No more advice, please
Journalists and analysts are very fond of constantly giving advice to the PPP leadership. According to them, PPP leadership needs to embrace their advice in order to become the true voice of Pakistani liberals presumably so that members of a certain class who currently consider themselves too liberal to support any Pakistani party will start supporting PPP.
Of course until that advice is followed, these journalists and analysts will continue to attack PPP leaders as not being good enough for their high standards. Thus it might be worth considering what exactly this advice is.
For example, the advice offered today by Gibran Peshimam, of The News starts of by saying that although President Zardari made a pretty good start by allowing the 18th amendment, his speech in parliament was an opportunity missed. Reading on, one realizes that Mr. Peshimam’s advice to President Zardari is that at the end of his speech he should have resigned from the Presidency after giving up his powers under 58 2(b). Mr. Peshimam has also taken the trouble to write a new ending to President Zardari’s speech which contains the following brilliant statement:
Therefore, on this historic day – a day on which we are on the verge of eliminating this threat – I announce that I, Asif Ali Zardari, an activist of the PPP and a servant of the people, will resign from the presidency once we are free of this danger by the end of the week.
According to this journalist, this move and this move alone would demonstrate the long-term vision of PPP and all the individuals who are unconvinced of PPP’s sincerity would finally accept PPP as a genuinely liberal national party. It’s interesting that to people like this journalist, the only thing that the PPP leadership must do to earn his respect is – to resign.
Please Mr. Peshimam, no more advice. Or if you must give advice, why don’t you find another party to advise? PPP is doing fine without your advice.
Perhaps, Mr Peshimam is a real well wisher of the party. Other well wishers include Dr Shahid Masood, Ansar Abbasi, and their cronies.
Ayaz Amir recently wrote:
The December and March brigades though have been proved wrong. They were not sure how precisely it would happen. But with prophetic certainty they were predicting his ouster or downfall. That hasn’t come to pass, leaving the soothsayers in a state of some alarm and confusion. But we can be sure we will soon be hearing about another deadline.
http://www.thenews.com.pk/print1.asp?id=233359
Nazir Naji: Democracy or dictatorship? the choice is clear:
http://www.jang.com.pk/jang/apr2010-daily/11-04-2010/col8.htm
Rabia: As an avid reader of this site, if I may be afforded the chance to defend myself:
1. My comment was not advice, per se – it was musing on an admittedly outlandish option. In fact, I have not used the word ‘should’ even once throughout the article.
2. I think you’re oversimplifying my article – and unfairly so. You write:
“According to this journalist, this move and this move alone would demonstrate the long-term vision of PPP and all the individuals who are unconvinced of PPP’s sincerity would finally accept PPP as a genuinely liberal national party”
No, I said that the PPP would become even stronger than it already is.
I do not debate – and do not think there is much of one to begin with – that the PPP is a “liberal national party”. In fact, I have written in the past that the PPP is the ONLY genuine national party in Pakistan.
And I have not suggested that this move alone can demonstrate the PPP’s worthiness – I have praised them a number of times before and called the 18th Amendment an unprecedented achievement. I said that the resignation could be a good gimmick to sell Zardari, who, it seems, cannot shake off his past image despite all his efforts.
As for my statement that time is running out – Zardari himself has said that plans to unseat him are afoot. This is nothing new. In fact, the Hazara issue could just be the excuse if it is pressed enough.
Other than that, great site – will continue following.
Gracias for the patience. Keep up the good work!
PS: @Sarah Khan: Categorising me with Ansar and Dr Shahid? Really? Ouch. I mean now you’re just being mean. Let’s not resort to name-calling, shall we?
Gibran: I sincerely apologize if the blog post came across as sounding too harsh on your article and I’m glad you left a comment to explain your point of view better. The way I see it, by resigning Zardari would simply be giving in to the pressure being exerted on him by various elements in the establishment and the judiciary and it would just weaken PPP rather than, as you say, strengthening its image. I think certain critics of Zardari and the PPP on the more liberal side tend to think more in terms of gestures of reconcilation or demonstrations of good intent and forget that this is also a power struggle in which Zardari represents the PPP as a whole – and no one has ever won a power struggle by resigning.
@GP Categorizing you with Ansar Abbasi and Dr Shahid Masood was a mistake. I apologize.