Daily Times

September is almost done and with the new month comes the festival of the slaughter as well as the annual pilgrimage to the holy land. Soon enough the nights will be full of bleating noises from goats and such collected for sacrifice. And then all the ‘worthies’ in Pakistan will consume large amounts of different meat dishes rendering them almost as senseless as the dishes they consume. Perhaps even Tahirul Qadri and Imran Khan will let their followers go home to partake of the needful. While we wait for the mantaqi anjaam (the rational end point) of what is going on in Islamabad, it is also time to take stock of what has happened so far.
First, I am sure that our Prime Minister (PM) must be feeling pretty good. He is still the PM and finally he is off to places as far away from the sit-ins as possible, and he can actually start to relax. If the PM has ever been subjected to the Alka Seltzer jingle as often as I was, surely, as his plane landed in his beloved London, he would have been singing to himself, “Pop, pop, fizz, fizz; oh what a relief it is.” And then, after checking up on his London homes, the PM will be off to New York where he will rub shoulders with world leaders and participate in many ‘photo ops’. Good for you sir, good for you.
The next in line to be considered is the Chief Minister (CM) of Punjab, better known as the talented brother. After his gumboots fiasco, I am sure that the CM will think twice before ever wearing them again. However, there has been much speculation about the future of the CM. Some think that he is the one who will have to go to save the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) governments at the Centre and possibly even in Punjab. I strongly believe that Mian Shahbaz Sharif is going nowhere as long as his older brother is PM and as long as the PML-N controls the Punjab Assembly. After the recent floods, especially in Punjab, so many roads to rebuild, so many bridges to fix and so many new flyovers to make; who else but him can get all that done?
As far as the cabinet at the Centre is concerned, much was said about possible reshuffles. Here again, now that matters have cooled down, little if any change is expected. The only difference however is that, at least for the next few months, the PML-N worthies will avoid attacking any political party besides the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI). But does this mean that it is going to be business as usual from now onwards? I do not think so. A lot of things have changed in a rather subtle but possibly permanent way. The most important change might just be in the relationship between the politicians and the previously completely subservient bureaucracy and police forces.
Another topic that was much discussed recently was the role of the “third umpire”. The third umpire, at least in cricket, is the chap sitting up in the pavilion looking at replays to decide if the player is out or not. In this case, the third umpire was supposed to be the army, which was expected to decide between the appeals made by the Khan-Qadri duo and the counter-appeals made by the PM. Looks like the third umpire left the pavilion without making a final decision, leaving the people of this country to watch an endless loop replay on their television screens. However, even though their hopes are fading, the Qadri-Khan duo is still patiently waiting for a decision that might never come. Here, my personal opinion is that the third umpire was never really up there.
So who else has been affected by the sit-in situations? There are multiple points of view about the consequences of what has happened in Islamabad over the last few weeks and how it has affected the country in general. The government’s point of view is that the only result of all this is that Pakistan’s economy has gone to the dogs. That, of course, explains why the PM is in New York. He is obviously looking for the dogs that have absconded with Pakistan’s economy so he can confront them and extricate the Pakistani economy from their steely jaws, though a particular mindset supports the idea that Imran Khan’s dog, Sheru, is the one that has run away with the economy.
There are the populist sorts who believe that some sort of a revolution has already occurred and the ordinary people of Pakistan have discovered a ‘new found’ resolve (not to be confused with their old found resolve) to fight against their oppressors. As far as the list of oppressors is concerned, it could even include you! Then there are the anti-army groups that insist they are really the pro-democracy groups. These groups who would in days gone by be called a tonga party (a party all of whose members could fit into a single horse drawn carriage) insist that Pakistan has already gone through a soft, mini or hidden coup. My personal opinion is that if there has been a coup, it is so well hidden that ordinary mortals like me cannot find any trace of it.
Finally, about the Khan-Qadri duo. They should accept advice from real revolutionary sorts of the past: he who runs away lives to fight another day, or that a tactical withdrawal is not defeat. As far as a vast majority of the ordinary people of Pakistan are concerned, they are entirely consumed by mundane matters like load shedding and the price of potatoes, tomatoes and onions. My advice to the PM is: sir, if you wish to complete your term in office these are the things you should be primarily concerned about. All else is just noise.

The writer has practiced and taught medicine in the US. He can be reached at smhmbbs70@yahoo.com