Interesting times

President Zardari's moves have never been easy to figure out; so is his speech he made at the graveside of Benazir Bhutto before a large crowd that had gathered there to grieve her fourth death anniversary. To some, it is the last hurrah of a man who has decided to go down fighting. "We want to live in history and not in headlines," he declared, committing himself to follow the path of Aung San Suu Kyi. But to many others, President Zardari has tried to bring down the political temperature that had shot up many degrees in the wake of over-heated political scenario in general and the Memogate case in particular. One easily detectable cause for the obtaining tensions is believed to be Prime Minister Gilani's speech last week, accusing military leadership of behaving like a 'state within a state'. That soon enough it was realised that more had been bitten than what could be chewed, a noticeable effort on the part of the government seems to be afoot to retract that claim. At times, President Zardari's address would seem to be a move in that direction. Would it help neutralise the negative impact made by the prime minister's earlier bravado and his quick retraction, now followed up by the president's address to help bring down the political temperature? Only time will unfold. The train of events with desired potential to derail it is in the midst of its journey and nothing can be said about its safe arrival at its destination given the unpredictability of the apex court's verdicts on the high-profile cases now in the final stages of hearings. Though President Zardari is quite circumspect in his expression, unlike his last speech on this occasion, yet he made no mistake in conveying his gut feelings about the political opposition, military leadership and higher judiciary. He wants his opponents to close ranks and save democracy, yet he doesn't hesitate to censure PML (N) leaders. Backing up the proponents of provincial status for southern Punjab he dares Nawaz Sharif the "people seek their rights from Takht-i-Lahore". But no less and perhaps much more worrying to him is the rise of Imran Khan and his live magnetism that is causing critical desertions from among the ranks of so-called status-quo political parties. Abundantly hinting that attempts are being made to introduce "tailor-made democracy" he warned the people that only "real democracy" can deliver, and laments not much time has been given to his government resulting in its multiple failures. That he took on the apex court head-on there should be no doubt he would; not only had he addressed Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry by name he also asked him: "What happened to Benazir Bhutto's case?" Such a direct hark to the Chief Justice is usually not allowed to remain unaddressed, even if uttered in utter frustration. Should things come to the sorry pass and his party is sent packing he says he would fight back, not only through the ballot but by all that he can lay hands on. Of course, President Zardari no more flashes the so-called Sindh card and has now upped the ante in the name of federation, which he thinks would disintegrate should his version of democracy be disregarded by the powers that be - a dangerous trend in politics. While the President is largely ambiguous he is absolutely enigmatic about Prime Minister Gilani's future. Why should he be heaping lavish praise on him when according to some he has hardened the army stance on the Memogate scandal by his hard-hitting statements in parliament, it remains a mystery - a mystery deepened by the unlikely high-profile presence of Aitzaz Ahsan at the event. Equally puzzling is Ahsan's decision to return to the fold after braving long winters imposed by his party leadership's apathy and indifference towards him. No doubt Ahsan enjoys considerable following in civil society, commands respect among his colleagues and his role in the struggle for judges' restoration remains stellar. One may ask: Is there a new role cut out for him? Was he going to join the PPP deserters' gang? President Zardari's too much praise of Prime Minister Gilani and Aitzaz Ahsan's unusually bold speech give birth to such questions - or suspicions. On the other hand, indeed very tragically, all this political theatre was coincidental to Benazir Bhutto's death anniversary when even four long years the question remains in the field who were her assassins - specially, when President Zardari says 'people ask what happened to the Benazir Bhutto case' and Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry wants to know why no progress was made in the probe into her assassination in the last four years. To sum up, it is dire the state of the nation, sardonically defined by a Chinese curse: 'May you live in interesting times'. Copyright Business Recorder, 2011