Daily Times

If a student of Political Science were to measure the standing of the Pakistan People’s Party today on a scale of A to Z, with Z being the highest point and A the lowest, would he place the party anywhere but at point A? A representing the party once represented by Z.

From Z, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, some 40 years ago in 1970s to A, Asif Ali Zardari, today, what a plunge the party has taken! What a fall! Would a party with an ideology and a leadership to carry the philosophy forward, having degenerated to a mob, bereft of any creed, run purely on the Machiavellian principles, have expected any other result as the world witnessed on Saturday, May 11, 2013? If the party has been wiped off the map of the country, save for in Sindh, the only reason for that calamity is the leadership this party has the misfortune to suffer.

And in Sindh, too, what would have been the result had the electable refused to be bought? Had only Mahars of Ghotki and Sukkur stayed independent, wouldn’t the party have lost a substantial chunk of seats in the province as well as national assemblies? Same is true for other areas of Sindh. If the campaign to purchase the powerful had failed, the result in Sindh would not have been much different from the rest of the country. The reason why a humble peasant whose piece of land as well home is still under water from the rains four years ago voted for the same party he did not gain anything from during the previous term is two-fold: One, his master told him to do so or face the consequences; two, the other party offered a worse candidate. Would a school teacher or a police constable who bought his job for hundreds of thousands of rupees have voted for the same thief who robbed him earlier if there was no external push of fear or favour?

But, then there was one more phenomenon at work as far as Sindh is concerned. In all honesty, the people voted in the name of Bhuttos voluntarily too. It looks like the card with Bhutto logo on it has not completely run out of cash.

I have a video conference with my family every weekend. This Saturday it was late in the evening and the polling had already ended when I logged in. My family was sitting in front of computer waiting for us to come online. As soon as we got connected, I asked whom they voted for. The PPP was the response. The excuse my mother gave being, “No matter what we say, when we see ‘teer’ (arrow), the symbol of Shaheeds (the martyrs), we cannot vote for anyone else.” Almost the same words my late father, an eminent lawyer, but a PPP office bearer and hardcore jiyala, had said to me long time ago that we don’t need a reason to love Bhuttos or hate Zia. Then there was this relative who had the following explanation: “I looked at the ballot paper and saw the symbol of teer there. Seeing teer, the faces of Shaheed BB and Shaheed Bhutto came to my mind. My hand as though guided by some charm, stamped the arrow.” So much about objectivity.

Incumbency being a demerit in other climes, here it proved otherwise as far as the two provinces, Sindh and Punjab, are concerned. While in power you provide favour to the powerful in order for them to be able to return it at your time of need. Also, remaining in power the incumbent amasses enough to be able to purchase a saleable commodity. Perception, too, plays a major role in the elections. To the illiterate masses in Sindh and Punjab, it was the PPP and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) respectively, as clear winners this time. To vote for any other party was akin to wasting the vote.

However, discerning the election results, a conspiracy theorist, me, could see a pattern. A sort of design behind the outcome of the elections. It looks like the intent of the people, if not the angels, being to give one party a clear, or near clear, majority to form a stable government free from blackmailing.

The centre is clearly won by the Nawaz group. Similarly in Punjab, the same PML-N it is that has come out as clear winner. In Sindh, the PPP has a majority, though the Muttahida Qaumi Movement was provided a free hand to rig the process. (Calculations making rounds on social media for Nabeel Gabol’s constituency showing votes cast at the rate of five per second!) Was it done to keep the PPP in check? I know not. In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, even though an attempt was made to give the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) a majority, the plan, it looks, went awry somewhere. Imran Khan may have to share the bed with some strange fellows.

Oh by the way, speaking of Khan, one recalls another PTI of the yore, headed by another ‘Mr Clean’, another national hero, another Khan, whose hot air balloon was pumped much the same way as was this Khan’s. Anyone remember Asghar Khan? And his PTI, Pakistan Tehreek-e Istaqlal? Didn’t he hold big rallies too? He, too, was touted to become the prime minister of Pakistan in 1977. Whatever happened to him after the gigantic popularity wave he rode in 1977? Even though he was presented before the Shah of Iran as the next head of the Islamic Republic, he ended up being a nobody. This Khan at least has a province to play with.

Bottom line: All the conspiracy theories notwithstanding. Mian Nawaz Sharif’s victory was a foregone conclusion, a fait accompli. In robbing people, ransacking the national exchequer, providing worst governance, if the PPP and its leadership thought that they would be able to fool all the people for all the time, they proved to be fools themselves. The party got what it deserved. It is their bad karma that will be haunting them for the next five years (barring a ‘divine’ intervention a la October 12, 1999.). With no Bhuttos to resurrect the dead party, I am not sure whether this party will ever be able to revive.

The writer is an independent political commentator