Beware of the snakes in the grass
By WAJID SHAMSUL HASAN July 20, 2008 What had shaken her confidence in some of those people in her party who owed their political careers to her was the betrayal by Leghari. I am privy to a hand-written letter from him to BB soon after her father’s execution assuring her that as a Baloch he was honour bound to stand by her through thick and thin like a brother and even to give his life for her.
I wish Sardar Sherbaz Mazari had published his memoirs earlier. One would have learnt about the “other side” of the character of the Tahajudguzar Tamundar of New Choti. It would have made Bibi think twice before nominating him for the presidency. It is indeed divine justice that the person who once was the president is a political pariah.
When 2002 elections were called we knew that BB would not be allowed to contest. Her assessment was absolutely right. Benazir-specific laws were introduced to keep her out. Not only that, such a mechanism was contrived that she could not be in a position to lead the party and if PPP had to contest it had to get registered with a new chairman. In such a situation Makhdoom Amin Fahim, being the senior vice president would have taken over.
Bibi’s case was once bitten twice shy. Besides, she had an excellent network of eyes and ears that kept feeding her what was being conspired in the corridors of power in Islamabad. I was summoned early in the morning to her flat to discuss the situation. I knew it must have been something important that made her call me that early. She said: “Wajid Bhai, advise me what to do. I think there is a conspiracy to take over PPP from me. Since they won’t register it with me as Chairperson we won’t be able to contest.”
After many mugs of black coffee something struck my mind. In a laconic suggestion I uttered “Bibi, why don’t you have PPPP”. She did not grasp at first but then I explained she could have a new party registered titled Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarian with Fahim as its president. And that was it. No questions asked. PPPP was found. She sat on the computer, I on a chair next to her and she started typing with instructions to me not to interrupt, just to take the finished paper from the printer, read it, make any corrections " if needed.
As a journalist who had written millions of words in a career spread over decades " I confess I have never seen the like of her. In an hour’s time she had churned out a constitution for the PPPP. Not many changes were required, copies made and then she said, “Wajid Bhai, let us reward ourselves for such a brilliant idea” and out we went to a nearby Gloucester Road coffee shop to have tea, coffee and muffins that she was very fond of.
Later in the day she called all the PPP leaders and surprised them with the PPPP package. It was opposed by every one. They had different reasons for rejecting the suggestion of setting up another PPP. Some believed they would badly fare in elections. Others thought it was a joke. They all became serious when she told them point blank “take it or leave it” " “I will not hand over Bhutto Sahib’s PPP to anyone " whether one likes it or not”. She also explained to them with irrefutable arguments that “by propping up PPPP I have punctured a plot to take over the original party”. And finally she convinced most of them while one or two among them must have started immediately toying with the idea of their becoming PM. PPPP move paid off, it got largest number of seats and MAF thought he would be the PM.
Throughout the period of her exile she continuously knocked one door after the other with a hope that some day there would be an opening and foreign supporters of dictatorship in Pakistan will realise that there is no substitute to democracy. A decade of global networking by her led to successes that made elections inevitable.
