Yo-yo coalition

The coalition government of the PPP seems to be back in the game - and what a funny game it is. The PPP is celebrating the return of the MQM back into the coalition and the promise of the PML-Q to weather the course and backtrack on its threats to quit the government. The MQM is rejoining all the posts that it had previously quit at the federal and provincial levels, upping the numbers for the coalition. A smug prime minister could be seen afterwards thumbing his nose at the opposition (the PML-N) and smirking at how Nawaz Sharif’s party is now isolated. Amidst all the jubilation and cheer one must ask a few pertinent questions, the kind that are impossible not to discuss in a country as plagued politically, socially and economically as Pakistan.

Is the MQM so flexible and unprincipled in the stands it takes that it can revert to the age-old tactic of blackmail to achieve whatever goals it has? Is its integrity so easily compromised that a few promises to have its demands met will make it turn its back on its many loud proclamations? When it was announced that the MQM would quit the government, Karachi saw itself in the midst of another cycle of violence. If the hoopla was just about having its demands met, many people were killed in vain and, it seems, the MQM has no qualms about this.

In this convoluted merry-go round that has become political leadership in this country, one wonders whether our political barons and the country, which is in a deep morass, function in the same or parallel universes. The answer is clear. Pakistan is not just in crisis mode - it is in crises. From ‘power outages to mega inflation to suicide bombings every other day, the state of Pakistan and its people is like that of a volcano ready to erupt. So when Prime Minister Gilani remarks that Nawaz Sharif will only find another excuse to lambast the government after the current load shedding crisis is over, he is admitting, involuntarily of course, that there are many more reasons for the opposition to criticise the government. It is a fact that the government, whether at the federal or provincial levels, has not risen to the many challenges before it in the past three and a half years. At a whim and frenzy the coalition breaks and with a quick sleight of the hand it is once again restored - much like the proverbial yo-yo. This haphazard method of running a country so damaged has made our political leadership nothing less than one that needs an arena merely to clown around in.   

The PML-N has taken to the streets to rile up the public against President Zardari and the government. A dharna (sit-in) was staged outside the Presidency but the turnout was lacklustre with only some MNAs and senators in attendance. The PML-N’s ‘roar’ is mightier than its bite apparently and the public does not seem interested in backing what seems like another trivial pursuit. The public is disillusioned and tired of the same old faces and usual rhetoric. Fresh elections, whether mid-term or scheduled, look ready to usher in the usual suspects and the people are weary given that they expect nothing from them when it comes to tackling our current challenges. The vision, innovation and resolve of our political leadership are nil and the masses know it. The veneer of leadership is eroding fast as people ask themselves: in this crises-riddled situation, who will fill the yawning vacuum of political leadership? And lest there is any misunderstanding, the tried and failed praetorian solution is hardly it.