Forced on the backfoot by an insistent President Leghari, Benazir Bhutto tries to put her house in order
DEFIANT pronouncements notwithstanding, Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto is struggling to survive. Having just received shock treatment from a firm President Farooq Ahmed Khan Leghari, who was unhappy with her style of governance, Benazir라이브 바카라 first priority is to check rampant corruption and establish a clean government—and then look at other factors working to her detriment: disastrous economic policies, for example.
Forced by Leghari to introduce a proper mechanism to check corruption, the opposition라이브 바카라 main plank for seeking her ouster, Benazir had to think double quick to initiate some steps to bring a semblance of transparency in governance. At the centre of the corruption charges is Benazir라이브 바카라 husband, Asif Zardari, a minister who has been accused of making money through kickbacks and commissions.
After several meetings with Leghari, both Benazir and opposition leader Nawaz Sharif presented their respective bills of accountability in Parliament. Scoring a point against Sharif, Benazir proposed across-the-board accountability, where not even the president, prime minister, army generals and judges were spared. She suggested the setting up of a permanent parliamentary committee, comprising both the leader of the House and the leader of the opposition, as members. The opposition라이브 바카라 bill had one basic flaw—it had excluded Sharif라이브 바카라 tenure as prime minister and said his role should not be put to scrutiny.
Benazir exploited this exclusion to the hilt. She dramatically announced on the floor of the National Assembly that the cleaning-up process should begin with her. She even brought up the two main allegations against her—the purchase of the Surrey mansion and the dubious Mirage deal—and invited an open investigation.
Zardari, who had left Pakistan also returned, putting all speculations to rest by offering himself for investigations.
This pushed Sharif into a corner. The former premier, who is facing a number of corruption cases on account of obtaining bank loans amounting to billions, will have a lot of explaining to do if the government implements the bill. No wonder then that Sharif rejected the proposed bill, charging the government with trying to enslave the judiciary. But his criticism was blasted by analysts who think Nawaz is now charting an escape route from the tangle. Looking to divert attention, the opposition got the chance when the government announced an International Monetary Fund (IMF)-dictated new formula. Aware that the public is outraged at the new price hike, on October 23, Sharif announced that all opposition members would quit en masse from the National Assembly in November to protest against Benazir라이브 바카라 policies. He also called for a countrywide strike on October 26.
Benazir was forced to negotiate a fresh deal with the IMF when it refused to release the latest tranche of aid to Pakistan, complaining that the government had not fulfilled its commitments. Just four months after the federal budget, her government enforced a new set of economic decisions, bowing to World Bank and IMF dictates.
On October 22, the Benazir government announced a ‘mini budget’ to generate Rs 40 billion in additional revenues; it also introduced new taxes to the tune of Rs 13 billion and, in another austerity drive, the development expenditure was cut by Rs 27 billion. Then, Pakistan라이브 바카라 rupee was devalued by 8.5 per cent, putting immense pressure on the common consumer. Benazir rounded off the new proposals by hiking petrol and gas rates.
She also imposed an agricultural income tax, expected to raise Rs two billion—not an easy decision because her prime strength comes from the rural areas. Till now, the big land-holding, feudal lobby, which dominates Parliament, was vehemently opposed to any such move, and since it plays an important role in the formation of the government, no government has been able to tax agricultural income. While the farming community complains that agriculture is no more as remunerative, Benazir라이브 바카라 advisers feel big landowners can afford to deposit a little more in the kitty—and hence the tax. Such harsh economic measures in the middle of the fiscal year has further dented the Benazir government라이브 바카라 image, which has taken quite a beating in popularity charts.
Together with this came President Leghari라이브 바카라 insistence that Benazir must initiate sweeping measures against corruption—an assignment she has to take seriously if she wants to complete the last two years of her tenure. Things had reached such a pass, that even Leghari, who till recently carried the tag of a loyal president, came out publicly against the massive lack of transparency in government affairs.
And it didn’t take Leghari long to see the chaos around. From economy to law and order, a deadlock with the Supreme Court to corruption, all aspects of life seemed to be steeped in anarchy. Benazir라이브 바카라 government has always been accused of inefficiency, and her whimsical approach only made matters worse. The only difference being that this time, President Leghari is no longer a silent spectator.
If Leghari is clamouring for a second consecutive term, which observers say he is, he could not afford to be party to this decay in governance. He was also under pressure from another front. The army—which dominates the Pakistani establishment—was also said to be angry with the state of affairs and instead of interfering directly, is believed to have wanted the president to send a stern message to Benazir to spruce up her act.
In an unprecedented move, Leghari wrote to Senate Chairman Waseem Sajjad and the Speaker of the National Assembly urging them to formulate a new mechanism against corruption. He said he was also perturbed by the government라이브 바카라 obstinacy in not implementing the Supreme Court라이브 바카라 judgement on the appointment of judges. Leghari eventually forced the government to end its confrontation with the judiciary.
ONCE Benazir showed signs of relenting, Leghari kept up the pressure. For the first time in three years, there were rumours of a possible collision between the prime minister and her one-time adviser Leghari. Initially, Benazir did take it as an offence, but then some senior advisers convinced her that the president was working in the government라이브 바카라 interest.
The Sharif-led opposition, of course, tried to take advantage of the situation and opened channels with Leghari whom they had earlier been lambasting for being ‘corrupt.’ A Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) delegation, led by Sharif, met the President on September 26, hoping Leghari would accede to their demand and call for fresh elections. But Leghari only assured them that elections would be free and fair, ‘whenever they are held. ’바카라 웹사이트
On September 28, after a gap of two months, Leghari met Benazir and pointed out specific areas where her government had failed to deliver—economic policies, law and order, handling of the judiciary, media management et al. Several such high-level meetings would follow.
President Leghari suggested to the prime minister that banks and other key institutions like the bureaucracy were collapsing due to too much centralisation and violation of rules. Politicisation of the bureaucracy had become so threatening that the president had to tell the prime minister to stop the interference by public representatives immediately.
Benazir, having barely recovered from the tragedy of her brother Murtaza라이브 바카라 assassination—for which Zardari is being blamed—realised that Leghari meant business and embarked on a series of damage-control exercises.
The attorney general, who she felt had misled her vis-a-vis the judiciary, was promptly removed. To let in some fresh air, Benazir is also contemplating new faces in her economic and media teams. Her key adviser on economy, V.A. Jaffery, is reported to have already resigned. She set up a special cabinet committee to review all appointments, postings and transfers in the bureaucracy made over the last 10 years.
Going by the events, there is no dearth of predictions that the Benazir government is surviving on borrowed time. But many in the government feel that the threat is not as menacing as it is made out to be and say that the reported differences between the president and the prime minister have been blown out of proportion. President Leghari is yet to openly declare that he is considering removing the government. In fact, those who claim to have inside information say the president is indirectly helping the government. "His recent actions are probably more aimed at opening the eyes of the government to its mistakes than heading for an extreme solution. He is doing what Benazir was unable to do due to pressure from legislators," says a source in the ruling coalition.
SAYS well known columnist Ayaz Amir: "Despite the clear dangers that Benazir faces, the government is going to be around to amuse and torment the people. It may have lost the ability to govern but it is not going anywhere in a hurry." He feels that the lessons of the last 10 years of political turbulence are clear: it is easy to break a government but it less easy to manage the consequences.
바카라 웹사이트According to coalition leaders, the government must tread with caution because even if Benazir is forced to quit, a bigger dilemma will confront the nation: who will step into her shoes? There are hardly any ‘clean’ leaders left. Agrees Azizuddin Ahmed, a political commentator: "The only factor that could prolong her stay in power is the lack of a successor. The establishment has to find an alternative to her. Immediate elections may pose the danger of bringing Sharif back to power, who was dropped by the establishment for his narrow vision, his crude efforts to buy over sections of the establishment plus the same sins that Benazir suffers from—corruption and mismanagement of the economy."바카라 웹사이트
Even optimists concede that the prime minister must lay down a new foundation for a clean government. They also feel that Benazir should take Leghari라이브 바카라 advice seriously, something she is not very adept at . They fear that Benazir, with her knack for self-created crises, may adopt a defiant stand and make things worse for her government. "If she handles the situation coolly for six months, we can hope for better days," says an aide to the prime minister. Says Amir: "Bhutto라이브 바카라 troubles have arisen not because she is being held accountable for corruption, but because of her egregious tactical errors—her quarrel with the Supreme Court and her taking the President for granted."바카라 웹사이트
Some of her own party members are worried of the widespread allegations of corruption. In a newspaper column recently, PPP leader Shafqat Mehmood, said that there is a crisis of good governance and that the state is near collapse.
Federal Minister for Human Rights Syed Iqbal Haider, who has just taken over as attorney general, says there is no threat to the government. In fact, he blamed all the ills plaguing the government on the opposition: "Frequent strikes and the agitational politics of defeatist elements are trying to destablise the government through an orchestrated campaign of rumour-mongering." But Haider apart, few other leaders can be as optimistic.바카라 웹사이트