Asif Ali Zardari, our former President by default and co-chairperson of Pakistan People’s Party, finally left the country in the darkness of night for his safe and luxurious abode abroad. Having failed to muster political support in wake of his highly derogatory and uncalled outburst against the Army and its leadership, he managed to escape the noose that was tightening around him.
Zardari whose image had transformed as the ‘Don of Sindh’ miscalculated the end effect of his salvo against the khakis. His strategy of upgrading PPP Sindh’s defiance into open confrontation with federal forces, to force the slowing down of the Karachi operation, backfired. Within no time, the law enforcement agencies further intensified their crackdown against criminal elements within PPP, as well as various departments of the Sindh government.
If peace is to return to Karachi, many partnerships of inevitable chaos would have to be destroyed. The Altaf Hussain – Zardari nexus has held people of Sindh and Karachi hostage for too long now. With Altaf Hussain’s bluff being called in phase one, Zardari’s exit seems to have broken this nexus at least for the time being.
One can sense some sort of political understanding between Nawaz Sharif and Zardari, which paved the way for the latters or Faryal Talpur’s safe passage out of Karachi. Pakistanis wonder how a few of his reportedly most wanted close aides, including head of Karachi Building Control Authority managed to flee the country.
Unless Zardari’s accomplices or front men who were not only instrumental in patronizing the criminal mafia, but also financing Karachi’s terror network with mega corruption funds are brought to justice, the crime- politics or terrorism- corruption nexus will not be totally neutralized.
Unless federal agencies like FIA and NAB recover the looted billions and ensure that the criminals land behind bars, through sound investigation and speedy trials, these mafia masterminds will return with greater force and vengeance. Unless the judiciary rises to occasion and delivers quick justice, we may be back to square one.
Zardari’s hasty departure may have also been prompted by some of the sensational revelations related to PPP Lyari gang leader, Uzair Baloch’s reportedly confessional video, which was already making headlines in the media. How would the PPP react if this leader, implicated party’s top most leadership in murder cases just as some of Karachi’s target killers including Saulat Mirza, pointed towards the involvement of MQM’s leadership in many heinous crimes.
Is Zardari going through Ayyan Ali’s nightmare? Is it mere coincidence that top PPP lawyers, battle hard to save her from a possible prosecution for allegedly smuggling billions of ill-gotten money out of country at behest of PPP’s top leadership? Or is there something too deep in this case that if revealed could embarrass Zardari or cause irreparable damage to PPP.
If Zardari’s disappearance from the PPP scene is grave news for some, who were beneficiaries of the corrupt and undesirable practices in his times, there is good news for PPP’s majority, that welcomes young Oxford educated Bilawal Bhutto Zardari as their new full time leader and chairman. His taking charge of party’s affairs would infuse new spirit and blood in the party, which is desperately needed.
Pakistanis want to see PPP revived as a truly federal party of the past, with strong representation in all provinces. Under Zardari’s leadership, the PPP performed miserably in 2013 general polls, achieved poor results in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtun khwa local bodies and Cantt Board elections .Recent defections or a mini revolt in PPP Punjab are bad omens for the party, which amply highlights the despondency and low morale of the party and its workers in country’s biggest province that once boasted of being PPP’s ideological headquarters.
Bilawal has to act fast to guide and inspire the party to deliver in the next general elections. He must know his party could face a total washout in the coming local body elections in Punjab, and cease to be a political force in the country in face of tough rivals like PML-N and PTI.
Even in Sindh, the PPP government under Sain Sarkaar Qaim Ali Shah displayed the worst form of governance, corruption and disorder and he seems to have lost complete control over the administration. In this state of affairs, where the Sindh government has practically collapsed, the PPP leadership should be under no illusion that its demoralized workers would still vote enthusiastically for the party in the coming local bodies elections in Sindh.
Bilawal can turn around PPP’s nose diving image, if he can ensure a change in the Sindh government by replacing Sain Sarkaar with a hardworking and competent Chief Minister along with a new team of honest and efficient ministers. They will not only clean up the decaying Sindh administration, but also undertake accountability to remove the corrupt elements and restore order in all departments.
If Bilawal wants to successfully re-launch and overhaul the PPP, he must take bold decisions and rid the party of dead wood at the top, that is not only corrupt but is considered a liability for PPP’s political future. While he must retain some of the relatively clean, competent and committed leaders at all levels he needs to inject a new generation of educated, dynamic and forward looking leaders. Only they will help him reform the party and attain higher goals and the vision that PPP’s founders had established many decades ago.
The PPP is at its rock bottom. If Bilawal displays the will and courage like his late grandfather and mother, he will not only save the party from total extinction, but return it to centre stage of national politics. He must rally around his poor ‘jyalas’ who are party’s true assets, but were the worst sufferers in the Zardari era.