By Kamran Rehmat/Islamabad


In a league of his own: Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid President Chuadhry Shujaat Hussain has few peers in Pakistani politics
Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain is any interviewer’s delight. You may struggle to make yourself heard given the sometimes inaudible pitch - there is no dearth of TV spoofs signifying his apparent mumbo-jumbo - but rarely, if ever, does he disappoint with his political wisecrack.
He may have grown physically weak but exponentially, sound in how he has made effective use of his shrinking political base after his Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) was relegated to the sidelines once military dictator General (retired) Pervez Musharraf was ousted from power.
But he made a telling comeback by joining hands with erstwhile foe President Asif Zardari’s Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) - a liaison many thought was inconceivable. The two were breaking bread the evening of the day when Osama bin Laden didn’t even make it to bed!
A tete-e-tete with one of Pakistan’s shrewdest politician was always going to be worth the while: he was in his elements: humorous, poignant and pragmatic. The last word is probably, what defines his brand of politics.
This is how he cleared the cobwebs surrounding the political realignment with the PPP as opposed to having truck with Pakistan Muslim League of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif - his former mother party:
“We shouldn’t be going here, we shouldn’t be going there - then, where should we be going?”
When asked how he reconciled to stern opposition of Musharraf after the former strongman was ousted and now playing footsie with the PPP, the ace politician put down the art of survival to flexibility.
“Political survival demands flexibility, but we are not crazy to take a shortsighted decision. PPP is not a sinking ship whether we had joined them or not.”
The PML-Q chief however, felt Musharraf had no future in the country’s politics.
When reminded about how once PPP leader Zardari had tersely labeled his party “Qatil (“Murderer”) League in a less-than-oblique reference to the assassination of his spouse Benazir Bhutto, Hussain retorted, “Well before that happened, Nawaz Sharif humiliated us by saying he gave a damn to us (PML-Q).”
Sharif scoffs at the idea of reuniting with Hussain.
Dismissing the allegation about having been forced into a marriage of convenience, Hussain said: “This is all baseless. The PPP offered us to join the government.”
He claimed the ruling party was seeking a long-term partnership with the PML-Q and had suggested that together they could pull the country out of the economic crisis and also go into next elections as political partners.
Also nixed was the notion that the PML-Q was in league with the PPP to bail out the beleaguered Moonis Elahi, the son of Pervaiz Elahi, former Punjab chief minister during Musharraf’s rule and Hussain’s cousin.
Elahi is under investigation in multi-billion  rupee scandal.
“There exists no Moonis factor in this episode as the judiciary has already taken up his case. Can the president or the prime minister influence the judiciary? Can they get Moonis released from the Supreme Court?” he said.
But the PPP government appears to be stonewalling the case in what can only be a result of political understanding.
Hussain recalled that there were two opinions in the PML-Q with one arguing the party should join the PPP government for the sake of development in our constituencies and future politics while the other felt the party “should not share the dirt of PPP that it has generated over the last three years”.
The PML-Q chief also scoffed at the widely speculated theory surrounding the PPP’s having allegedly cut a deal with 25 of PML-Q dissidents on the sly to force the hand of Hussain: 
“There are only five MNAs, not 25 who joined the PPP behind my back. They may get favours from PPP but cannot exercise the right to vote by crossing the floor. They would have to wait for the next election to go against us if they so desire. Their hands are tied,” Hussain said emphatically.
According to the Pakistani constitution, those voting against party line are liable to be disqualified.
To reinforce his view, Hussain recalled how when his party staged a walkout during the presidential address to the Joint Session of the Parliament early this year, only four of its members remained inside the House.
“If there was any under the table deal with the so-called 25 Leaguers, they would have stayed back during the presidential speech,” he countered.
After the fallout between the PPP and PML-N following a short-lived romance, which Sharif put down to distrust in Zardari’s person, there were questions about how Hussain would deal with the PPP leader.
But this does not worry Hussain in the least.
“As compared to Sharif, Zardari is a great politician, who can be trusted. Agreement remains an agreement whether it is written or not. The good thing about Zardari is that he keeps his promises,” Hussain retorted.
On the burning issue of creating more provinces, Hussain said there was no harm in cutting the slack as long as these were premised in administrative construct.
“There should be more provinces but only on administrative grounds, not along ethnic lines. We support the formation of new provinces in Punjab because (demographically speaking) it is the largest province,” he said.
About holding dialogue with the MQM, he felt political isolation was unhealthy and therefore, the process of dialogue between political parties ought to continue.
“Everyone is making their own calculations,” he noted.
Responding to the legendary account of him owning the pen, which former strongman General Ziaul Haq used to sign the execution order of Zardari’s father-in-law and Pakistan’s first popularly elected prime minister, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Hussain said nothing doing.
“There is no reality in the pen story. We do not have any pen which was used to sign the verdict against Bhutto. This story was created just like many other baseless ones,” Hussain concluded.

* The writer is a freelance journalist based in Islamabad and can be reached at [email protected]