Sherpao proves it again

Aftab Sherpao is a lucky man. On three occasions in recent months, there were glad tidings for him, his family and his supporters. He was acquitted in cases filed against him in accountability courts and released from prison.

Then his party performed well in the October 10 general elections by winning two National Assembly and a dozen of the NWFP Assembly seats.

Finally, he was made federal minister and entrusted with the prized water and power portfolio.
There has been an endless stream of visitors to his People's House bungalow in Peshawar's posh University Town during the past few months.

They started coming there when Sherpao was freed from jail. The number of visitors grew when Sherpao's PPP won far more assembly seats than expected. The crowds became bigger when he became a minister. All were offered sweets to share the happiness of the inmates of the house.

Among the visitors were fence-sitters as well as Sherpao loyalists who had stood by him in difficult times. There were also those who calculated that joining the Sherpao bandwagon would serve their self-interest.

There was a time when the People's House had become almost deserted.

Sherpao fled Pakistan to escape arrest at the hands of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), and many of his friends and supporters felt it was prudent to keep their distance from him.

His elder son, Sikandar Hayat Sherpao, held the fort in his absence and ran their faction of the PPP, but it wasn't easy retaining the loyalty of workers in those trying times.

There was a constant flow into and out of the PPP (Sherpao) as Sherpao's fortunes rose or fell.
Sherpao's homecoming and subsequent release from prison galvanised his faction of the PPP.

It was an assorted group of PPP activists and non-PPP members who had come together on account of their loyalty to Sherpao. Some of them must have felt uncomfortable with Sherpao's efforts to build his party as a champion of Pakhtun rights.

But everyone pulled along as Sherpao almost succeeded in hijacking the nationalist platform from those who had built it from scratch in 80 years. Sherpao is now a strong contender while competing with the ANP for the hearts and minds of the nationalist Pakhtuns.

In terms of assembly seats, the PPP (Sherpao) is the second biggest party in the NWFP Assembly after the majority MMA. It outvoted the mainstream PPP, which has 10 seats, in the province.

It must have shocked Benazir Bhutto because none of the so-called "uncles" who left the PPP in the past managed to inflict so much harm on the party as Sherpao.

His faction also did better than the ANP, PML-QA and PML-N, all major players in Frontier politics. For now the PPP (Sherpao) is out of the provincial government due to the numerical superiority of the MMA.

But there should be no doubt that Sherpao is waiting in the wings, ready to exploit the opportunity in case the MMA falls apart. No politician would be able to match him in building a coalition from the debris once the MMA collapses.

His position as a powerful federal minister would be very useful in such a situation.