Amir Mateen
ISLAMABAD: Chaudhry Nisar is not the guy that you can identify with
your next door friendly neighbour. He generally comes across as an
elitist snooty politician who may not like to mix up with ordinary
mortals. We can accuse him of more grievous charges – the most dangerous
being that you cannot approach him through a direct dialing telephone.
Imagine the head honcho of the country’s internal security refusing to
change his life-time habit of interacting with the world through an
operator.
But one thing that we cannot accuse him of is laziness. He showed a
glimpse of his hardwork by answering queries related to interior
ministry in his usual confident way. It was good to know that under
his great tutelage we have the best immigration officers posted at
airports; the extortion gang in Islamabad’s fruit market was busted;
Nadra was extra vigilant that the dubious foreigners should not get
fake identity cards. Obviously, he had done his homework, which cannot
be said about most ministers in the PML (N) Cabinet.
However, there was a touch of irony in his grand articulation.
Something, somehow was missing – perhaps an elephant in the room. The
interior minister talked about everything under the sun but not the
biggest issue that ails this country – terrorism. And this after a
fortnight that saw hundreds killed from Karachi to Torkham.
We expected the government to give some contours of its elusive
national security policy on the opening day of the parliamentary
session. Everybody seemed rattled over the martyrdom of the
high-profile army officers in Dir. This happened a day after the KP
government announced army pullout from Malakand. The area was
supposedly stable enough to be handed over to civilians. We wondered
if the latest killings would change the pullout decision.
Imran Khan, who returned to the Assembly first time after his
recovery, was seen rubbing shoulders with Chaudhary Nisar. This
stirred a hope that the two parties might have something important to
announce on the Taliban issue.
Imran Khan later condemned the Taliban killings outside the
Parliament. This was obviously not enough. The PML (N) and the PTI got
votes on the plank that they will bring peace by negotiating with the
Taliban. They need to explain a lot more now. The APC, it seems, left
more questions than answers. Our Press Gallery gurus continue to argue
whether the APC was worth the effort; why did the State acknowledge
Taliban as an equal entity? What are the pre-conditions for talks and who will talk to whom and how?
Obviously, this perpetual polemics on ‘what if’ scenarios will not
get us anywhere. The country and its polity remains confused and
divided over the nature of the ‘enemy’ after having 50000 people
killed in a decade – welcome to Pakistan. To be sure, the Taliban are
using this delay in retrenching their power. “We might not be able to
do it at all if we did not do it now,” ANP’s Senator Zahid Khan was
heard saying in the lobbies. “We can’t afford to have the action
against Taliban coincide with the final endgame that will start with
the US withdrawal in Afghanistan.”
The foremost query was: what next? The question becomes more
relevant in the light of the latest figures that Chaudhary Nisar
shared in the Parliament. More people have died in the last eight
months than they did last year. Law enforcement agencies have taken
the biggest hit with 425 people dead in the last eight months as
opposed to 347 last year.
For all we know that the political parties seemed disinterested in
what should be the biggest issue for anybody. It was not just the
government that was out of synch with the harsh realities outside. PPP
leaders continue to be haunted by the corruption cases arrayed against
them. Naveed Qamar was found explaining the corruption charges against
the leader of the Opposition, Khursheed Shah, in his absence.
Nafeesa Shah’s speech about the long-gone president and his even
more forgotten address seemed absolutely out of times. One could not
blame the MQM for being messed up in its problems. Its reaction to the
Karachi operation was as expected today as it was when it sought the
army rule in Karachi. The latest pronouncement by the Scotland Yard
about the Imran Farooq case seemed to have jolted it further.
Whatever the case, the Parliament seemed to be the last place
where politicians wanted to discuss the major issues including
terrorism. We can only make conjectures about what happened inside the
APC. We can understand if the intelligence agencies ask for
closed-door meetings. Why should politicians hide who stands for what?
Even the Cicero in Mehmood Khan Achakzai seemed to have compromised.
It was not too long ago that he said that political parties give
importance to the Parliament when they are in opposition or when the
government is in trouble. The Prime Minister takes the lead by not
showing up in the Parliament. The example is followed to the hilt by
his Cabinet. Chaudhary Nisar at least was honest about the omission
and, once again, promised to take up the issue with the PM. Well, the
present session will be over by the time the PM returns from his
Turkey and New York visits.
Tail piece: One wonders if the recent hostage drama in Islamabad
got mishandled because of Chaudhary Nisar’s aversion to direct dialing
phones. What if his operator could not get hold of him. But then this
seems as untrue as the rumour that he takes yoga lessons to be
friendlier.
The News
September 17, 2013