Murtaza Bhutto

arrows. But having gone through a long apprenticeship of trial and patience,
the President has shot his bolt. From now on events can only move forward,
leading to the slow asphyxiation of the Bhutto government. They cannot
regress into the comfortable complacency of the past when the Prime Minister
was assured of the unthinking support of the President and the erstwhile
army chief, General Abdul Waheed. The President is a converted man —
converted not so much by his subjective feelings as by the scene of drift,
decay and chaos before his eyes — and there is a new man riding the saddle
in GHQ. The twin certainties which ensured the security of the Bhutto regime
have thus been washed away, leaving in their wake a beleaguered politician
trying to stave off the grim challenge facing her with the rhetorical tricks
which might have served her well in the past but which are hopelessly
inadequate to the task at hand today. No one except perhaps the Pirs whom
the great ones of this land visit can say what the immediate future has in
store. The easiest thing to do at this juncture is to apply the guillotine of
Article 58(2)b and bring the government's misery to an end, the climate in the
country being such that the chances of the Supreme Court demurring at such
a decision are remote. But Article 58(2)b is not without its consequences. Once
put to use, it sets in train the process for fresh elections. Are the President and
the army convinced that therein lies the best answer to the country's troubles?
This uncertainty is the only card at present in Benazir Bhutto's favour. But
even if the outlines of the immediate future are murky, one thing is certain.
To all intents and purposes Benazir's government is effectively paralysed.
Having squandered its opportunities and as a result having forfeited the
initiative, it must now keep up with the pace set by the forces opposed to it,
forces whose opposition, it bears remembering, the Prime Minister herself,
through her wilfulness, has actively cultivated. There is the presidential
reference in the Supreme Court seeking clarification about the President's
powers relating to the appointment of judges. There is his message to
Parliament proposing new rules of accountability. The Lahore High Court is
seized of the Manzoor Wattoo case. And there is no knowing where the
inquiry into Murtaza Bhutto's death might eventually lead. Responding to all
these incipient challenges will sap the government's strength, or what
remains of it, and consume its energies. To this low point has Benazir Bhutto
dragged her once bright fortunes? A world finally about an event, for it is no
less, which has set tongues wagging all across the country: the new look
which Mr Zardari is sporting. Even if the dire meanings being read into it are
disregarded, the symbolism of this act is striking. Samson could hardly have
chosen a less opportune moment to shave his locks.
Murtaza Bhutto; Copyright © www.bhutto.org
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