Nisar’s problem

Islamabad diary
His foremost problem is himself. He cannot abide competition and has an itch to be seen as controlling everything. This worked fine when he was leader of the opposition in the National Assembly in the last government, and also leader of the PML-N parliamentary party. Nawaz Sharif held court mostly in Lahore and Nisar Ali Khan was comparatively free to run things as he pleased in Islamabad.
By rights this position should have gone to Javed Hashmi. After all he was acting president of the party when Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif were in Saudi exile, and later when they made their way to London – thanks to the intercession of a close friend who got Gen Musharraf to agree to their ‘escape’ from the Holy Land (proof once again of the proposition that there’s just so much of piety mortal man can stand).
But after defying Musharraf and spending a long stint in jail Hashmi had developed ideas of his own popularity, and this did not go down well with Nawaz Sharif and family, always sensitive to such delusions of grandeur. So he was put to one side and the mantle of parliamentary leadership fell on Nisar’s shoulders.
He relished the role too, lording it over the parliamentary party and holding the National Assembly virtually hostage to his long speeches, his gift for repetition, going over the same ground over and over again, a marvel to behold. These were enough to drive most MNAs up the wall but the PPP, living up to the mantra of reconciliation, would hardly challenge him. Nisar could thus get away with anything.
He tripped badly once when out of the blue, for no obvious reason, he attacked MQM chief Altaf Hussain, hinting, bizarrely, even at his marital problems and suggesting that he had taken psychiatric treatment in a North London hospital.
The MQM response was swift…and brutal. On the gladiatorial stage in front of parliament where a hungry media waits for any politico to say what he wants, Waseem Akhtar and Haider Abbas Rizvi of the MQM tore into the Sharifs. Other leaders in exile, they said, steeled themselves for struggle; the Sharifs had gone and got hair transplants…and more on the same lines. Nisar never made the mistake of taking on the MQM in this manner again.
Helping Nisar maintain an aura of power, at least in the eyes of party MNAs, was his closeness to the Punjab chief minister, Shahbaz Sharif. District and constituency power in Pakistan is wielded by chief ministers and knowing how things were laid out in Punjab most PML-N MNAs thought it the better part of valour to stay on Nisar’s right side, and even curry favour with him. (There is some chemistry between these two men. Shahbaz is free with no one in the party the way he is with Nisar. And there is no one in the party Nisar is on such informal terms with as he is with Shahbaz. Both are driven men and perhaps in each other find understanding and solace.)
The situation today is far different from it was then. Nawaz Sharif is not sitting in Raiwind but is prime minister in Islamabad. And Nisar is just one of a group and there are other people who enjoy the PM’s confidence which for Nisar, who has always fancied himself as number three in the party, is hard to swallow. So it all boils down to this and not to any policy differences, inspired leaks of which in the media are just smoke and camouflage.
Nisar may like to keep to himself but when it comes to playing the media he knows which buttons to press. Two or three newsmen close to him are assiduous in carrying favourable stories about him. They are the ones who have been propagating stuff about his ‘policy differences’ with the PM. But those in the know realise that the real problem is the diminution of perceived status: the feeling brought home to Nisar, or the feeling dwelling in his breast, that from his pinnacle he has been pulled down a notch or two.
The team chosen by the PM to represent the government in talks with the Taliban comprised independent-minded figures with opinions of their own: Irfan Siddiqui, Rustam Shah Mohmand, Maj Amer and journalist Rahimullah Yusufzai. They could not have been expected to go and seek wisdom from Nisar. Feeling bypassed he made a show of distancing himself from the talks.
Nisar cherished the role of go-between with the army, accompanying Shahbaz Sharif to after-dark meetings with army chiefs. The impression conveyed to Nawaz Sharif was that he could speak to the army; the impression conveyed to the army was that he enjoyed NS’s trust. Now with the PM talking directly to the present army chief, and doing a better job of it than any go-betweens, Nisar again has reason to feel left out.
Nawaz Sharif has gone out of his way to placate him, for old time’s sake and to a large extent because, embattled on other fronts, he can do without the nuisance of an interior minister perpetually pouting and wearing his grievances on his sleeves. It doesn’t look right and lends strength to the impression of a government in choppy waters.
But Nisar’s problem won’t be treated with band-aid. It goes deeper than that. He won’t be satisfied unless Khawaja Asif, the defence minister, is cut to size (they are not on speaking terms), Ishaq Dar, the finance minister, is chastised and asked to stick to his ministry (he is not on speaking terms with Dar too), Irfan Siddiqui, the PM’s adviser, is barred admittance to the PM’s house, and Fawad Hasan Fawad, the additional secretary said to have the PM’s ear, is reduced in size. Nothing less will soothe his injured feelings, even if brooding over them has given him an exaggerated sense of the wrongs done him.
The PML-N’s leadership style is Punjabi to the core, eating well, sleeping well, and thinking taking a backseat. Nisar is the Cassius in this line-up, his look “lean and hungry”. The trouble is he knows it is not for him to embark on a solo flight. To remain politically relevant he must hold on to his party’s coattails. His own home constituency – centred on Chakri, Wah and Taxila – is not that secure. Twice he has lost out to his rival, Sarwar Khan. And in ‘Pindi, his backyard, the PML-N in the last elections did not do all that well.
Bhutto could strike out on his own…he had it in him to do so. Whether Imran Khan makes it on the national stage only time will tell. But he can play second fiddle to no one, his temperament not allowing him that course. Nisar is a competent and intelligent man. But his circumstances condemn him to play second fiddle to the Sharifs. They can do without him (not that anyone is contemplating this). He can’t do without them. For anyone with high ambition this would be a galling consideration.
Tailpiece: When the army is engaged in a serious operation in North Waziristan can’t it, for the duration, put its real-estate instincts on hold? Is this the time for the Peshawar Defence Housing Authority to be acquiring agricultural land near Peshawar and turning it into real estate? There is a time and place for everything and this is hardly the time for this activity. It cannot be sufficiently emphasised that defence housing authorities are commercial enterprises – housing colonies like any other housing colony, not shuhada foundations, nor meant for jawans and subordinate ranks, but real-estate ventures like anything out of Malik Riaz’s book of fabulous tales. Evil was the hour when the army got into this business. But leaving the morality of it aside, now is not the time for the Peshawar corps, fully occupied in North Waziristan, to busy itself with this stuff. Will Gen Raheel please intervene?
Email: winlust@yahoo.com