Letter from Lahore: Hashmi's arrest spotlights prevailing political realities

The dramatic arrest of Alliance for the Rest-oration of Democracy (ARD) president and PML-N acting chief, Javed Hashmi, has acted to spotlight the state of national politics.

The extraordinary charges of abetting mutiny, sedition, forgery and defamation Hashmi faces exposes the military's growing impatience with criticism coming its way from a variety of quarters. Hashmi, with his love for the theatrical, typified this with his production of the letter that accuses military men of corruption and demands an inquiry into the Kargil episode.

While the authenticity of this unusual document is, at best, questionable, there can be no doubt that the military has opened itself up to such antics through its prolonged role in political affairs. The intervention of military men in campaigning during the most recent general election, statements on national matters issued after discussions among senior officers and the willingness to over-step existing laws on the part of individuals, are all a part of this.

But, perhaps more significant, at least in the longer run, is what the Hashmi affair says about the state of political parties themselves. The fact that a major leader found it necessary to resort to such drama in order to draw attention to himself, shows too the extent to which parties have lost contact with their followers. The successive failure over the last year by the opposition parties to bring people onto the streets to back their vocal protests against the Legal Framework Order (LFO) and other measures, is further evidence of this. The fact that the protest against Hashmi's arrest in the city, a day after he was dragged away from his car, consisted of a handful of slogan shouters and several high-heeled women who chose to drape themselves across the street and disrupt traffic for a few minutes, is further proof of this.

People, it would seem, are no longer interested in the agendas of political parties or their leaders. After all, these leaders rarely address the issues that are of real concern to the people, such as the rising rates of basic commodities, unemployment and continued economic decline. And, this gap between the leadership and the people appears to be widening by the day. Each of the five elections held since 1988 showing a successive decline in voter participation.

It is true that that the surge in the popular appeal of religious parties, evidenced by the results of the last poll in the NWFP, is linked to the fact that men such as Qazi Hussain Ahmed appear to be in closer touch with people and their concerns. Today, it is the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) which stages rallies against inflation, it is the Jamiat-e-Ulema Islam (JUI) that talks of the oppression poor people suffer – and even as they watch, it would seem the platform on which parties such as the populist Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) have built their appeal are being pulled out from under their feet by the religious right. The greater accessibility of the clerical leaders, their willingness to mingle freely at public events, at airports or at rail stations and to personally receive people who visit their home or offices adds to their appeal.

In the Punjab, people are not yet ready to turn away from the centrist parties traditionally backed in the ballot. The coming days, and their efforts to bring about the release of Hashmi, may indicate how far they have succeeded in drawing the masses back onto the streets.