Buying time is definitely the forte of Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari. In that he has proved to be very different from most of his countrymen, who seem incapable of thinking long-term. He has a survival plan ‘A’ as well as a back-up plan ‘B’ well in place every time  things look like they are about to spiral out of his control. Take the examples of all the times his allies - the ones who prop up his government - have walked out on him, the Memogate, the NRO or the ongoing tussle with the Supreme Court.In the four and a half years of the PPP’s term in office, AZ has been anything but predictable. Friends have become foes and foes friends overnight a la Aitzaz Ahsan, PML-N, PML-Q, Babar Awan and so many others. While AZ has kept himself away from direct confrontation most of the time and played the charming peace-maker, AZ loyalists Dr Zulfiqar Mirza and (the current flavour of the month) Faisal Raza Abidi have gone to town with their histrionics against allies of the government and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court respectively, which has gained the President more manoeuvring space for himself and his party. These ongoing theatrics also serve the purpose of keeping citizens glued to their TV sets, while diverting attention from the glaring cases of misgovernance and corruption.Apparently, it was the time factor in the writing of the letter to the Swiss courts too that was at play all the while. After the eighth of September 2012, the case in question becomes time barred, according to some legal views, and just dies a death. Come September 18, the Prime Minister is expected to tell the Supreme Court that the mission has been accomplished and a letter of sorts finally written. General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and the Chief Justice, who could both have played roles in bringing pressure on the government to improve its performance, have been made ineffective with vintage AZ tactics and will, probably, retire into oblivion next year when they finish their tenures. It will be ‘Round to President Zardari’, in tennis language, as well as the unkindest cut if it happens and he is still in office to give them formal send-offs!The new game plan, which has been set into motion after the Sindh Governor promulgated the Peoples Local Government Ordinance 2012 two days ago, is a lead up to delaying the elections until 2014. The new law paves the way for local council elections in the province and potentially in the rest of the country too. Having LB polls can set back the general elections, which are due in less than a year. If the elections are delayed the present Assemblies will remain functional and effective long enough to re-elect President Zardari in office.  It will be a re-enactment of what Musharraf tried to do; only his election was in uniform and, therefore, worse.While leaders remain embroiled in either how to retain power or how to get power, the miserable millions continue to roast and die, as they did in the two factory fires that took many lives in both Lahore and Karachi earlier this week. Despite having a Ministry for Labour as well as many other organisations to protect the rights of workers, these accidents prove that there are no checks on standards. What’s more, there are countless other factories with the exact same conditions, which are waiting for their turn for accidents. Is someone even now working on how to prevent more such tragedies? Everything is passed on as ‘Azaab-e-Elahi’ and the onus of all tragedies made to rest with Allah, with the Ashraf-ul-Makhluqat, in Pakistan made out to be blameless. No introspection is done or preventives put in place.The haves and have-nots must have equal rights and equal protection. For example, the Hafiz, who has been proven guilty of burning pages of the Holy Scripture and adding ashes to Rimsha Masih’s bag to frame her, must be given the same punishment that would be meted out to a non-Muslim for such an affront. Likewise, if Arsalan Chaudhry is proved guilty as charged, he too must get the same treatment as Ali Musa Gilani got yesterday morning, when he went to the Supreme Court.Postscript: Have just finished reading Elif Shafaq’s ‘Forty rules of love’. It is one of those books you cannot put down. It is written in two centuries simultaneously and is brilliantly intertwined. The portion in the thirteenth century is based on the actual and mesmerising story of Maulana Rumi and Shams Tabriz, while the portion about the twenty-first century is a work of fiction - about a converted Sufi and his book on the subject. The forty rules of love pertain to Shams Tabriz’s understanding of Islam. The fortieth rule is “a life without love is of no account. Don’t ask yourself what kind of a love you seek, spiritual or material, divine or mundane, Eastern or Western…….Divisions only lead to more divisions. Love has no labels, no definitions. It is what it is, pure and simple.” Compare that to the destructive, concocted, vengeful and vandalising version of the same religion to which we have been made hostage, in this new century.
The writer is a public relations and event management professional based in Islamabad.Email: tallatazim@yahoo.com