Tariq Butt
ISLAMABAD: The PML-Q, hoping to get some key ministries, was tricked by the PPP on the very first day but agreed to get humiliated because of the desperation of its leaders which was skillfully exploited by President Asif Ali Zardari, who demonstrated that he was unwilling to take pressure from his new coalition partner.
The best ministry, housing & works, if it can be so called, among the portfolios allocated to the PML-Q ministers, went to Makhdoom Faisal Saleh Hayat, who had been the biggest loud mouth against the PPP in the past while others including even the aspirant of Deputy PM’s position Chaudhry Parvaiz Elahi got a meaningless portfolio of defence production in which politicians traditionally have a little say in the presence of uniformed men in important positions.
To add insult to injury, Parvaiz Elahi would have also have two other PML-Q men, Sardar Bahadur Sihar as minister of state and Raja Basharat as advisor, will run the ministry, where all three have practically been dumped by Zardari.
However, to explain this slight, it is being said that the game plan is that Parvaiz Elahi will concentrate on politics, making Lahore his base, to defeat the PML-Nawaz in the next polls and will, as a result hardly get any time for his portfolio.
Bahadur Sihar and Raja Basharat would actually manage the defence production if they would have any work to do there.Zardari did not disturb even a single sitting minister to accommodate the PML-Q entrants and allowed everyone to be in his or her slot. Only vacant portfolios have been earmarked to the new ally.
The wish to be deputy prime minister could not realize mainly due to the fear that the appointment, if made, might be struck down by the Supreme Court for being unconstitutional although PML-Q legal experts had opined to their leadership that the nomination was legally possible through a simple executive order. This is the only issue on which Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani gave his opinion, which fortunately prevailed. He had no say whatsoever in other matters, including taking the PML-Q in the cabinet or earmarking portfolios to its nominees.
Another item on the PML-Q wish list was the office of the Punjab governor that too has not been fulfilled. Chaudhry Wajahat Hussain was repeatedly named in speculations to get this slot. Had the office gone to him, the Sharif brothers might have not been able to control their rage.
The allotment of relatively insignificant ministries to the PML-Q nominees clearly shows that the sole purpose of their induction is to add high official titles and clout to their names to so that they make use of the official paraphernalia and facilities. But they have not got anything, which can “make any difference”.
However, the formal joining of the PPP government by the PML-Q marks the implementation of the 2008 plan of the then President Pervez Musharraf to have the ruling coalition between the two parties after the parliamentary elections.
Musharraf’s dream to keep the PML-N away from the federal government did not then come true as the PML-Q did not accept his suggestion because by that time he had become very weak as president. But after three years, the party has remarkably voluntarily fallen in the lap of President Asif Ali Zardari thinking that it would benefit it much politically.
All PML-Q nominees sworn in, as ministers had been longtime Musharraf loyalists and nearly half of them were federal or provincial ministers or chief ministers. They include Chaudhry Parvaiz Elahi, Faisal Saleh Hayat, Amir Muqam (whom Musharraf had gifted his personal pistol to protect himself against terrorist attacks), Raza Hayat Hiraj, Ghous Bux Maher, Hamid Yar Hiraj and Raja Basharat. Though the two interrelated Hirajs nurse serious rivalry, they had been winning elections from different constituencies of Khanewal. Hamid Yar has now won the second cap, as he is already the chairman of the Earthquake Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Authority.
Three PML-Q ministers including Parvaiz Elahi, Wajahat Hussain and Anwar Ali Cheema are closely interrelated. Although the Chaudhrys of Gujrat had been enjoying tremendous political influence over the past few decades for being in government, it is the first time that Wajahat Hussain has got the prestigious official berth.
The selection of the PML-Q ministers clearly displays its utmost desire to reward only those (barring a couple of exceptions) who are potentially winning candidates. Thus, the real target is the next parliamentary election. Not a single senator has been included among the PML-Q ministers because such indirectly elected MPs are not considered relevant in direct elections and don’t have any noteworthy public influence.
The induction of young Mustafa Khokhar (son of former Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly Haji Nawaz Khokhar), who has consistently lost elections in Islamabad, has been made federal advisor with the sole purpose of having the official sway so that he or his father will be in a good position to take on leader of the opposition Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan in the next general polls from his Rawalpindi constituency.
Khokhars are bracing up to challenge Chaudhry Nisar with the assistance of President Zardari and a fabulously rich person. The opinion of leader of the House in the Senate Nayyar Bokhari, who has been a traditional political rival of Khokhars, on Mustafa’s appointment as advisor will not be different from that of Chaudhrys’ PPP opponents hailing from Gujrat.
Syed Qasim Shah, who has performed Haj many times, has also become special assistant after a long time. While addressing a public rally organized by him when he was the Kashmir Affairs Minister in the eighties, General Ziaul Haq had remarked while looking at massive cutting of sprawling jungles that he now knows why Qasim Shah performs pilgrimage every year.
He could not contest the last few elections for not being graduate and also due to his entanglement in a NAB corruption case. However, he is very influential in his area. Shah Jehan Yusuf and previously his father Sardar Yusuf, the former district Nazim of Mansehra, have been constantly winning from their constituency. Yusuf has been made minister of state. The PML-Q decision to give two slots to Hazara shows its interest in this area in the next elections.
Although Raja Basharat, a trusted loyalist of Chaudhrys, who used to be the “deputy chief minister” during Parvaiz Elahi’s incumbency in Punjab, has been consistently facing defeat in his provincial constituency in Rawalpindi, has been elevated as advisor on defence production just because of his allegiance.
The first timers in the cabinet include Sheikh Waqas Akram, Anwar Ali Cheema, Wajahat Hussain, Shah Jehan, Rana Zahid Tauseef, Bahadur Sihar, Riaz Pirzada and Akram Masih Gill.
As immediate fallout of the PML-Q’s joining the government, the composition of the parliamentary committee on judges’ appointment will undergo a change. At the same time, Wasim Sajjad, who has been leader of the opposition in the Senate, will no longer hold this slot.
While the PPP and its allies including the Awami National Party and tribal areas MNAs have twenty-three ministers (including Gilani) and advisors, the PML-Q has got a good share - eighteen full-fledged ministers, ministers of state, advisors and special assistants.
The PML-Q nominees hail from districts of Gujrat, Attock, Jhang, Shanglapar (Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa), Layyah, Khanewal, Rawalpindi, Sargodha, Jhang, Faisalabad, Mansehra, Islamabad and Shikarpur.
ISLAMABAD: The PML-Q, hoping to get some key ministries, was tricked by the PPP on the very first day but agreed to get humiliated because of the desperation of its leaders which was skillfully exploited by President Asif Ali Zardari, who demonstrated that he was unwilling to take pressure from his new coalition partner.
The best ministry, housing & works, if it can be so called, among the portfolios allocated to the PML-Q ministers, went to Makhdoom Faisal Saleh Hayat, who had been the biggest loud mouth against the PPP in the past while others including even the aspirant of Deputy PM’s position Chaudhry Parvaiz Elahi got a meaningless portfolio of defence production in which politicians traditionally have a little say in the presence of uniformed men in important positions.
To add insult to injury, Parvaiz Elahi would have also have two other PML-Q men, Sardar Bahadur Sihar as minister of state and Raja Basharat as advisor, will run the ministry, where all three have practically been dumped by Zardari.
However, to explain this slight, it is being said that the game plan is that Parvaiz Elahi will concentrate on politics, making Lahore his base, to defeat the PML-Nawaz in the next polls and will, as a result hardly get any time for his portfolio.
Bahadur Sihar and Raja Basharat would actually manage the defence production if they would have any work to do there.Zardari did not disturb even a single sitting minister to accommodate the PML-Q entrants and allowed everyone to be in his or her slot. Only vacant portfolios have been earmarked to the new ally.
The wish to be deputy prime minister could not realize mainly due to the fear that the appointment, if made, might be struck down by the Supreme Court for being unconstitutional although PML-Q legal experts had opined to their leadership that the nomination was legally possible through a simple executive order. This is the only issue on which Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani gave his opinion, which fortunately prevailed. He had no say whatsoever in other matters, including taking the PML-Q in the cabinet or earmarking portfolios to its nominees.
Another item on the PML-Q wish list was the office of the Punjab governor that too has not been fulfilled. Chaudhry Wajahat Hussain was repeatedly named in speculations to get this slot. Had the office gone to him, the Sharif brothers might have not been able to control their rage.
The allotment of relatively insignificant ministries to the PML-Q nominees clearly shows that the sole purpose of their induction is to add high official titles and clout to their names to so that they make use of the official paraphernalia and facilities. But they have not got anything, which can “make any difference”.
However, the formal joining of the PPP government by the PML-Q marks the implementation of the 2008 plan of the then President Pervez Musharraf to have the ruling coalition between the two parties after the parliamentary elections.
Musharraf’s dream to keep the PML-N away from the federal government did not then come true as the PML-Q did not accept his suggestion because by that time he had become very weak as president. But after three years, the party has remarkably voluntarily fallen in the lap of President Asif Ali Zardari thinking that it would benefit it much politically.
All PML-Q nominees sworn in, as ministers had been longtime Musharraf loyalists and nearly half of them were federal or provincial ministers or chief ministers. They include Chaudhry Parvaiz Elahi, Faisal Saleh Hayat, Amir Muqam (whom Musharraf had gifted his personal pistol to protect himself against terrorist attacks), Raza Hayat Hiraj, Ghous Bux Maher, Hamid Yar Hiraj and Raja Basharat. Though the two interrelated Hirajs nurse serious rivalry, they had been winning elections from different constituencies of Khanewal. Hamid Yar has now won the second cap, as he is already the chairman of the Earthquake Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Authority.
Three PML-Q ministers including Parvaiz Elahi, Wajahat Hussain and Anwar Ali Cheema are closely interrelated. Although the Chaudhrys of Gujrat had been enjoying tremendous political influence over the past few decades for being in government, it is the first time that Wajahat Hussain has got the prestigious official berth.
The selection of the PML-Q ministers clearly displays its utmost desire to reward only those (barring a couple of exceptions) who are potentially winning candidates. Thus, the real target is the next parliamentary election. Not a single senator has been included among the PML-Q ministers because such indirectly elected MPs are not considered relevant in direct elections and don’t have any noteworthy public influence.
The induction of young Mustafa Khokhar (son of former Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly Haji Nawaz Khokhar), who has consistently lost elections in Islamabad, has been made federal advisor with the sole purpose of having the official sway so that he or his father will be in a good position to take on leader of the opposition Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan in the next general polls from his Rawalpindi constituency.
Khokhars are bracing up to challenge Chaudhry Nisar with the assistance of President Zardari and a fabulously rich person. The opinion of leader of the House in the Senate Nayyar Bokhari, who has been a traditional political rival of Khokhars, on Mustafa’s appointment as advisor will not be different from that of Chaudhrys’ PPP opponents hailing from Gujrat.
Syed Qasim Shah, who has performed Haj many times, has also become special assistant after a long time. While addressing a public rally organized by him when he was the Kashmir Affairs Minister in the eighties, General Ziaul Haq had remarked while looking at massive cutting of sprawling jungles that he now knows why Qasim Shah performs pilgrimage every year.
He could not contest the last few elections for not being graduate and also due to his entanglement in a NAB corruption case. However, he is very influential in his area. Shah Jehan Yusuf and previously his father Sardar Yusuf, the former district Nazim of Mansehra, have been constantly winning from their constituency. Yusuf has been made minister of state. The PML-Q decision to give two slots to Hazara shows its interest in this area in the next elections.
Although Raja Basharat, a trusted loyalist of Chaudhrys, who used to be the “deputy chief minister” during Parvaiz Elahi’s incumbency in Punjab, has been consistently facing defeat in his provincial constituency in Rawalpindi, has been elevated as advisor on defence production just because of his allegiance.
The first timers in the cabinet include Sheikh Waqas Akram, Anwar Ali Cheema, Wajahat Hussain, Shah Jehan, Rana Zahid Tauseef, Bahadur Sihar, Riaz Pirzada and Akram Masih Gill.
As immediate fallout of the PML-Q’s joining the government, the composition of the parliamentary committee on judges’ appointment will undergo a change. At the same time, Wasim Sajjad, who has been leader of the opposition in the Senate, will no longer hold this slot.
While the PPP and its allies including the Awami National Party and tribal areas MNAs have twenty-three ministers (including Gilani) and advisors, the PML-Q has got a good share - eighteen full-fledged ministers, ministers of state, advisors and special assistants.
The PML-Q nominees hail from districts of Gujrat, Attock, Jhang, Shanglapar (Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa), Layyah, Khanewal, Rawalpindi, Sargodha, Jhang, Faisalabad, Mansehra, Islamabad and Shikarpur.
No comments:
Post a Comment