A Talib For President?

IT was almost certain that Pakistan was getting its first indigenous Taliban president from Raiwind, the headquarters of the popular Tableeghi Jamaat, the Islamic movement with the avowed purpose of converting non-Muslims. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif clean bowled the whole country with this 'bearded delivery', and stumped even his own cabinet with his nominee—few were aware that senator Rafique Tarar was sitting on the treasury benches in the upper house until he was nominated by Sharif for the country's presidentship. "Depression and disappointment will be over soon. May Allah keep everyone's present and the past a secret and provide firmness in our faith," Tarar remarked soon after the nomination. That was on December 16.

But the script had to be rewritten on December 18, when the acting election commissioner Mukhtar Ahmed Junejo rejected Tarar's presidential nomination papers. The reason: speaking against the judiciary. Undeterred, the government challenged the order in the Lahore high court, which stayed Tarar's disqualification, and referred the case to a bigger bench. The lawyer who filed the case on behalf of the government was the same who had argued the case for the government in which Z.A. Bhutto was hanged.

It was a slap in the face for Sharif. Having just emerged from one confrontation, which left everyone bruised, it has to be seen how the most powerful Punjabi prime minister in Pakistan's history crafts his next move. Many wondered if this was another of those acts which have characterised the "guided" democracy in Pakistan, goaded by the establishment, which includes the army. Observers felt that this was a god-sent opportunity for Sharif to let Tarar's covering candidate, the Urdu-speaking minister from Karachi, Haleem Siddiqui, to be nominated and thus defuse the anger of the smaller provinces. But Sharif is not the kind of man to give up without a fight.

As the nation celebrates 50 years of Independence, Sharif gifted to it a presidential nominee who belonged to the Majlis-e-Ahrar Islam until he was nominated as an additional sessions judge in the '60s. The Ahrars, under Ataullah Shah Bokhari's leadership, had opposed the creation of Pakistan and had publicly denounced Quaid-e-Azam as the Kafir-e-Azam. Ironically, little known to the Muslim League was the fact that while one of its parliamentary secretaries denounced the Ahrars in the National Assembly saying that they would never be recognised as national heroes, the Leader of the House was getting ready to elevate an Ahrar member to the presidential palace.

TARAR is a pious and honest person and has rendered great services to the country. He is from the middle-class and his election as president will augur well for the country," Sharif defended his choice. Well, Tarar did do Sharif a great service in 1993. When former president Ghulam Ishaq Khan dismissed Sharif, Tarar was one of the judges who had ruled in favour of Sharif's restoration. The only dissenter in that case was the now-ousted chief justice Sajjad Ali Shah. Sharif, of course, had gifted a plot to Tarar when he was chief minister of Punjab—the case is pending in the courts. Tarar was also member of a three-member inquiry commission which probed the death of former army chief Gen. Asif Nawaz when the court determined that he hadn't been murdered, as alleged by Benazir Bhutto. For services rendered, Sharif brought him to the Senate early this year.

December 16—when Tarar's nomination shocked an unsuspecting nation—is already a black day in the nation's history as East Pakistan broke away that day. "Sharif has become the G.M. Syed (who wanted an independent Sindhudesh) of Punjab. The Muslim League has learnt nothing from history by bringing in another Punjabi when the highest offices of the land are already dominated by the Punjabis. Sharif is now like Gorbachev, a symbol of disintegration," Benazir screamed. Having stayed away during the recent crisis, Benazir has turned her ire against Sharif. "The crisis is not yet over. Wait for the Ides of March."

 Tarar's election as president was a foregone conclusion given Sharif's brute majority in the country. But it sent shivers down the spine of every Pakistani who accuses Sharif of the Punjabisation of Pakistan. Soon after the nomination, the Karachi stock index fell several notches. "This can have dangerous repercussions in the future, a province which already enjoys political preponderance for a number of historical and demographic reasons. With his selection, a unique situation will emerge in the power structure in which all the important posts will be occupied by those from the same province. In another country and at another time, this ethnic view of politics could easily have been shrugged off, but not here in Pakistan where such considerations are still paramount," cautioned an editorial of the English daily, The News.

Sharif's penchant for courting Punjabis is quite evident—according to a report, Sharif has given 41 key posts to people from central Punjab in less than a year. This includes naval chief Admiral Bukhari, Air Chief Marshal P.Q. Mehdi, army chief Gen. Jehangir Karamat apart from others. "This was a perfect time to demonstrate that the presidency could emerge as a symbol of national integration. If the Tableeghi Jamaat is the establishment's answer to the growing international opinion for promoting secularism, then a rethink is necessary," says Daniyal Aziz, leader of the independent group in the National Assembly.

 Leaders of Pakhtoonkhawa (NWFP) province are furious and want to know why Sharif wants to invite the wrath of the smaller provinces by nominating someone from Punjab. "If the Muslim League was really looking for a weak president, it could have found one from other provinces," was one Pakhtoon view. But Sharif isn't worried, because the Awami National Party (of Abdul Ghaffar Khan vintage), a Pakhtoon nationalist party and his ally, has been "bought off". Its leader, Asfandyar Wali Khan, told Outlook: "The government will now have to change the name of NWFP to Pakhtoonkhawa with an amendment in the Constitution. Tableeghi or no Tableeghi, anything for our name. What have the Pakhtoon leaders done for us in the past?" Politically, the ANP would wipe out all its rivals if it manages to get a new name for the province.

If elected, Tarar will also take over the role of Supreme Commander of the Pakistan Army. Last year, senior generals were courtmartialled for an attempted coup during Benazir's regime in which they proposed to eliminate the entire political and military leadership and blow up the army headquarters. This was the Islamist group from within Pakistan's Army, the seeds of which were planted during the regime of Gen. Zia-ul-Haq who needed the crutches of Islam to justify his reign of terror.

A Sharif aide who was consulted before Tarar's name was announced told Outlook: "Sharif was adamant that the new president would not be from the Punjab—we felt that if we had to choose someone from Punjab, Senate chairman Wasim Sajjad would be more acceptable. But Sharif was not sure of his strength in the upper house.... In the end we were told that the army had suggested Tarar's name because they felt that his judicial background would send a positive signal to the Supreme Court." The army promptly denied the reports and said they had played no role in the selection of their Supreme Commander.

The drama is not over yet. The ball is once again in the judiciary's court.