Daily Times

In the aftermath of Benazir Bhutto’s tragic assassination, many thought that in the absence of a charismatic, undisputed leader, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) would soon fall apart. Many did bet that its government would crumble sooner in the absence of Benazir Bhutto. At that time, I, however, disagreed. The reason for my disagreement was that the PPP, at that time, had ample strength and capability to survive as a political party. More importantly, with Asif Zardari being a good executioner, the party seemed set to survive despite the humongous loss. My point was that the biggest challenge for the PPP was not in the aftermath of the assassination of Benazir Bhutto but would come six to seven years down the line. My rationale for this was that the PPP relied the most on Benazir Bhutto for strategic direction. Having a visionary like Benazir Bhutto was a privilege very few political entities had and thus the party was so reliant on her for strategic direction that, in her absence, the party would find it hard to cobble together a strategic vision with the changing times. I was wrong on the six to seven year timeline, as it has come a little earlier for the party. It is the challenge of cobbling together a strategic vision that the party faces the most.

Benazir Bhutto was a remarkable politician. In the 1980s, she sensed the changing times and coined a third way, bringing the leftist, pro-poor PPP closer to the western world and calling on the value of democracy to create political space for herself. In the 1990s, she realised the threat that untamed jihad posed to the state and the control of the security apparatus, and used it to nurture a support base for her party in the hostile security establishment. That support was weaker in the beginning but slowly and gradually the narrative of the security establishment has come closer to hers. And then, in the 2000s, in the middle of a rising Islamist threat, a fragmented federation at home and an eminent clash of civilisations globally, she envisioned the philosophy of reconciliation to find equity-based solutions to the problems Pakistan and the world faced. It was this vision of reconciliation, which was the centrepiece of the last PPP government and, though full marks to Asif Zardari for being a master executioner, it was only because of this core vision that the first democratically elected parliament completed its tenure, paving the way for a democratic transition.

Despite this mammoth achievement, the PPP faced its biggest challenge since its inception in the last elections. It was reduced to 40 odd seats in the National Assembly. Even more alarming was the fact that it lost its status of being one of the two largest parties in Punjab to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf. And without Punjab, what national level chances can any party have? If that were not enough, since the elections the party has acted as if it has become totally irrelevant in national politics. Though Bilawal Bhutto Zardari was the strongest voice for an operation against the Taliban and extremists, this could not be projected across the country beyond the realm of social media. In parliament, apart from a rare bi-annual speech by Khursheed Shah in the National Assembly, the party has mostly looked clueless and directionless. Even in Sindh, most of the buzz has been about the negatives of its government, despite some tangible positives happening on the side. You know a party is in trouble when poetic leftists from the 1970s and lawyer movement heroes become its key spokesmen.

Thus one wonders: has the party that gave Pakistan democracy, a constitution, people’s politics and ideological activism, run its course? Is the undisputed largest political party of the country facing oblivion or is there any chance of a comeback? It will be hard to give a definitive answer to this question. A lot of variables are at play, which will determine the future of the PPP, and luck is one of them. One thing, though, can be said for sure: if the past is any precedent, it is very hard to rule out the PPP.

And going back to what I said earlier — what the party lacks the most is a coherent vision moving forward. For the last one year, since the elections, the party is still stuck at reconciliation as its core driving philosophy. Just when there is a genuine admiration among the people for the PPP’s conduct in running a politically tolerant government and many like its anti-militancy stance, reconciliation alone is not a selling commodity anymore. In 2008, after 11 years of the right-wing rule of Nawaz and Musharraf, people were looking at a progressive and pro-poor PPP as their saviour. Benazir Bhutto knew that she had the masses’ support. So all she had to worry about was creating space to show this mass support and to have a programme that tackled the fundamental challenges facing her when she formed the government. Reconciliation, then, made perfect sense as a key political philosophy.

Now, after five years of PPP rule and a successful democratic transition, it is reinvigorating the mass support that the party needs to focus the most on. It will be issues like energy, employment, education, devolution of power, infrastructure and catering to the needs of a rising urban class looking for entrepreneurial opportunities that will be needed to garner mass support. The PPP has a lot to sell on all these fronts, based on its record and its ideology. What is needed is creating a vision around these changing realities.

The party, however, is still labelled by its extremism narrative. This extremism narrative, though it has traction among the majority, may not be enough to make them vote for the party. The party needs a new philosophy, using the economy as the main thrust. The party needs to re-label itself with all-inclusive, liberal philosophies including an anti-extremist position. Benazir Bhutto would do it in a flash. The question is: can the master executioner, Asif Zardari, do it? Or has the party become an after-party?

The author can be reached on twitter at @aalimalik