Musharraf’s life versus tomato price
Posted on 2013-11-21 05:09:40 by Manzoor Ali
Good Morning: Manzoor Ali
There are those who say that Nawaz Sharif is a stubborn politician and then there are some who say he is not a fickle politician. Those who say he is stubborn, say it negatively, meaning that he is sticking up for wrong things and the wrong time and those who claim he is not fickle mean that the PML-N chief will not deviate from his proclaimed good cause even if moving forward with becomes tough.
In the present context many wanted the prime minister not to try the former president. They argue that Masharraf, whatever his misdeeds, is nevertheless an ex-army chief and down from the ordinary soldier up to the generals will not like him being tried and punished. For the ordinary troops it would mean degrading the whole army, those who call Nawaz Sharif a stubborn politician who 
will need the writing on the wall and engage in combat with the generals. They say that democracy in Pakistan has been replanted and it still has to grow upwards and grow roots downwards, they also say, it is too easy to uproot the sapling of democracy.
Total absurd who say that Nawaz Sharif is not a fickle politicians and will not change course for the right path even if things get tough. They say that, whenever, a general is tried for aborting or suspending the Constitution such apprehension will have to be faced and unless a civilian government comes forward and shows guts, some generals will always harbour the hope of becoming the rulers of the country through unconstitutional means. Those who call Nawaz Sharif \’Not a fickle politicians\’, also, say that Nawaz Sharif promised to restore the judiciary and he restored it against great odd; similarly he vowed to put Musharraf on trial, not for the personal discomfort he caused the current prime minister but for violating the constitution, and he has kept this promise in spite of threats to his government.
For the common man, it is impossible to judge whether Nawaz Sharif is simply stubborn or just \’not a fickle politician\’ unless they either see the general punished or the army take over the country; however, right now they are definitely thinking that Nawaz Sharif has broken his promises by not bringing the prices of daily use items down; instead, the common man thinks that he has broken his vows with the people as the prices are going up and things are getting beyond the reach of the ordinary Pakistanis.
The people see the rupee going down against the major currencies of the world and they see the prices at the local markets going up and they also see the government doing nothing about the falling rupee or the rising prices. They also see that expect for the first month when the government went after, or gave the impression of, going after the big electricity and gas thieves, it has done nothing to curb corruption. The people of Pakistan are simple but not simpletons; they know that had the government curbed line losses (code phrase for power theft), the first man to come on the television and report the success to the people would have been Khawaja Asif. However, with the way things are going they see no hope of seeing the power minister on the small screen announcing the good news. 
As I said the people of this country are simple but not simpletons; they know that had the big fish who evade paying taxes were caught and forced to pay, the first man to come on television screen and report increase in revenue from income tax would have been Finance Minister Ishaq Dar but the common Pakistani doesn\’t expect to see him soon on TV making this announcement.
The people of Pakistan are, however, asking the question whether putting Musharraf on trial or convicting him will bring the prices of the items of daily use down? If not then the people of this country have no state in whether Nawaz Sharif is stubborn politician or a \’not fickle politician or whether the retired general is punished or left free to play gold.
Maybe, Nawaz Sharif and his political subordinate in the government do not know but the fact is that the people of Pakistan will not vote for him because he brought the Asghan Khan case to life again or that he got Musharraf convicted for treason. They will judge their own financial conditions and ask themselves the question: Are we better off than we were five years ago? If the answer is \’no\’ they will not vote for the PML-N candidates even if Nawas puts all the other previous dictators trial, get them convicted and gets death sentences form them and hangs the skeletons of the dead dictators, the people will not vote for him. However, they will vote for him if the prices of wheat, tomato, potato and sugar go down.
goodmornin
