Daily Times

Loyalty is a rare virtue in Pakistani politics, unappreciated, unnecessary, underestimated, and potentially dangerous. For instance, immediately after a coup d’état, the decision of any politician to stay loyal to his anti-establishment parent political party on ideological basis can be considered naive, incredulous, and probably suicidal. He should realise that because of his own callowness he could be hung upside down, his hands and feet tied with a rope, his head shaven, his body bruised, and his soul wretched by the abuse. An intelligent person would never make such a mistake; instead, without any delay he would leave the party under trouble to join the pro-establishment forces. His only virtue at that moment should be his safety. Not only that he has to protect himself from torture and maintain his physical wellbeing, he has to secure his wealth from the prosecution by the state to be able to contest in the future elections and multiply his wealth!

A few years down the road, if these two critical objectives have been met, he can always rejoin the party that he had forsaken earlier. Most likely, he will be welcomed by his old colleagues and embraced by his new (old) partners, who may also offer him a key position in the cabinet if he plays his cards well. There is absolutely no harm in it and definitely no shame in the process. How can there be any embarrassment in following the precedent set by the two times prime minister of the UK, Sir Winston Churchill, a visionary statesman and a powerful orator? The Second World War hero who though had always opposed the freedom of India from British rule and had never kept Indian leaders in high esteem, still left a pearl of wisdom for the future leaders of Pakistan. Churchill said: “Anyone can rat, but it takes a certain ingenuity to re-rat,” knowing that he had twice crossed the floor himself in his political career.

So, if you are a politician who is not a ‘genius’ (financial or otherwise), and is not ready to ‘rat’ or ‘re-rat’, I have bad news for you: your future is doomed. You are an alien within your party, only important for it as long as it is in the opposition. During those tough years, the party leadership would treat you with deference, may even nominate you as its presidential candidate since your loss is 100 percent certain, and to capitalize further on your reputation, it will also systemically project you as the real face of the opposition. But, as soon as it comes into power, you will be considered as a renegade, a person who could never be trusted as a ‘team player’. Eventually, you would be treated like an adversary by your party: thrown out of the core committees, kicked out of the parliamentary boards and booted out of the kitchen cabinet.

The only exception to this rule where infidelity can benefit you along with the nation is that if in the initial stages of your political carrier you supported a dictator but, later, for the sake of democracy you decided to oppose the next general who abrogated the constitution. Although this change has the potential to pay you back politically, it still is a double-edged sword, because it carries a huge risk of imprisonment, torture, exile and even death. However, if you were able to save your life from the generals and the judges, there is a fair chance that you would become the prime minister of Pakistan. Leading examples of this gamble are Zulifqar Ali Bhutto (who ultimately paid a big price for his ‘unfaithfulness’), Mian Nawaz Sharif, and Yousaf Raza Gilani. Imran Khan has so far made his first mistake of supporting only General Musharraf; therefore, he cannot become the prime minister until he passes the litmus test of opposing a martial law.

On the other hand, to be permanently successful, you have to be ready to play in the hands of the people in ‘real’ power. And to accomplish that, you should be able to switch sides constantly either on individual basis or en bloc as a political party. For en block deals, you can learn the tricks of the trade from Altaf Hussain and Maulana Fazlur Rehman; both of them being party heads who have enough experience to cooperate, collaborate and put up with military as well as civilian dictators.

On an individual basis, if you want to increase your net worth (financial or political), if you think your party leadership is not listening to your ‘advice’ after your enormous contributions, or you do not like your current portfolio in the cabinet, then again your only option is to defect from your current party and shake hands with your rivals. Easily, from an unimportant designation of a ‘senior leader’ of the party, you will be promoted to the central president of an emerging one. With a little more political clout, a little more experience and a large ‘spiritual’ following, you can be the vice chairperson of the second biggest party of Pakistan.

If that formula does not work well for you or your ‘conscience’ does not allow you to join the rival political party immediately, you are free to make your own little ‘Tonga party’. Over time, you can change the tone of your arguments to sound neutral by using (and abusing) the electronic media. And, once the iron is hot, just request the old rivals to join your rallies. I am sure, with this strategy in place you will eventually become the statesman that Winston Churchill never was.

The writer is a US-based freelance columnist. He tweets at @KaamranHashmi and can be reached at skamranhashmi@gmail.com