Zardari makes Sharifs eat humble pie

Though the PML-N is one of the biggest stakeholders in Pakistani politics and the upcoming general election, it was completely knocked out on the issue of the caretaker set-up, as its nominees for the caretaker prime minister and caretaker Punjab chief minister were rejected. No doubt, Najam Sethi was selected by the Parliamentary Committee but the PML N had no option, as the credentials of its candidates were very poor. Najam is a man of integrity and a clean person but he was the one who faced the wrath of Sharifs when he printed a report in his weekly on their loan and tax default. Soon after the publication of this report, the Punjab police raided his house in the middle of night and arrested him. He enjoyed the ‘hospitality’ of the police on the direct orders of Sharifs and was only rescued by the courts. In his magazine, Najam criticized Sharifs’ government and later being an editor of a daily newspaper that was known as Sharifs’ critic. This newspaper was owned by late Governor Punjab Salmaan Taseer and his relations with Sharifs is no hidden thing. The appointment of Mir Hazar Khan Khoso as the caretaker prime minister brought embarrassment to the PML-N. The point of concern for the PML-N was the rejection of its candidates at the federal and Punjab level instead of selection of the PPP’s candidates. The PML-N’s wrong selection of candidates and poor decision policy was responsible for this awkward situation. It seems it had not done any home work or checked the credentials of its nominees before putting them on board. Though some leaguers blamed Chaudhry Nisar alone, the buck stops with the top leadership. The PML-N leadership should admit that the criterion for choosing their candidates was just ‘personal loyalty” and PPP’s enmity and nothing else. Did they think why their nominees could not win the confidence of an independent Election Commission? Did they do homework before pitching Justice Nasir Aslam and Rasool Bukhsh Palejo as their nominees or they ignored it despite knowing their past? In fact, they left no option for the Election Commission to go for a dark horse. By appointing Khoso, the Election Commission played wisely and secured its credibility. This decision will surely help Baloch nationalists to participate in elections, and Ataullah Mengal’s return is a good sign. How the PML-N dropped Justice Shakirullah Jan speaks of its political immaturity. In this connection Ch Nisar went out of his mind because of his aversion to property tycoon Malik Riaz. In this madness he withdrew the name of Justice Shakirullah Jan. Instead of embarrassing Justice Shakir, the PML-N should have checked all odds against him before his nomination. It indicates that the PML-N’s decision making is very poor. The result was obvious — the electoral alliance or adjustment between the PML-N and JUI broke down and the worst thing was that it had no regrets and this attitude would be alarming for future allies as well. Despite all odds, the PPP carried its allies in all decisions. PML-N insiders disclosed that Chaudhry Nisar was dead sure that the Election Commission will nominate their candidate. The nomination of Mir Hazar Khan Khoso was a surprise for them. The question is why it was so sure and why it faced disappointment? The reason was that the party has always played on home ground with its own empires. For the first time, it was playing with neutral empires in neutral grounds and that’s why it was completely beaten. The PML-N agreed in the federal parliamentary committee that no PCO judge would be nominated as the caretaker prime minister. They had no knowledge that their own candidate Justice (R) Nasir Aslam Zahid was a PCO judge. Instead, Chaudhry Nisar defended his nomination despite knowing this fact. The dual policy of PML-N came out when it objected to the PPP’s nominee Justice Zahid Hussein for being the PCO judge while defending their PCO judge (Nasir Aslam Zahid). On the other side, the PPP’s nominees were not angels, but at least they were acceptable and that’s why their candidate was chosen. In Punjab, its nominee Justice Amir Raza was active during the Pakistan National Alliance movement against ZA Bhutto. He was among those lawyers who welcomed Ziaul Haq and was appointed advocate general and later as the high court Judge. Apart from it, he enjoyed various luxurious posts during the PML N’s regime. The other candidate ex-bureaucrat Khawaja Zaheer was accommodated by the PML-N governments and was part of the team that framed cases against Asif Ali Zardari. The PML-N rejected the name of Justice Zahid, as he was a PCO judge. In this situation, only Najam Sethi was left and it had no choice but to accept him as a neutral caretaker Punjab chief minister. People have started talking about the outcome of the extreme follies of the PML-N leaders. The result came in the shape of Zardari making Sharifs bite the dust. Zardari played his cards very wisely. Before nominating PPP candidates he kept in view of the fact that if the matter reaches the Election Commission what would the criteria of any candidate’s selection there. Zardari knew that distance of the nominee from the party that nominates him would be more important than the competence and experience of the nominee. That is why he selected such candidates whose links with the party could not be found. While the PML-N nominees were devoid of this most important quality that was necessary to win the selection.