|
May 30, 2003
Comic Operas in Islamabad & in Texas
‘NO LFO NO’
‘GO MUSHARRAF GO’
That was the burden of the raucous slogans in the rumpus created by the opposition in the House of Representatives in Islamabad last April turning the august body into a virtual pandemonium.
President Musharraf refused to address the Parliament, as required under the Rules of Business, calling its conduct ‘uncivilized and undemocratic’. Even the leader of the House thought that the behavior of the nation’s elected representatives had become the laughing stock of the world.
I witnessed a similar scene in the Parliament when President Ishaq Khan was addressing it. Benazir Bhutto, leader of the opposition at that time stood up along with her followers and started chanting ‘Ja Baba Ja: Baba Ja: Ja Baba Ja’. Although she is now living abroad, the distasteful scenario in the recent session bore her clear signature.
The episode wasn’t any more startling, amazing or stupefying than what took place recently in the parliament of the state of Texas. It is, I suppose, a part of the game of politics, and quite amusing at that.
In the second week of May, Democrats in the Texas House boycotted it to obviate the passage of the ruling Republican party’s bill seeking a redistribution of constituencies. That would have in effect given the Republicans seven additional seats in the US House of Representatives in the 2004 election. They hold now a narrow majority of 229 to 205.
Tom DeLay, the Republican majority leader in the Texas House, was quite honest and candid about the move: ‘I’m the majority leader; I want more seats’. Significantly, the constituencies were laid down only a year earlier by a non-partisan panel of federal judges, and the proposed legislation sought to overturn the district lines set by them.
For the passage of the bill, a quorum of two-third members was needed, that is 100 members out of a total of 150. On May 12, 57 Democrats absented themselves from the chamber, leaving only 93 members to vote -7 short of the quorum.
The Republican Speaker ordered the sergeant-at-arms to bring the absent members back to the chamber with the help of the police if need be.
Governor Rick Perry, a Republican, ordered the Department of Public Safety to arrest them and produce a quorum by force.
The Democrats, foreseeing such an extreme action, fled the night before to Oklahoma to congregate at a Holiday Inn there. They remained there till the deadline for voting on the controversial bill had expired. Some agents of the Texas Department of Public Safety arrived there in a plane to ‘convince’ them to return.
The Governor of Oklahoma, a Democrat, ordered his police not to cooperate with the agents of Texas force. Functionaries of the Texas security service resorted to, according to press reports, all sorts of pressures on the staff and family members of the absenting Democrats to make them return in time for the voting. The Democrats’ maneuver and the consequent frustration caused some Republican officials to resort to bizarre moves, some quite funny.
One Republican member of the state Assembly got a pack of cards printed modeled on that used by the US military to track down the wanted Iraqi officials, with the face of each fugitive Democrat displayed on each card.
The Republican Party began running radio ads targeting selected representatives. These broadcasts reported that orders had issued to arrest the Democrats who had gone in hiding and asked the listeners to inform on the whereabouts of those who had “taken flight”!
The Republican Leader of the House went to the extent of asking the federal agencies like the FBI to help the state troopers in taking the fugitives into custody. The image of the Democrats was thus tarnished as ‘criminals’, although they were breaking no law of the State or of the federation.
It is perhaps relevant to mention that the Republicans had taken control of the State assembly for the first time in over a century. Now they appeared in a hurry to consolidate their hold by any and all means possible. That is what is twisting their image and providing amusement to objective, non-partisan observers. They see red or a terrorist in every nook and corner. The Democrats are now perhaps getting a taste of the harassing treatment given to the Arabs and Muslims in the State in the wake of 9/11.
One may suggest to the Texas Republicans to consult Benazir and Nawaz Sharif whenever they are faced with a dilemma caused by a maneuver of the opposition. The track record of the antics and machinations of the military dictators would be of no avail to the Republicans as they have no military machine at their disposal, nor does their desire for power reaches anywhere near the lust for it of the Pakistani generals.
The shouting and desk thumping sessions in the Assembly might be labeled as ‘uncivilized and undemocratic’ by the General in power, but it is a convenient tool to harass and unnerve the opponents. It may not be a civilized act, but it cannot be called undemocratic.
The General holds all the crucial trump cards and is firmly settled in power. The option available to the opposition is a pathetic resort to slogan mongering and a rumpus in the Assembly -a cry in anguish of a wounded prey.
A wolf in the vicinity is holding an olive branch in its mouth with the ulterior motive of widening the cleavage and grabbing the injured prey at an opportune time - all in the name of support to democracy. Unmitigated arrogance of power, like that of Gen. Yahya, by the current military leadership might also lead to a similar outcome. Benazir, like her father, appears to have already opted for such an outcome! She has nothing to lose: she has already lost every thing but for her ill-gotten wealth.
Gen. Musharraf has done a lot for the people of Pakistan; his credentials are beyond any reproach despite all the slogan-mongering of the frustrated opposition. He might be able to convince his colleagues in uniform that the circumstances on the ground dictate, nevertheless, a compromise with the civilian sectors - both his henchmen and the opposition - at this crucial juncture in Pakistan’s history. A rapprochement with India is also inevitable for the progress of the nation that has remained too long a hostage to the issue of Kashmir. There is hardly any room for another Kargil or some other diversionary move. A good opportunity has presented itself; the military leadership must not miss it in its narrow vocational interest.
(The writer may be reached by e-mail at: arifhussaini@hotmail.com or by phone at 714-280-1902)
| 
