HOW TO LOSE FRIENDS AND MAKE ENEMIES
Few can match the skills of Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and her Pakistan People´s Party when it comes to creating intimidating opponents and rivals out of whatever is available.
In the 1980s, this tendency helped Mian Nawaz Sharif, former prime minister and present opposition leader, in his ascent from being a local Lahore figure with few credentials other than a dislike for the Bhuttos, to the national political scene. Sharif remained a major target of the PPP workers throughout the latter half of the decade. The democratic period after the death of military dictator Gen Zia-ul Haq has seen no let-up in this campaign by the Bhutto faithful, although now they have met their match in workers of Sharifs own Pakistan Muslim League (PML).
Politics in the country remains divided along pro-PPP and anti-PPP lines, and failure to enter the PPP is no cause of grief for political aspirants. All they have to do is oppose it, and the stronger the opposition, the brighter his or her chances to go higher.
When Nawaz Sharif qualified for a seat in both the National Assembly and the Punjab Assembly from Lahore in the non-party elections of 1985, his success was largely due to the big push he received from voters who had traditionally backed the right wing Jamaat-e-Islami (JI).
But by the time JI and PML decided to contest 1993 elections separately, Jamaat had lost a number of its voters to Sharif in the constituency, as indeed elsewhere in the country. The reason was simple enough. These erstwhile JI supporters had learnt that the victory of a candidate, however close to them ideologically, was beyond their numerical strength, and it served their main interest in ensuring that PPP nominees were not returned to the assemblies by voting PML. Voters shifted allegiance but continued to be cast against the PPP.
The irony is that Benazir Bhutto, who has always been considered the more progressive of the two claimants to power (she still continues to enjoy that distinction, for some mysterious reason), was then forced to seek alliances with right- wing political parties. She succeeded in winning favour of some religious parties such as the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam of Maulana Fazlur Rehman. But, it is said, only after granting them certain privileges contrary to her liberal image. In those instances, the PPP achieved its objectives, but once again its supporters found it difficult to defend its actions.
The list of compromises is long and this has made it increasingly tougher for the liberal-minded in Pakistan to continue to support Bhutto. Indeed, many have crossed over to Sharifs side in the last couple of years, and many more are likely to be tempted.
Meanwhile, rather than check this dangerous erosion of support, the PPP is working on something that could ultimately lead to Bhutto facing another political rival.
This time, the PPP´s ire is being channelled against Bhutto´s fellow Oxonian, cricket great Imran Khan, and the campaign has been made easier by the fact that the party is in power. Advertisements about the cancer hospital built by Khan in memory of his mother have been (unofficially) banned on state-run Pakistan Television. Second-rung PPP leaders are already referring to Khan in the same tone as they have been using for Sharif.
Even Khan´s achievements as arguably the greatest cricketer the country has produced have been ignored in programmes telecast in the run-up to and during the current World Cup. The emphasis has clearly been on railroading Khan out of the green, rather than neutralising his influence.
The policy has earned the PPP many more fresh opponents, and some in the Pakistani press now see Khan as a strong candidate for future prime ministership. Khan´s apparent reluctance to enter politics, meanwhile, has shown signs of dissipating lately. Recently, he went so far as to say that he would join politics immediately if he could find a team of committed people.
If things follow their normal course, purely in the context of Pakistani politics, Benazir Bhutto may soon find herself pitted against a rival who perhaps ranks with Nawaz Sharif in political acumen, but is far more charismatic. What is more, Khan might find equally wily mentors from among his assortment of friends as was available to Sharif and General Zia-ul Haq.