By reverting to their pre-1999 confrontational politics, when the army successfully took turns to play up the People’s Party and the Muslim League against one another, Sharif and Zardari have let the people down. Between the two of them, perhaps Zardari is seen as being more blameworthy after he sacked the Punjab government last month and imposed governor’s rule in the country’s most populous and historically influential province. The sentiment in Punjab is predominantly for the restoration of the pre-November 3, 2007 judiciary when Musharraf had sent some 60 high court and supreme court judges packing after imposing emergency rule.

The current higher courts are believed to have been packed with “friendly” judges by Zardari; the supreme court’s decision last month to disqualify the Sharif brothers from contesting for or holding any public office has found little approval with the people. Zardari’s failure to retain Sharif as a coalition partner has also raised question marks in the minds of the other coalition partners in the Frontier and Balochistan, for instance. His cosying up to the PML-Q, seen as Musharraf’s legacy, has definitely ruffled a few feathers within the PPP itself; the party’s old guard loyalists are now all but history.

Ironically, less than a year after a democratic government took charge, the ball is back in the army’s court as the arbiter of political justice. If Sharif can sustain the popularity of his protest movement despite the government’s desperate efforts to contain it, the generals may think about renewing their contacts with the “devil” they certainly know better than they do Zardari. His government has precious little to show in terms of its accomplishments in the eleven months it has been in office, much less any tangible sense of approval for its controversial policies so far. Fewer today expect any good coming from Zardari than they did a year ago, albeit, also then, against their better judgment.

... contd.