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Musharraf gets his puppet
premier
By Muddassir Rizvi
ISLAMABAD - Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali's
survival as Pakistan's new prime minister will depend on
his ability to strike a balance between public
sentiments that conflict with the country's geopolitical
priorities, while trying to keep his coalition
government of more than a dozen parties together.
This is the challenge that lies ahead for
Jamali, who belongs to the Pakistan Muslim
League-Qaid-i-Azam (PML-Q) close to President General
Pervez Musharraf and whose election as prime minister on
Thursday ended a six-week deadlock over the formation of
a government after the October 10 elections.
In
a speech after his election, Jamali, the country's first
civilian prime minister since the 1999 military coup by
Musharraf, thanked the general for restoring democracy,
but did not comment on the future course of his
government. However, he said, "Pakistan comes first,"
repeating the slogan that has now become Musharraf's
trademark.
No single party won a clear majority
in the October polls to claim government. This led to a
deadlock on forming a coalition government that was
broken on Thursday after Jamali received 172 votes from
parliament - the exact number required to gain a simple
majority in the house of 342 members.
On the
home front, Jamali, a former chief minister of
Balochistan province and chief of the Jamali tribe
there, is faced with vociferous opposition stemming from
anti-Musharraf and anti-American sentiments in last
month's polls.
Ironically, Jamali's own home
province of Balochistan, by the Afghan border, gave an
overwhelming mandate in the October polls to the
six-party alliance of religious parties, the Muttahida
Majlis-e-Amal (MMA). This reflects support for the MMA's
demand to oust US troops in Pakistan going after
al-Qaeda elements in the border area, and a change in
the increasingly secular policies of the military regime
of Musharraf.
But internationally, Jamali's
government will be expected to honor the promises that
Musharraf has made to fight religious extremism and
terrorism. Jamali's political juggling act will not be
made easier by the fact that Musharraf, who a few days
ago took his oath as president for another five years,
remains the real source of power in a country that on
the surface returned to democratic institutions with the
convening of parliament.
After turning over
power to the new prime minister, Musharraf said, "I
would continue to perform my important role for the
security of the country." Jamali said that Musharraf's
foreign policy had earned the country respect. "Thanks
to Musharraf who gave a road map and fulfilled his
promise ... the transfer of power is going on," he
added.
While Musharraf monitors each and every
move of the elected government, it is likely to be
difficult for Jamali to strike a balance between public
sentiments against Musharraf's pro-US policies in its
war against terrorism and the country's diplomatic and
strategic priorities.
But for many, the issues
of sovereignty and foreign policy are secondary. They
are more concerned about poverty, unemployment and the
absence of a social safety net in hard times. Official
figures indicate that the number of the people living
below the poverty line has increased to 48 million in
2002 from around 40 million in 1999. The price of
electricity has increased 11 times since October 1999,
when Musharraf took over in a military coup.
Jamali's election brings together more than a
dozen parties, including the pro-Musharraf PML-Q,
dissident members of the Pakistan People's Party -
Parliamentary (PPPP) of ex-prime minister Benazir
Bhutto, and independent members of parliament. Jamali's
closest rival, with 86 votes, was Maulana Fazlur Rehman
of the MMA. PPPP candidate Shah Mahmud Qureshi came
third with 70 votes.
Jamali's toughest test will
be how he handles the limits set by constitutional
amendments that Musharraf introduced earlier this year
to curtail the powers of the prime minister and of the
parliament, even though the return of these institutions
was meant to reflect Pakistan's return to civilian rule
after the 1999 coup.
These constitutional
amendments empower the president to dismiss the elected
parliament and to sack and appoint the heads of
important constitutional offices - including the
governors of the four provinces and the chiefs of the
armed services, powers previously exercised by the prime
minister.
To critics, the most disturbing of the
amendments is the one that gives the military a
permanent role in governance through the establishment
of a supra-parliamentary body called the National
Security Council (NSC).
Many will be looking to
see how Jamali will take to his role as a silent
observer - even a puppet - with little real power, when
the NSC, where the prime minister sits as a civilian
member, deliberates important affairs of parliament.
(Inter Press Service)
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