Anjum Niaz: On Sherry Rahman
Last week, as mass rebellion rose and the press reported it, the president hit the roof. The pygmies in the presidency proffered wrong advice. "Control the media" they cried. "The terrible two (print and electronic) need to be taught a lesson" they advised. Whiffs floating out of the corridors of power were not Sherry-friendly. The claque of ladies known for presidential henpecking – from Speaker Fehmida Mirza down to MNA Farahnaz Ispahani, Fauzia Wahab and Farzana Raja (the 4 Fs) wanted Sherry gone. Earlier tales against her were roundly planted in the presidential eardrum. But Zardari had a special relationship with his information minister. This relationship finally ruptured when he had Geo TV knocked off the air. Sherry walked away in a huff. "Sack the PEMRA chief," Zardari had ordered, blaming Mushtaq Malik for giving a freehand to the TV channels. Malik is an exemplary bureaucrat who is a professional to his toenails. He keeps away from politics. Sherry rose to his defence. "Dr Qayyum Soomro, Zardari's chief adviser, and a grade-17 doctor who attended on Zardari when he was in Central Jail, Karachi, along with Qamaruzaman Kaira pumped up the president that PEMRA should be put under interior adviser Rehman Malik.
Sherry Rehman is still a big ticket item in Islamabad. I have it from reliable sources that she got offered the foreign affairs portfolio, ah, oh, even the defence… She can have anything, offered Prime Minister Gilani. Had she said 'yes' to his various proposals, we would have had one more resignation or even two – from Shah Mahmood Qureshi and Ahmad Mukhtar. An insider confirmed to me that even the American ambassador, Anne W Patterson, called Sherry to persuade her to continue and not resign. Earlier the presidential factotum Farhatullah Babar phoned Sherry up and chastised her for leaving the ship at a time when it was floundering. The white-haired gentleman was merely doing what his boss had asked him to say: Lady, don't go! Babar is the solo spin doctor left to defend the president. It is an unenviable job that must weigh heavy on his conscience for Babar is an honourable man. But his over-heated rhetoric and strong denials sound hollow.
We in the media will miss Sherry Rehman. Her eloquent Urdu, her designer wardrobe with matching jewels, produced an eclectic mix on the mini-screen. With a hairstylist and makeup artist to do her up daily, Sherry radiated confidence and maturity of thought that was an asset to the PPP government. She naturally invited envy, scorn and intrigue among the PPP women pretending to be close to the late Benazir Bhutto. Actually the only two people always invited to stay with Benazir Bhutto in Dubai were Bashir Riaz (Bash), who was her "eyes and ears" and Sherry Rehman. Bash has always stood by Sherry. He fears that Zardari is surrounded by phonies who are out to hurt the president and the PPP. "You are the only target," Bash sent an urgent message to Zardari recently. Even Muzzafar aka Tuppi who is the president's adopted brother and handles his affairs in Dubai was working the phones to save his brother from wrong advice.
Sherry Rehman is still a big ticket item in Islamabad. I have it from reliable sources that she got offered the foreign affairs portfolio, ah, oh, even the defence… She can have anything, offered Prime Minister Gilani. Had she said 'yes' to his various proposals, we would have had one more resignation or even two – from Shah Mahmood Qureshi and Ahmad Mukhtar. An insider confirmed to me that even the American ambassador, Anne W Patterson, called Sherry to persuade her to continue and not resign. Earlier the presidential factotum Farhatullah Babar phoned Sherry up and chastised her for leaving the ship at a time when it was floundering. The white-haired gentleman was merely doing what his boss had asked him to say: Lady, don't go! Babar is the solo spin doctor left to defend the president. It is an unenviable job that must weigh heavy on his conscience for Babar is an honourable man. But his over-heated rhetoric and strong denials sound hollow.
We in the media will miss Sherry Rehman. Her eloquent Urdu, her designer wardrobe with matching jewels, produced an eclectic mix on the mini-screen. With a hairstylist and makeup artist to do her up daily, Sherry radiated confidence and maturity of thought that was an asset to the PPP government. She naturally invited envy, scorn and intrigue among the PPP women pretending to be close to the late Benazir Bhutto. Actually the only two people always invited to stay with Benazir Bhutto in Dubai were Bashir Riaz (Bash), who was her "eyes and ears" and Sherry Rehman. Bash has always stood by Sherry. He fears that Zardari is surrounded by phonies who are out to hurt the president and the PPP. "You are the only target," Bash sent an urgent message to Zardari recently. Even Muzzafar aka Tuppi who is the president's adopted brother and handles his affairs in Dubai was working the phones to save his brother from wrong advice.
posted by temporal at 3/17/2009
3 Comments:
it is unfortunate that we love creating martyrs out of people who are not worth it. Sherry Rehman left her party when it needed it most. She was in the forefront of taking advantages from the Government (mind you both from the previous and her own party’s) and now that she sought an exit, she chose to become a heroin. She was in essence an inefficient Information Minister who if not able to spin doctor things, at least could defend her party and government. As she has no roots in the people, she will live only in the press. After all, she was a parachute in her party or barsaati maindak. According to credible sources, she was asked to resign nearly a fortnight ago, but she kept on dilly dallying. Finding the long march a convenient excuse, she made herself into a doyen of democracy. How long will the wheeling dealing journalists of Pakistan keep her alive, it remains to be seen.
what you have said still does not take away from the fact that she resigned
whether she left a sinking ship or is principled only time will tell
How do you know she resigned with a principled stance? My very credible information tells me that she was asked to resign nearly a fortnight ago as she had been ineffective information minister, trying to hog the limelight herself as well as leaking info to favorite channels. She kept deliberately dilly dallying and when the apparent blocking of Geo took place, conveniently resigned. I am a die hard PPP worker, and I know the impact such parachutes have on our party. They come in, have a great time, hog all the limelight and then whither away. My prediction is that she will remain the darling of media and the elitist class of Pakistan for sometime, but will be out of the picture sooner than later. See what she did with Shahid Masood who was trying to clean up things in PTV and because of that we lost a committed party worker? See how easily she created rift between AZ and Naheed/Safdar? if she had her roots in the party workers she would have fought on, but no!
PS. Thanks for posting my comment
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