Effect of Personalities
WHILE hearing the 18th Amendment case, in which the procedure it provides for judicial appointments has been challenged, Justice Javed Iqbal remarked that all political parties revolved around their heads. Though he was speaking within the context of the case, his remark can be applied to the present situation, and to most of our history. It has to be factored in that the nascent democracy was very soon interrupted by military rule, but the presence of Field Marshal Ayub Khan’s son and grandson in the list of those elected MNAs indicates the power of the hereditary principle to which Justice Javed Iqbal was referring. He may remember the rise and fall of the Tehrik-i-Istiqlal, which followed so closely the fortunes of Air Marshal (retd) Asghar Khan.
However, there is enough evidence in the present scenario to justify the observation. The PPP was inherited by the late Benazir Bhutto from her father Zulfikar Ali when he was hanged, and after her death it has been taken over by her widower, because her son is still studying. However, he is already being looked to by some, it being taken for granted that he will inherit his late mother’s votebank much as he has inherited her property. Across the political divide, the PML(N) is so much a creature of Mian Nawaz Sharif that his name has become part of it. Parties here seem to be mere platforms for certain personalities to strut the political stage and garner the support of voters without in any way building institutions or helping to promote healthy democratic politics. Maulana Fazlur Rehman and Asfandyar Wali Khan have inherited the positions that have allowed them to become allies of the PPP, even though their fathers, from whom they inherited the headships of their respective parties, were both implacable opponents of the PPP.
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