DAWN
the internet
edition
Change in Sindh
WHEN the blow came it was abrupt and, as befits Pakistani
democracy, delivered without warning. Governor Moinuddin Haider
was summoned to Islamabad and informed that his time was up. His
replacement, the nondescript and largely unknown Mr Mamnoon
Hussain, being summoned at the same time and told of his
impending good fortune. The blow, again in line with how these
things are done here, has been unaccompanied by any explanation
of its necessity. In a difficult situation Governor Haider was
acquitting himself reasonably well. What dire emergency called
for his being thrown out at this juncture, especially when the
law and order situation in Sindh, whose deterioration was the
stated reason for imposing governor's rule in the province, had
visibly improved? There has not been a word of explanation nor,
to judge by past experience, will any be forthcoming. Governor
Haider had his uses. He did a job, manned the ramparts when this
was most needed but now that the prospect on the horizon is
lighter he can safely be discarded.
Mr Mamnoon Hussain, however, is going to be only a figurehead.
The appropriate notification having been issued, the real power
passes on to the ever-patient and relentless Syed Ghaus Ali Shah
who will be chief minister in all but name. The 'political'
set-up that will thus be installed is an answer to the
long-standing grievances of the Muslim League's stalwarts in
Sindh and Karachi. They were unhappy with Moinuddin Haider
precisely because he was not sufficiently 'political' - meaning
thereby that he kept them at arm's length and would not allow
them to meddle in the administrative affairs of the province.
With that handicap removed, Syed Ghaus Ali Shah can go about
creating 'favourable facts' on the ground and, more particularly,
in the Sindh assembly where the Muslim League is in a woeful
minority. This at least would be the theory. How this desire
works out in practice remains to be seen. The last great creator
of 'favourable facts' in Sindh politics was Jam Sadiq Ali. But
his methods were his own and whether without them the same
results (which brought notoriety to the Jam's chief ministership)
can be achieved is a moot point.
But in thus carrying out this change, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif
shows himself to be wholly oblivious to the rationale of
governor's rule in Sindh. That was imposed and the chief minister
dismissed because the law and order situation, dramatically
underscored by the murder of Hakim Said, was getting from bad to
worse with Mr Liaquat Jatoi, the then chief minister, unable to
reverse the tide. Over the heads of Syed Ghaus Ali Shah and other
Leaguers, Governor Haider was assigned the difficult task of
running an impartial administration that was not to be swayed by
political considerations. However, the main officials he was
asked to work with - and these included the top police officials
- were chosen by the Prime Minister himself. Eight months down
the road what was required was an honest appraisal of governor's
rule to determine whether it had succeeded or failed, and if it
had proved useful, what exactly it had achieved. This could have
pointed the way for the future: continuing with governor's rule
or wrapping it up and allowing the reassertion of normal
constitutional procedures culminating in the election of a chief
minister by the existing Sindh assembly or by a newly elected
one. The Ghaus Ali Shah formula is neither one thing nor the
other. It lacks the merits of impartial governor's rule without
the advantage of representative status which can only come from
the Sindh assembly.
Syed Ghaus Ali Shah of course is not a newcomer to the power
corridors of the province. But although he has been here before -
at a time when in Islamabad General Zia-ul-Haq was master of all
he surveyed - his own experience as the chief executive of Sindh
should tell him that playing needless political games with the
province's fortunes have cost it dear in the past, and indeed
given rise to the many complexities which bedevil it to this day.
Open and clean politics is what the province needs and this can
come about only if the principle of representative democracy is
respected.