One of the engaging subjects being debated these days is the future of the left-of-centre Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), the last ruling party — and before its rout in the general elections earlier this year, the only truly representative national political force. The interest centres around the leadership of a party, whose fortunes have long been intertwined with that of the Bhuttos. So magnetic has been the allure that the PPP is virtually inconceivable without the countrys most famous political surname. Technically speaking, the PPP was without a Bhutto at the helm for the first time even as it completed an epoch-making five-year term last May, but no-one disputes that its comeback into power in 2008 was owed to a sympathy wave generated by the martyrdom of two-time prime minister Benazir Bhutto, who was silenced in a gun-cum-suicide attack following her last public rally on the eve of the elections in late December 2007. It is such an emotive issue that last summer when I broached the subject with the-then Interior Minister Rehman Malik — a close confidante of Ms Bhutto — he bristled. How is the PPP going to contend with the spectre of a Bhutto-less campaign, I asked. Retreating into a monologue of a party whose every worker is a Bhutto, Malik appeared ill-at-ease with the poser. The spectacular surrender this year confirmed the worst fears of many a commentator even though strictly speaking, Bilawal, Benazirs and the just exited president Asif Zardaris son, did manage a couple of video-linked addresses from the safe confines of the UAE. Zardari, whose tales of alleged corruption are legion and date back to the time his spouse was in power the first time in 1988, spent most of his presidential term clinging onto a constitutional immunity from legal challenges at the hands of the highest court in the land. The general consensus was that despite his shrewd and deft ability to survive, he was always going to be a political liability for the countrys premier secular party, come the poll hour. This is why Bilawals much anticipated ascension to the hot seat — technically, he has been the party chairman since 2007 but only in name and under the shadows of his father — is being watched closely. Bilawals rabble rousing enunciation at a grand party meeting recently is being seen as the first step to regaining lost ground by going back to the tried-and-tested formula of having a Bhutto at the helm. Speculation is rife that Bilawal will enter parliament after his aunt vacates a seat in the National Assembly — lower house of Pakistans bicameral legislature — from Larkana where his illustrious mother won all elections she contested. That, of course is the easier part. But will the apparent filling up of old wine in a new bottle work in todays Pakistan that is deeply suspicious of a party it has romanced with some abandon but come to grief with, in the end — particularly, in the Zardari-led era? To sympathise with Bilawal, it is no mean task reviving the fortunes of a party that is ebbing away, and whose leadership is essentially a crown of thorns for all practical purposes given the serious security threats it faces for its unapologetic stance on the menace of terrorism on the one hand, and an uneasy history of co-existing with a hostile military establishment, judiciary and even the media, on the other. However, for the first time in two decades the party not only knows where it stands, its work is cut out for it. The partys biggest failures — despite the admittedly tough obstacles — were not being able to lift the economy, fight terrorism and manage good governance. From the countrys biggest party, the PPP has effectively been reduced to running the show in its home province. The PPP has lost the confidence of a staggering seven million voters between the 2008 and 2013 elections. This was its worst electoral performance in four decades except for the 1997 elections. But all that is over. The party can continue clinging to the status quo of tight-fisted, non-democratic in-house management style that has seen some of the best politicians it possessed sidelined for the last six years and be content with lording aimlessly over Sindh. Or it can reinvent itself and make itself relevant for a changing Pakistan. Bilawal has set both a goal and timeline with an accent on the 2018 elections. While that is all very well, he failed to spell out a mission. All parties aim to win power in elections. So just in themselves what good are a goal and timeline? Surely, a partys work doesnt stop at winning polls. Whats the longer-term mission of PPP, and how will it be defined in the rapidly changing, increasingly cynical and eminently exhausted Pakistan is what a voter would like to know. What people are looking for are not the politics of Right, Left and Centre but simply that a new compact between the state and the citizens puts the latter at the centre of the formers service. The author is a senior journalist based in Islamabad. All the views and opinions expressed in the article are solely those of the author and do not reflect those of Times of Oman. 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Technically speaking, the PPP was without a Bhutto at the helm for the first time even as it completed an epoch-making five-year term last May, but no-one disputes that its comeback into power in 2008 was owed to a sympathy wave generated by the martyrdom of two-time prime minister Benazir Bhutto, who was silenced in a gun-cum-suicide attack following her last public rally on the eve of the elections in late December 2007. It is such an emotive issue that last summer when I broached the subject with the-then Interior Minister Rehman Malik — a close confidante of Ms Bhutto — he bristled. How is the PPP going to contend with the spectre of a Bhutto-less campaign, I asked. Retreating into a monologue of a party whose every worker is a Bhutto, Malik appeared ill-at-ease with the poser. The spectacular surrender this year confirmed the worst fears of many a commentator even though strictly speaking, Bilawal, Benazirs and the just exited president Asif Zardaris son, did manage a couple of video-linked addresses from the safe confines of the UAE. Zardari, whose tales of alleged corruption are legion and date back to the time his spouse was in power the first time in 1988, spent most of his presidential term clinging onto a constitutional immunity from legal challenges at the hands of the highest court in the land. The general consensus was that despite his shrewd and deft ability to survive, he was always going to be a political liability for the countrys premier secular party, come the poll hour. This is why Bilawals much anticipated ascension to the hot seat — technically, he has been the party chairman since 2007 but only in name and under the shadows of his father — is being watched closely. Bilawals rabble rousing enunciation at a grand party meeting recently is being seen as the first step to regaining lost ground by going back to the tried-and-tested formula of having a Bhutto at the helm. Speculation is rife that Bilawal will enter parliament after his aunt vacates a seat in the National Assembly — lower house of Pakistans bicameral legislature — from Larkana where his illustrious mother won all elections she contested. That, of course is the easier part. But will the apparent filling up of old wine in a new bottle work in todays Pakistan that is deeply suspicious of a party it has romanced with some abandon but come to grief with, in the end — particularly, in the Zardari-led era? To sympathise with Bilawal, it is no mean task reviving the fortunes of a party that is ebbing away, and whose leadership is essentially a crown of thorns for all practical purposes given the serious security threats it faces for its unapologetic stance on the menace of terrorism on the one hand, and an uneasy history of co-existing with a hostile military establishment, judiciary and even the media, on the other. However, for the first time in two decades the party not only knows where it stands, its work is cut out for it. The partys biggest failures — despite the admittedly tough obstacles — were not being able to lift the economy, fight terrorism and manage good governance. From the countrys biggest party, the PPP has effectively been reduced to running the show in its home province. The PPP has lost the confidence of a staggering seven million voters between the 2008 and 2013 elections. This was its worst electoral performance in four decades except for the 1997 elections. But all that is over. The party can continue clinging to the status quo of tight-fisted, non-democratic in-house management style that has seen some of the best politicians it possessed sidelined for the last six years and be content with lording aimlessly over Sindh. Or it can reinvent itself and make itself relevant for a changing Pakistan. Bilawal has set both a goal and timeline with an accent on the 2018 elections. While that is all very well, he failed to spell out a mission. All parties aim to win power in elections. So just in themselves what good are a goal and timeline? Surely, a partys work doesnt stop at winning polls. Whats the longer-term mission of PPP, and how will it be defined in the rapidly changing, increasingly cynical and eminently exhausted Pakistan is what a voter would like to know. What people are looking for are not the politics of Right, Left and Centre but simply that a new compact between the state and the citizens puts the latter at the centre of the formers service. The author is a senior journalist based in Islamabad. All the views and opinions expressed in the article are solely those of the author and do not reflect those of Times of Oman.
Posted on: Sun, 03 Nov 2013 22:31:22 +0000