Consequent to what one may describe as Prime Minister Gilani's political acumen or the triumph of politicians' shared lust for power, Nawaz Sharif's 'ultimatum' has vanished into thin air and everything is seemingly back to square one.
The storm that had been blowing across the national landscape with all its sound and fury since the MQM's desertion from the ruling coalition late last month is over, leaving behind not a shred of evidence that the political dispensation had arrived so close to the brink and was teetering to jump into the abyss of disintegration. So complete is the U-turn that both sides are not prepared to concede that lethal confrontational posturing was even a 'deadline'. They have now agreed to 'do what is doable and leave for discussion what is not doable'. The whole saga is characterised by a devious manner of operation or a Byzantine power struggle.
The so-called 'democratic system' has been saved, as the leaders claim. But what about the people's misery and plight at the hands of rampant corruption, cronyism, economic meltdown, absent law and order - that's the worry for tomorrow. That a parliamentary committee will keep under watch implementation of Nawaz Sharif's agenda, the sop is too unrealistic to be readily lapped up. What else is our national politics?
However, the way Prime Minister Gilani explained the new development following Nawaz Sharif's "positive response" to his call a few interesting revelations have come to light. For instance, having discussed the PML (N) response to his 'yes' with other political party leaders, the prime minister says the Nawaz Sharif's agenda is now the "national agenda", thereby dispersing the blame for the failure, which in any case is unavoidable given the enormity of challenges comprising the agenda.
Another interesting revelation is Prime Minister Gilani's assertion that the real target of the attack on him is President Asif Ali Zardari, but said he would stand as 'shield', as the office of the president is also part of the parliament. To a discerning mind he is largely correct that the president is the 'target' of the PML (N). But to claim that he is the 'shield' that's a bit confusing unless he has a better comprehension than the ordinary mortals as to how the Establishment thinks and operates. His comment becomes all the more enigmatic when he says the Establishment is on the PPP's side.
The truth is that only the very naïve had taken Nawaz Sharif's 'ultimatum' as realistic and achievable. To think that coalition government of Yousuf Raza Gilani can eradicate corruption and cronyism, restore the nation's economic health and strengthen law and order within 45 days is too fanciful to be proposed as a make-or-break condition. Prime Minister Gilani is not going to change his position on the NRO and even thinks that out of some 10,000 orders he made only half a dozen may have been wrong. But that is acceptable to the PML (N) and it is ready to sit with the government. Explanation: perhaps some of the opposition had thought that elections were coming and for that they should take tough positions on various national issues. That was misconception and things have obviously returned towards normal as usual.
However, one would not like to underestimate the importance of the understanding between the PPP and the PML (N), in that some of the agenda is doable and would be done. For instance, they can help improve the standard of governance by restructuring of some important state-owned enterprises by injecting more honest and qualified management into them. Similarly, the gas and electricity load shedding can be made less painful by agreeing to evolve an agreed mode of its usage and put on ground more effective law and order forces by refusing to have favourites posted to coveted positions.
They can also considerably cut out sectarian strife by jointly conducting inter-sect harmony meetings and enhance the minorities' trust in the government by encouraging inter-faith interaction. On the economic front, the government and the opposition can work together and evolve an institutional and an apolitical approach, reversing the present practice when very often the policies and programmes become targets of criticism for point-scoring. One may not be looking at the emerging political bonhomie very expectantly but there is no denial that chances, however bleak, do exist where the political leadership can help restore some semblance of peace and harmony to restore people's faith in their destiny.