Nasrullah's death blow to alliance

The death of veteran Pakistani politician Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan, a vocal head of the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy (ARD), has clouded the future of the multi-party front cobbled together and sustained by him with painstaking efforts.

Credited with turning erstwhile bitter political foes, Pakistan Peoples Party and Pakistan Muslim League-N, into allies in the ARD for the cause of democracy, Khan suffered a severe heart attack three days ago.

He had arrived here Tuesday from Lahore, springboard for his activities, to chair an ARD parties meeting called to take stock of the political situation amid receding prospects for a deal between the military-backed government and influential Muttahida Majlis Amal religious alliance.

The octogenarian politician, known as a crusader against military intervention in politics and authoritarian civilian rule, will be laid to rest on Wednesday in the ancestral cemetery in his hometown Khangarh in the southern part of the Punjab province.

Though he failed to win his way to parliament in the national election held by the military regime last year, Khan remained a bitter critic of President General Pervez Musharraf, whom he often blamed for hoisting a "sham" democratic set up under the tutelage of the military.

Pro-Musharraf opponents chided him for what they called his life-long practice of negative politics and accused him of obstructing Pakistan's smooth transition from military rule to full democracy.

The politician, who smoked the traditional hubble-bubble and wore a Turkish style headgear, which became his distinctive traits, and crafted various political alliances during his long political career, returned recently form a trip abroad.

He met with former prime ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, in London and Jeddah respectively, and reportedly urged them to come back to Pakistan from exile to lead the democratic struggle.

Political leaders across the spectrum and President Musharraf as well as Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan expressed condolences at the demise of the veteran politician. Jamali had visited him in hospital on Thursday.

Benazir Bhutto paid glowing tribute to Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan for his services to the cause of democracy in the country.

In a condolence message, she said Nasrullah Khan had devoted his entire life to the cause of democracy, supremacy of the Parliament and the Constitution and rule of law in Pakistan.

Neither old age nor ill health nor the "threats and intimidation of dictators" deterred him from pursuing his mission, Bhutto said, adding that his example would serve as beacon light for the democratic struggle in the future. She said that though frail in health and suffering from fatigue, the ARD chief radiated unswerving confidence and trust in his mission.

Political analysts say the PPP and Sharif's faction of Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) are likely to find it difficult to replace Nasrullah Khan with someone acceptable to both.

Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, president of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League party, said Khan's death had created a vacuum in Pakistani politics.

"He was the last politician of the kind who never bowed before dictatorship. I cannot see any other politician who can take his place," Hussain said in a statement.

Political circles believe Khan's exit does not bode well for the continuation of the ARD. "The Nawabzada was the glue that kept the ARD together. His death has left a vacuum in the alliance that will be very difficult, if not impossible, to fill," observed a political activist.