ISLAMABAD, 30 November 2002 — Another name for Pakistan’s new multiparty Cabinet can be the ‘quid pro quo’ Cabinet. It was payment time for the establishment and Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali’s party as together they named part of what promises to be a numerically large Cabinet. The many parties which made Jamali’s prime ministership and PML(Q)’s incumbency possible have now being rewarded.

Of the over ten political parties and groups in the coalition, the Cabinet will have representation from most. Hence the Jamali Cabinet will have the distinction of being politically the most diverse in Pakistan’s history. Diverse only by their different name plates. Not by ideologies.

Already 25 members have been sworn in to assist the prime minister in ‘managing’ Pakistan; 14 ministers, seven ministers of state and four advisers. The incomplete Cabinet already has members from six parties; 12 ministers from the PML(Q), six from the PPP’s forward bloc, two from the Leghari-dominated National Alliance and one from PPP-Sherpao. When compared to the past elected Cabinets this one is no different; with individuals generally representing their respective electoral standing and not their subject competence.

Of the 25 inducted into the Jamali team almost all of them have been elected to the Parliament at least three or four times. Exceptions are men and women like Owais Leghari and Neelofor Bakhtiar. The majority of the Cabinet members have served in past governments; elected, PPP, PML(N) and in unelected military governments of the late Zia ul Haq and Gen. Pervez Musharraf. In some cases men like Shiekh Rashid, Zubaida Jalal and Sharifuddin Pirzada will be holding portfolios they have already held in the past.

Insofar as the Cabinets that parliamentary forms of government generate, the Jamali Cabinet is no exception. Neither worse nor better than the earlier ones. Many more entrants to the hallowed corridors of ministership and advisership are waiting. And like all coalitions, no less the one in neighboring India, the support ‘loaned’ to the ruling party generally can only be ‘secured’ after the collateral of a ministership or advisership is extended by the borrower to the lender.

So then its more of the same. The Jamali government is as ‘sham’ and as ‘genuine’ a democratic government as there has been in the past. Only Gen. Pervez Musharraf must be confident that he will make this Cabinet function ‘correctly.’

Prime Minister Jamali has assured continuity in existing policies. Gen. Musharraf seeks ‘correctness’ of behavior too. After administering the oath to Jamali’s team Gen. Musharraf said: “Pakistan will suffer if they (politicians) do not think alike. This is my advise to the new members to impart their duties honestly and dedicatedly and should do everything on merit. We did everything on merit and this is what I would be expecting from the new government.”

Perhaps the only distinction between this Cabinet and the previous ones is that the promises made by the Musharraf government to bring in a ‘clean and honest’ Cabinet have not been fulfilled. Some members of this Cabinet were declared NAB absconders and individuals were also jailed under NAB cases. In other cases the otherwise highly criticized practice of floor-crossing and horse-trading was actively encouraged to make Jamali’s government possible.

Of the 10 members of the PPP ‘forward bloc’ six have been paid back by giving them ministerial and state of minister slots. In fulfilling its objective of placing the PML(Q) in the driver’s seat, that the establishment will closely monitor, it has thrown all principles and morality to the winds.

The Jamali government, given a jolt by the regional MQM party recently by withdrawing its support in the National Assembly, however, has the complete support of the establishment. Engaged as incumbents with position-sharing, the rough edges of its coalition partners will likely be ironed out.

The opposition, no monolith and no chronic democrats and Constitutionalists, will pose no united, credible and sustained challenge to the Jamali government. Meanwhile, how the Jamali-Musharraf relationship unfolds and to what extent the MMA will capitalize on the shortcomings of the Jamali government, will depend the ‘well-being’ of the current and expanding Jamali government.