ISLAMABAD: Dogged complete silence of a set of top opposition politicians, who have a large vote-bank, has intrigued all and sundry, hinting at an understanding to stick to such policy.
Maybe, they are strictly following a quotable quote that ‘silence is also an expression’, meaning that this strategy too conveys a lot. However, their silence has tempered the anti-government campaign of the opposition.
It is widely believed that the constant abstention of these politicians from the political arena is primarily meant to avert further troubles. It is also argued that relief, mostly in forms of bails, has been provided to them with the assurance that they will remain inaudible politically.
“After departure of my mother Begum Kalsoom, I have been left with only my father. I can’t compromise on his health; politics would go on all my life, but one can’t get one’s parents back once they are gone. At the moment, his health is most important for me and I cannot leave him alone for a moment due to his critical condition,” deposed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s daughter, Maryam, once remarked, giving a clear message to keep politics aside for now.
Even before she was granted bail by the Lahore High Court (LHC) in November last in the Chaudhry Sugar Mills case being investigated by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), she was nonexistent on the political landscape although she had been famous for making incisive comments, leaving many with sullen faces. Her Twitter account is also dormant since long. Her last post emerged on January 8 when she pasted her handle’s new profile picture with Nawaz Sharif’s photograph. Before that on Aug 8, she retweeted a post. Her keenly pursued account had been very active before her present approach. When asked, top PML-N leaders are in no position to say when Maryam will become active again. At the moment, her first preference is to get LHC permission to go to London to be with her father, who is waiting for her to undergo a critical surgery. The government has firmly rejected her plea to cancel her name from the foreign travel embargo list.
It was unexpected of Nawaz Sharif that he will be active in politics because of his ill health after he was granted bails by the LHC and Islamabad High Court (IHC) for his foreign treatment. However, despite his staying away from issuing political statements, he has been as involved as before in the PML-N’s decision making process.
The most important decisions he has, of late, taken were the unconditional support to the parliamentary approval of the legislation to give three-year extension to Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa as the chief of the army staff and selection of Sultan Sikandar Raja as the chief election commissioner (CEC). This proved once again that despite his grave health condition, he continues to call the shots in the PML-N. The PML-N President and leader of the opposition in the National Assembly, Shahbaz Sharif, has not been silent but isn’t as vibrant in the political field as he is expected to be by his party’s rank and file. The main reason behind this state of affairs is his protracted stay in London to look after ailing Nawaz Sharif. He is abroad for the past 50 days, which is quite a long time. It seems that the way the political situation is developing, he wants to be away from Pakistan. However, the temperature will go up with his return to Pakistan, which he is yet to specify.
Former President and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) supremo Asif Ali Zardari also switched on the mute button after he was given bail by the IHC about a month back. Nothing is publicly known about the treatment he is getting despite the fact that he is serious ill. Neither his son Bilawal nor any PPP spokesman has ever spoken on his health. Despite his serious indisposition, Zardari used to make stinging political remarks against his rivals during his appearances before the accountability court.
PPP Chairman Bilawal has also lowered his heightened campaign that he was conducting when Zardari was in jail. The thunder is missing from his rhetoric. He plans to kick-start his movement from Punjab once again. Former Finance Minister Miftah Ismail is also silent after the IHC bailed him out in December last. Before his arrest by the NAB, he was full of life at least in TV programmes by commenting on the economic situation. While some top politicians have chosen to be away from the political centre stage after they got bails, PML-N stalwart Rana Sanaullah is as vigorous as he was before he was caught by the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) on the charge of drug smuggling. He has shunned the “understanding”, if any. Former Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Ahsan Iqbal, who are in the NAB custody, persist with making razor-sharp political comments when they are produced before the accountability court or attend National Assembly proceedings in the wake of issuance of their production orders by the speaker.