Or did she find out only after the name plate on the PTV Chairman’s door had already been replaced?

This is the man who it was once demanded be “fired” from hosting his own show on a private channel. That move propelled Dr Shahid Masood overnight into some sort of an electronic media Samurai.

Dr Masood returned or was “re-hired” and given back his programme along with the more camera-friendly anchor Hamid Mir when the channel was allowed back on air.

Apparently Dr Masood talked himself into trouble again, this time around with the new set up in Islamabad. The plug was pulled again and the same channel found itself relocating its uplinking base in Dubai to London or Singapore, is it?

Dr Masood then made news again when he complained that he had been “threatened” by Mr Rahman Malik and that too, he “alleged” then, in the presence of Mr Asif Zardari.

That “threat” turned out to be a promise of things to come, it seems because he is now Chairman of the state-run Television Corporation. What value he can bring to this flagship of mediocrity which in this digital age of hi-definition television still can’t get even its lighting right, to say nothing about a speech aid called a teleprompter, remains to be seen.

One thing is for sure. Where Dr Masood is sitting now he is unlikely to need a teleprompter, it’s the writing on the wall he should be looking at!

Nevertheless I would have to raise a glass of Perrier on the rocks to the Federal Minister of Information, who I have to admit, when compared to her predecessors, is a breath of fresh air. She is in Washington DC nowadays, as part of the Prime Minister’s entourage.

I don’t know what else they might all come back with but the way Senator Obama is going around offering jobs to anyone who matters she in all likelihood could get an offer from him as well.

Then there is the unfortunate and unceremonious removal of Ambassador Munir Akram as Pakistan’s Permanent Representative at the UN. Mr Akram — an eye witness to history from the times of ZAB — is an accomplished and experienced career diplomat, who is at that stage of his long career where even if his tenure was to be brought to a premature end, he ought to have been rewarded. Perhaps with an important appointment to a country where his diplomatic skills and his understanding of the country’s foreign policy in these difficult times could prove to be an invaluable asset.

What we see happening instead is that prize ambassadorial posts are being filled by political appointees and the culture of cronyism and petty petulance is replacing that of merit and professionalism.

I could be wrong and Ambassador Akram could be named envoy to France or to Brussels or maybe he will take over where his brother got off on his way to Beijing.

Pakistan has invested a lot into the careers of such fine officers as Munir Akram and his younger brother. Let us not fritter away such assets because of a perceived missed beat of the party line.

It is a sad commentary on an administration that wants to project the image of a fair and balanced policy towards some of the country’s best and the brightest.

If the recent circus staged by the government of the day on the “country’s premier intelligence service” is anything to go by then please read the following lines from that wonderful Stephen Sondheim song Send in the clowns performed by Judy Collins from A Little Night Music. It has a marvelous punch line.

‘Send in the clowns, Don’t bother, They’re here!’

Mahmud Sipra is a best selling author and an independent columnist. He can be reached at sipraindubai@yahoo.com

 

[muse]

Act Two (2)



Editorial: PPP-PMLN: the final goodbye?

The Pakistan Muslim League-N (PMLN) leader Mr Nawaz Sharif said Tuesday after landing at the Lahore airport that he would ask the PPP, its ruling coalition partner, to decide the matter of the restoration of the judges once and for all. He said he had written to the PPP co-chairperson Mr Asif Ali Zardari to ask about “the reinstatement of judges and impeachment of President Pervez Musharraf, but had received no reply” and would now call on him to insist that he make good on the promises made by the PPP in this regard. But he said he would do so after consulting with the party.

There were other matters of conflict too aside from the PPP’s backtracking from the pledges made by it. Mr Sharif also distanced his party from the action being taken in the Tribal Areas, pleading lack of consultation. He added price hikes and load-shedding for good measure to swell the ledger of his party’s disagreement and grievance, and insisted that parliament be empowered to take all the big decisions. Needless to say, he reiterated his support for the lawyers’ movement which was making its presence felt down in Karachi after a tour of the deposed chief justice in South Punjab.

Does this mean a final goodbye? Does this mean that the PMLN will sit in the opposition at the centre and create another ruling majority in Punjab after the PPP quits? Many analysts still say — including the ubiquitous prophet of doom Sheikh Rashid Ahmad — that the PMLN will hold on to Punjab at any cost and will therefore not rock the boat of the coalition. To that Mr Sharif has already replied — it could be mere rhetoric though — by saying that he would not mind sacrificing his Punjab government in the cause of the lawyers. The question to consider is: will he be able to create another majority in Lahore, and if he cannot do that, is he ready to sit in the opposition while the PPP rides with its erstwhile rival, the PMLQ?

The hawks in the PMLN say they have stitched up deals with the “forward blocs” of the rival PMLQ and will have no problem ruling Punjab while sitting in the opposition in Islamabad. They perhaps expect a repeat of the 1990s situation when Mr Sharif got the upper hand because of the support his Punjab government received from the Islamabad establishment. But there are those in the top brass of the party who advise caution, even as some others are spoiling for a fight in which the watching Punjabi crowds already support Mr Sharif overwhelmingly. Mr Zardari has already named these warriors as “spoilers” of the coalition.

It is the lawyers’ movement that stands at the heart of Mr Sharif’s political strategy. His popularity graph is greatly boosted by his partisanship in the cause of Mr Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry. The old APDM, from whose movement he parted by deciding to take part in the 2008 elections, is waiting for him to make his comeback so that they can storm the ramparts of Islamabad together. But there are aspects of the lawyers’ movement that may have to be considered before Mr Zardari is abandoned for Mr Aitzaz Ahsan.

The movement reached its climax in June, when it gathered a mammoth crowd in Islamabad, and thereafter began its detumescence. Splits appeared in it on the question of “dharna”. Objectively speaking, any climax is followed by an anticlimax but some lawyers began to give extraordinary importance to “dharna” which they implied should have been violent, thereby triggering demission of the elected parliament. But Mr Sharif himself, who was present at the meeting and addressed it, thought that “dharna” would not lead to anything momentous and that it should be held only after consultation. He could still be right on that issue.

But the lawyers’ movement has repented its abstention from “dharna” and seems to be moving away from politics. Its attempt to revive itself by sending the deposed chief justice to southern Punjab this week has demonstrated that its support has dwindled and the crowds that came to welcome him earlier were basically organised by the PMLN. Therefore the upshot in the coming days might be a revelation about the growing share of the PMLN in the lawyers’ movement, if the black coat leadership wants to carry on further.

Although Mr Sharif speaks in a tone of finality, one sees too many elements of uncertainty and danger in the situation to recommend that he should go ahead and break with the PPP. An interim election any time soon seems out of the realm of possibility, and if the government falls in the midst of a national crisis connected with the Tribal Areas, the PMLN could be forced to remain in a position of disadvantage for a long time.


Second Editorial: APDM’s uncertain response

After a deadlock on Monday, the All Parties Democratic Movement (APDM) agreed on Tuesday to throw a face-saving challenge to the government: it threatened to hold a countrywide strike on September 1 if “President Musharraf is not impeached and the deposed judges are not reinstated by Aug 31”. As reported, the movement locked horns on the issues of the Tribal Areas and Dr AQ Khan. The Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PKMAP), National Party (Hayee) and Labour Party also wanted the Taliban’s destruction of 57 girls’ schools in Swat to be condemned by the movement but the Jama’at-e Islami wanted to keep quiet over it. Similarly, Mr Imran Khan wanted an agitation in lockstep with the lawyers while the others were more realistic.

APDM knows its limits and cannot act like a lion — as Mr Khan wants it — if it is not a lion. Most probably it will convene once again and reformulate policy to become more aggressive if Mr Nawaz Sharif “returns to the fold” by taking his party out of the coalition in Islamabad. Till then it has safely postponed action to the end of the month to see what kind of a leg-up the PMLN is able to give to the lawyers on August 14.

 

[muse]

Editorial from The News

More downs than ups



Saturday, August 02, 2008
Prime Minister Gilani's first trip to the US is over. The assessments are beginning to come in. Some of them are rather worrying. Reports say the prime minister was found lacking in depth of understanding and vision when answering questions put by audiences that included experts on South Asia. His rather limited responses when faced with tough questions on terrorism, the key issue for the moment, impressed few. The prime minister was also, according to media reports, shown evidence of ISI links with key militants. His denial since then that any problem exists is hardly reassuring. In the first place the comments hold no credibility. Secondly, cover-ups solve no problems. In fact they play a part in allowing issues to grow and assume more dangerous proportions.

On a slightly more positive note, the prime minister's pleasant personality seems to have won him some friends. He also spoke consistently of the need to combat terror for the sake of Pakistan and not the US, and this too has gone down well. But in the final analysis, the prime minister has failed to prove, despite his repeated claims, that he is his 'own' man. Most citizens in Pakistan are convinced that real decision making takes place elsewhere. US leaders too seem to have understood, at the end of the visit, that this is the reality of the new Pakistan. The visit indeed was seen in the US as an opportunity to assess the current Pakistani leadership. Some key analysts in Washington are now reported to have expressed concern over the nature of the setup in Pakistan and seem unconvinced that Mr Gilani has the dynamism needed to rescue the country from its state of crisis. This may be a rather harsh judgment on a man who has moved into the prime ministerial hot seat only months ago. While he may not be an especially slick speaker, Mr Gilani has shown he speaks from the heart. This in itself is a rare quality. But the fact is that life in public office is tough and the demands it imposes are formidable. There are questions at present over whether the prime minister has so far come up to the mark.

This raises some disturbing questions. For Pakistan, it is essential that the latest period of democracy deliver. As US commentators have noted, there are fewer and fewer options left. The present leadership must then show it can make a difference. After all, long years of autocratic rule have plunged Pakistan into the desperate situation it today faces. The elected leadership must muster strength and pull it out of these depths. The people who make up parliament today have after all been selected by millions of voters. They must then rise up to the expectations of this electorate.

It is, however, unfair to judge leaders on the basis of their speaking ability or apparent intellectualism alone. What is crucial is that the prime minister and his team, in the first place, demonstrate that they are truly behind the tasks of decision making and that the country is indeed run by the cabinet and not by other figures who manipulate matters from behind the scenes. Tough issues, including those of militancy, must be tackled head on and so too must the concerns raised about the ISI. Such serious charges of a nexus with militants cannot simply be ignored, particularly as video footage proving these links has reportedly been put before the prime minister. The key task is to set up a team that can address these issues. The many experts in various fields within Pakistan can be called on to assist the cabinet in this. After all, politicians are themselves rarely masters of intricate economic or security issues. Most important of all is the need for the government to demonstrate it is truly in charge and has the ability to unravel issues. So far conviction in this regard is lacking and such lack of faith can only add to the problems faced by the Gilani-led set-up.

 

[fatman17]

^^^i am not surprised. it also proves that our point-man in washington the in-domitable Mr, H.Haqqani seems to have egg on his face. the PM was not briefied properly by his team esp the FM and the ambassador.

 

[muse]

Both Haqqani and Sherry Rahman are supposedly "media" persons (walla)

 

[fatman17]

Both Haqqani and Sherry Rahman are supposedly "media" persons (walla)

all talk and no substance!