THERE is a war in the neighbourhood and Pakistan is playing the role of the mediator, trying to convince two old foes to smoke the peace pipe and let bygones be bygones. Old habits die hard, however, and the negotiations between distrustful enemies are fraught with tension. This makes it more difficult for those holding the pipe, i.e., the inhabitants of Rawalpindi and Islamabad.
Hence, everyone in Pakistan and elsewhere watches, with the world on the edge of a war and economic disaster. And with world peace at stake, domestic affairs too are at a standstill, even forgotten. Who has time to remember Imran Khan or his wife who continue to be held incommunicado, or other prisoners who too have invoked the wrath of the powerful? No one is now even keeping count of how long it has been since Khan hasn’t been allowed to meet his family.
In other words, domestic politics is dead. Indeed, political parties seem so 2025, a style that is not going to return to centre stage soon. This year is all about wars, alliances and oil prices while politicians and political parties are a thing of the past, much like skinny jeans. But if old habits die hard for the Iranians and the Americans, they are equally hard to shed for us ancient hacks, who can do little but keep an eye on politics.
So while the Iranian and American journalists were discovering Islamabad and the media centre, chasing what went down at Serena Hotel, it was hard to miss that the hosts over that busy weekend were the inhabitants of Rawalpindi; the prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif; and his deputy, Ishaq Dar, of the MOFA (ministry of foreign affairs) fame.
The PPP was missing on such an important hosting moment for Pakistan.
Now at this stage, the reader may be wondering if I have gone cuckoo. After all, who else would be the hosts? The three who run the country had also been leading the diplomacy hustle in the region, flying to and fro and calling up everyone and their foreign minister, trying to get the warring parties to talk peace. So no wonder once everyone headed to Islamabad, from the airport meet-and-greet to the photo ops at the Serena, only they (and a few others) were there. For some of us, this indicated that all was not well in the state of hybrid nizam (system) last week.
The PPP was missing on such an important hosting moment for Pakistan. Indeed, frenemy and important ally of the N and this hybrid system, the PPP was nowhere around. Indeed, it does seem a bit off that the vice-president of the world’s superpower was in town and Pakistan’s president wasn’t even in the city. More than one story suggested he was in Sindh.
Now some have argued that the PPP is not part of the government and hence had little to do with an event being managed by the federal government. Asif Zardari, according to this argument, holds a constitutional post and is not part of the executive. However, this is a bit hard to accept as until recently, both the prime minister and president were at pains to tell the world that they stood together. For instance, in 2025, Zardari and Sharif reached the airport together more than once to welcome important foreign guests such as the king of Jordan, the Turkish president and others. And now in 2026, when an even more important guest came to town, Zardari didn’t bother to stick around. Equally intriguing was the absence of Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari; his only contribution was to give interviews to foreign media channels.
Janam janam kay allies, who we are told, will stay together no matter what (or at least till the PTI is persona non grata), were suddenly two different entities with specific roles. That this did not go down well with the PPP can perhaps be gleaned from the party’s behaviour once the trip was over. After the guests had left, the party sprang into action to claim some of the glory; for instance, the chief minister of Sindh gave a statement where he gave equal credit to the president, the prime minister and the army chief. Others followed suit.
On the other hand, the usually large-hearted prime minister didn’t reciprocate much. Once again, this is so unlike 2025, when BBZ was put in charge of the Pakistani delegation which went a-visiting to put the country’s case in front of the world. With his presence in the delegation, the Noonies in the group played second fiddle to BBZ. This was explained away as sacrifices that have to be made to keep allies happy. But not in 2026.
Of course, one explanation could be that Sharif is now so confident of his position that he doesn’t feel the need to keep allies or family happy. It is not as if the Punjab chapter of relatives was included in this event either.
But there is speculation about other issues too. Could there be trouble in paradise because the state is still interested in tweaking the NFC to reduce the centre’s financial burden? The talk about the 28th amendment had been there before the regional conflict dominated everything; and some suggested it would cover financial matters as well as local government. And while the 28th amendment was still mostly speculation, meetings had been called to discuss the NFC at various levels. Reports suggested no headway was made, including for example, on the issue of the share of former Fata.
Along with this had come much criticism and coverage of the mess that is Karachi. In this day and age of controlled media, governance in this city comes in for critical reporting that is perhaps only matched by the coverage of the PTI’s governance record. And this was then followed by ‘reports’ in which ‘sources’ said that Zardari took the Sindh government to task for its poor performance in Karachi. However, before any one of us could make sense of all this, politics lost its mojo. If it ever comes back in fashion, perhaps some dots can be connected. In the meantime, we wait for the second round of the peace pipe in Islamabad.
The writer is a journalist.
Published in Dawn, April 21st, 2026
