It all started with breaking news. Two private news channels reported that Asad Umar, the federal finance minister, would soon get his marching orders. The rumour mills went overboard. The information minister denied the authenticity of the report in so many words. Asad Umar himself rebuffed it in categorical terms. Notices were subsequently served on the channels by the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority.
Three days went by. Speculation was rife that a major shuffle in the federal cabinet was on the cards and that Asad Umar was going to throw in the towel.
News enthusiasts were glued to the TV screens, waiting with bated breath, as Aasd Umar, the poster boy of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf addressed a press conference.
Clad in a shalwar qamees, the soft spoken minister, announced his resignation. Looking deprived of precious sleep, he said, he felt relieved. A heavy burden had been lifted off his head. His successor faced an immense challenge. His shoulders slumped, he recalled that it was on this day (April 18) that he had joined the PTI seven years ago.
The press conference was a spectacle to behold. The wizard was alone, unaccompanied. There were four empty seats.
The resignation has come at a time when Pakistan is about to cut a deal with the International Monetary Fund and the budget is to be presented in the parliament. The resignation has thrown up a crucial question: has he jumped off a rudderless, sinking ship.
Some of the PTI apologists managed to find a bright aspect to the affair. Nobody in the previous governments, they said, had tendered a resignation. Other parties only saw a failure of the incumbent government.
Azam Sawati, who has been appointed the minister for parliamentary affairs, had attracted civil society opprobrium last year when he wielded political influence to get the Islamabad police chief transferred. Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, the chief justice of Pakistan, had taken suo moto notice of the incident. Swati had later had to tender his resignation as a minister
Asad Umar is one of the most prominent faces in the PTI. His resignation has dealt a severe blow to the PTI, his failure to address the economic challenges facing Pakistan notwithstanding. There is speculation that it is the outcome of rampant factionalism, that the Jahangir Tareen group has won this round against the Shah Mahmood group.
Friday night saw a major shuffle in the federal cabinet. Once again, the Government for Change had to fall back on the tried-and-failed – people who had served former governments. There was no new face among the new ministers and no serving member of the National Assembly. Are there really no competent people in the PTI rank and file? Given that there are as many as 11 technocrats in the cabinet, are we are hurtling towards a presidential form of government? Out of the five new appointments and four ministers who have received new portfolios Abdul Hafiz Sheikh, Brig Ijaz Shah (retired), Azam Swati and Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan stand out.
The appointment of Abdul Hafeez Sheikh as the advisor on finance with the status of a state minister has come as a rude shock.
Addressing a rally at the Minar-i-Pakistan on October 30, 2011, Imran Khan had excoriated the Peoples Party government for its failed economic polices. Abdul Hafeez Sheikh was the finance minister at that time. One wonders how Abdul Hafeez Sheikh has become a favourite of Imran Khan’s. Is it yet another U-turn?
The appointment of BrigIjaz Shah, a former Intelligence Bureau chief, as interior minister has stirred up a hornets’ nest. He was one of the people Benazir Bhutto had suspected of plotting her assassination.
Azam Sawati, who has been appointed the minister for parliamentary affairs, had attracted civil society opprobrium last year when he wielded political influence to get the Islamabad police chief transferred. Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, the chief justice of Pakistan, had taken suo moto notice of the incident. Swati had later had to tender his resignation as a minister. His fresh appointment as a minister has raised many an eyebrow and left many scratching their heads.
Misfortunes, they say, never come alone, they come in battalions. A day after the shuffle in the cabinet, a notification issued by the Cabinet Division mentioned Asad Umar as the finance minister, further confounding the confusion. When a news reporter confronted Dr Sheerin Mazari with it, she expressed a profound amazement and ignorance of the matter. As if that were not enough, some of the ministers are reported to have downright refused to hand over charge.
Nero, it is said, fiddled while Rome burned. While the confusion surrounding the cabinet ministers persisted, the prime minister welcomed the national cricket team to the Prime Minister’s House. He gave them an hour long lecture.
The people of Pakistan are watching the comedy of errors and the political circus going on in the halls of power with enormous surprise and dismay. They have some simple questions on their minds: When will this all come to an end? Will Pakistan be pulled back from the economic brink? Is it the tip of an iceberg we see approaching? Are we sliding into chaos? Can turncoats and spent forces bring about a desirable change? Is the cabinet shuffle a gimmick on the part of the PTI to throw dust in people’s eyes? Is someone else pulling the strings from behind the scenes ?
The writer is a Lahore-based lawyer