There is an element of theatre of the absurd in the election because the code of conduct for parties and candidates was merrily violated by everyone from the ‘Prime Minister’ Sardar Atique downwards, and the Election Commissioner did not blow the whistle. Probably, the poll chief lost interest in the contest once Sardar Atique Ahmed Khan, who is now likely to join the PPP in forming the new government, called the election a wrestling match.
The Sardar belongs to the ‘local’ Muslim Conference that has been in the AJK saddle for long years as the blue eyed boy of the establishment. The scales were tipped against it this time around as the ‘national’ Muslim Conference of Nawaz Sharif who had his political baptism in the Zia years as yet another establishment figure entered the fray for the first time.
Atique closed ranks with the PPP, which has nudged closer to the establishment as the least harmful of the two national players. Sharif balloon was punctured as a result and he had to contend himself with the runner up status with eight seats.
Atique party did not get any electoral benefit either (its final tally at four was the lowest in its chequered history) but is able to retain its place at the ‘noora kushti’ as Playboy – Cricketer turned ‘pampered’ politician Imran Khan dubbed the AJK battle for honours.
MQM’s Altaf Hussain is also nursing his AJK wounds and he believes Zardari-Gilani combine had stabbed him in the back. Such a charge from a leader who made power politics his survival mantra from his London his perch for decades looks outrageous but on close examination, it is clear his grouse is not misplaced since he is the ally of the PPP in Karachi and Islamabad.
Obviously, PPP leadership has found a new bankable ally in the erstwhile King’s party (PML-Q) and is confident of living without MQM. Otherwise it would not have got polling in the three seats MQM was hopeful of winning and thus forced Altaf to announce boycott of the election. He is sure to carry this bitterness forward and it will have a debilitating effect on the coalitions in his home state and the federal capital.
It is possible MQM supremo may walk out of PPP-fold and close ranks after some huffing- puffing with Nawaz Sharif, who has his own dreams of a grand alliance to oust the PPP in a mid-term poll. Problem with this dream is that it defies gravitational pulls that Pakistan is known for or stands for.
Neither Altaf Hussain nor Sharif had exhibited any moral compunction in the past to resist the temptation to take advantage of ‘undemocratic, unethical and illegal acts’ they find today under Zardari gaze in AJK. None of the three has any problem with the myth Pakistan elite has been perpetuating about ‘independence’ of AJK and none of them ever bothered to question the absurdity of Federal Ministry of Kashmir Affairs calling the shots from Islamabad.
And in both AJK and G-B, it is the ‘establishment’ that is the real power centre, just like in rest of Pakistan.
