Letter from Lahore: Cabinet leaves city residents cold

Though several of Lahore's better known residents have made it into the newly-announced federal cabinet, few in the city are rejoicing over the look of the country's topmost decision-making body.

Indeed, if there was ever an example of political bribery on open display, it comes in the form of the present cabinet, with no less than six from the 10-member PPP forward bloc receiving an immediate pay-out for their vital switching of alliances, and finding places in the cabinet.

Not just that, the dissidents seem to have won the pick of the ministries, with two of the four highest profile portfolios occupied by rebel leader Faisal Saleh Hayat, the new interior minister, and General Pervez Musharraf's Christian College graduate, Rao Sikander Iqbal, winning the key post of defence minister.

Of the cabinet, Faisal, Rao Sikander, Foreign Minister Khur-shid Kasuri, Commerce minister Humayun Akhtar Khan and Information Technology minister Owais Leghari, son of Farooq Leghari, are all Lahore residents, though only Humayan can be considered a 'true born' Lahori.

But, on analysis of the cabinet, heavily dominated by men from Punjab, it is the blatant meting out of favours in exchange for support that has made Lahoris hide their head.

Certainly, with the announcement of the cabinet, General Pervez Musharraf's pledge of introducing a new era of 'honest' politics can be words relegated to the dusty files recording the many unfulfilled promises made by past leaders.

At the same time, the composition of the new cabinet has perhaps inevitably created its own political complications. Potentially the most significant among these, with the government in Sindh still to be formed, is the annoyance of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) over the award of so many posts to the PPP rebels.

Equally relevant are the rifts emerging within Prime Minister Jamali's own PML-QA over the cabinet allocations. Many within the party are said to be furious that the PPP rebels have been given so many seats, members of the Grand National Alliance accommodated and space left open for Musharraf's nominees from his existing cabinet, automatically cutting drastically into the share the PML-QA believes was rightfully its own.

With a major meeting of PML-QA parliamentarians held at the home of Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain in Lahore yesterday, at least on the surface to 'celebrate' the formation of a government by the PML-QA, it is said that many of those who drove up to the meeting followed by Iftar in their Pajeros, Mercedes Benz or sedans were "furious over what had happened" in Islamabad, with Shujaat and his cousin Parvez Illahi, set to take over as Punjab chief minister within days, spending most of their time placating the MNAs and MPAs attending the party function.

In the days ahead, it would seem the prime minister will need to carry out a fair measure of similar placating exercises.

The job he now takes on is no easy one, and the fact that he is hemmed in by a cabinet forced upon him by circumstances, rather than one chosen by him as the best team to help him perform the difficult task of running national affairs, makes his job no easier.

He will also have to contend with Musharraf himself as president, and in all possibility, non-PML-QA governments in all three of the smaller provinces. How he manages this task will be one that will be watched with much anticipation in the months ahead.