Related readings:
Comparison between 1990, 1996 and 2010
Obsession with Zardari; Not in the New Year!
The End of the Zardari Government is Near

On April 12, 2011, an important milestone was surpassed by the current elected and peoples government of the Pakistan Peoples Party. It quietly went past 1113 days in power, the same number of days Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto’s government lasted between October 1993 and November 1996.

By power we mean that the PPP had its own Prime Minister and Chief Ministers in two of the Provinces. Power also relates to the fact that it was able to work with all other political parties to restore the constitution, devolve certain ministries to provinces which were pending ever since the 1973 constitution was passed, give an identity to a province without a name and created a province which was again known by administrative jargon for decades. By power, we do not mean that it had the authority to do each and everything it could have wanted to do.

Let us take a few examples: the power to formulate a foreign policy remained under the control of the deep state, the security apparatus and the GHQ. Though the government yearned to have better relations with India, events like Mumbai Attacks threw a spanner at the works. Unfortunate incidents like the Raymond Davis could have taken an ugly turn but was averted. Similarly, this government tried to have as much public involvement in matters of public interest, like taxation efforts. Instead of going through the route of issuing presidential ordinances, the government tried to involve the parliament in the process.

Unfortunately, RGST and other fiscal measures hit roadblocks which included the opposition’s inability to reason. Internal security remained a challenge but one thing this government does have credit is to make the matter of terrorism as a national problem. And to top it all, it had to endure an Anti-Christ in the shape of Iftikhar Chaudhry led Judiciary and vocal support from the right wing media.

This government was under threat from the very beginning. From an economic crisis to judiciary’s restoration campaign to NRO to comings and goings of political allies. It was predicted to doom from day one. The prophets of doom in the country included political parties out of the parliament (Imran Khan’s PTI team and Jamaat-e-Islami), Fake Civil Society (FCS) and our media gurus like the non-practicing Dr. Shahid Masood, the shining star of current media – Ansar Abbasi ably supported by his gang, the fading last action hero – Kamran Khan, leading novelist – Shaheen Sehbai, ISI’s love interest Hamid Mir, PML-N backed columnists like Irfan Siddiqui, PTI columnist Haroon-ur-Rasheed etc.

In the end I would like to reproduce Qudsia Siddiqui’s sharp rejoinder to an FCS blogger about the future prospects of the PPP:

As for the future electoral prospects of the PPP, I would be inclined to respect the wishes of the masses and not the psycho babble of civil society idlers, pseudo-liberal speculators, and pro-establishment journalists, whose contempt for the PPP is directly proportional to their cheering of the Taliban. They have written many epithets for the PPP but the latter has prevailed due to the will of the masses. May they prevail again…..

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