On a day marking 43 years since Pakistan Peoples Party’s foundation and its rise as a major political party of the country, President Asif Ali Zardari’s address to party workers and leaders in Karachi via live telecast from the Presidency was watched with intense interest due to various reasons. How the PPP and its leadership has transformed over the years was apparent for many reasons least of which an absence of the party chairperson who preferred to address party men hundreds of miles away. Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, who was the driving force behind the party’s popularity, chose to do everything from an ordinary man’s standpoint. He chose to mingle with ordinary people dressed like them and repeatedly asserted that his soul was in fact in every living Pakistani.

Besides this, he derived his power base from each corner of Pakistan. Similarly, his widow and then his daughter wore the same charismatic characteristics which gave a sense of familiarity to ordinary people who took pride in associating with her and even her portraits and snaps decorated their houses. Unfortunately, it was this mode of politics which also took away her life but Benazir Bhutto could not stop herself as it was the only form of politics she had learnt. It was this reason that she chose to Pakistan and refused to get bogged down post October 18th attack which greeted her arrival in Karachi.

The PPP had, until some time earlier, almost always tried to build its image as a party which was a national party and represented every corner of the country. The results of the elections reflected this even if it meant that it had to stay in opposition in the most populous province of the country, Punjab. The results of the Gilgit-Baltistan elections, without prejudice to the rigging allegations by opponents, confirmed this assertion. Benazir Bhutto’s most acclaimed slogan was charoon sooboon kee zangeer, Benazir Benazir (Benazir the symbol of unity of all provinces) Although at times Benazir Bhutto had in some of her interviews and during her political campaigning complained that her family’s Sindhi origins had something to do with her father’s hanging as well as the premature endings of her governments, by and large she had advocated herself as adhering to the ideology of one country, one nation.

However, the strongest negation to the PPP’s claim came when Benazir Bhutto was still alive and the case of National Reconciliation Ordinance was challenged and its operation held in abeyance by the Supreme Court pre-November 3 martial law. It is no secret that she had bargained with Musharraf to promulgate the Ordinance in a bid to end corruption and other charges against her, her family and her party men and in return PPP stayed in the Parliament to give legitimacy to President Musharraf who was destined to play a part in a future power-sharing deal. However, the Supreme Court of Pakistan’s order dealt a blow to her plans and she raised a furor that the decision had something to do with her being a Sindhi. This was done to put pressure on the Supreme Court and signaled her future political strategy which could have resulted in political disarray across the country. She had also asked how a leader from Punjab (Nawaz Sharif) could be granted a pardon and his sentence turned into an exile treaty while her case was still hanging like a sword over her head.

The Sindh Card was played at that time to put political pressure on the Supreme Court, which should remain immune to all such designs and today once more the Sindh Card is being played, the reasons having multiplied however.

In his speech to the party workers as well as since a period of time, Mr. Zardari himself, and his party workers and leaders under his direction have started to once more play this Sindh Card by all means starting from wearing a Sindhi cap, issuing political statements in this regard and are trying to overcome their political shortcomings. The issues which are under discussion besides the NRO are many such as the pressure on Mr. Zardari to resign as President and make the Presidency a not-so-controversial office which is impossible given his past track record as well as present scandals and his desire to lead his political party actively including calling party meetings at the Presidency. A harsh criticism of the media, which will draw adverse results, would achieve nothing but unleash the flurry of more criticism of the present regime and its inability to withstand criticism. The mere mention of the media in his speech, speaks volume about the insecurity of his grip on power. He is no Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and the media is not an opposition party which can be silenced or answered in that fashion. The only reasonable way to deal with the media is to deal with it through representation on the news channels and expressing one’s viewpoint. If any person is being defamed in a personal capacity, the appropriate way is to file a suit or if the President feels the law is inadequate in that direction, amendments to defamation law can be made. That is what the Parliament is here for in the first place- to legislate and the PPP has a majority along with its coalition partners.

At this time, one would have hoped that other political parties, especially the big ones play their part and bring down this hype unless they want to play their part in the instability which may ensue if this exercise is not brought under control. Their efforts must not be seen to be limited to issuing statements to the press or teaching nationalism on television channels but they must themselves engage directly with the PPP over the issue directly. The effort should not be limited to the opposition but the coalition partners bear equal if not more responsibility to bring the behavior of its partner more prudent and act in national interest. At a time when several quarters are engaged in destabilizing Pakistan and Baloch leaders are unimpressed with efforts to address their grievances, we do not need to open up a new chapter which would have disastrous consequences.

When the present government and its ministers as well as the President who is a symbol of unity of the federation themselves say that Balochs must be assimilated and brought into the mainstream and the brewing nationalism must be checked now unless it is too late, their use of the ‘Sindh Card’ politics is a dichotomy, which is incomprehensible. How can the government convince the Balochs, no matter how big the incentive package it may have provided in the latest Balochistan package presently under discussion in the Parliament, that they can their rights from Pakistan and an end to exploitation today which were denied to them over the years, when the government and the chair person of the PPP himself speaks about his reservations over the present system under which Sindh is not treated fairly? Political parties, especially the big ones like PML (N) should play their part and not just wait for things to flare and get out of hand just as they did in East Pakistan and now in Balochistan. To wait and remain silent on the issue is just as good as participating in the actual act and we would have no one but ourselves to blame. The PPP should also abandon the use of ‘Sindh Card’ once and for all and not try to use it for political mileage and material gains which are inferior to the national interest at all times.

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