Nawaz Sharif’s seven lives

When a young child is orphaned in Punjab, it is a common practice to tell her that the parent has gone to Hajj and will be back one day. My PML-N friends’ hoping that Nawaz Sharif would return from his exile in Saudi Arabia appeared to me like such innocent children, nursing an ultimate false hope. But Nawaz Sharif did return from the valley of death to reclaim his empire. To use a Seraiki proverb, the ashes returned from the Ganges.

This time, he has not gone to Hajj, but he is not at home either. He is on the streets and a street is a liminal space, a place full of risks and prospects. For him, it is the best of times and the worst of times; the season of darkness and the spring of hope. In his fist he holds the best of both the worlds and the worst of both the worlds.

He has been hunted down and yet he is ruling the country. He has been maligned more than chiefs of terror syndicates who have slaughtered thousands, and yet he is a darling of millions of people, the most popular leader of the country till a new scientific survey, or an election – the ultimate test of popularity – proves us wrong. In one hand he holds the sceptre of power and in the other, the flag of resistance.

The birthplace of new possibilities lies in the world of contradictions. Nawaz Sharif has landed in such a world, taking Pakistan’s politics with him. Any wise old man can tell you that this situation makes him very dangerous, not only to his foes, but to his many friends as well. Foes you can understand, as far as friends, ask Chaudhry Nisar Ali.

For four years, we heard the chant ‘Go Nawaz Go’. Now he is gone and yet he is present more than ever. Behind the Go Nawaz Go politics of Imran Khan were two simple assumptions. First assumption: if Nawaz Sharif stayed in power till the end, the PTI will not be able to win elections in 2018. Imran Khan had expressed this assumption on many occasions and it carries a lot of weight. Any party that was ousted un-ceremonially from power was unable to win at least one election following the ouster. We can theorise about the reasons but this is what history tells us.

The second assumption is linked to the first and it can be summed up in these words: If the umpire raises his finger, the fingers of the people of Pakistan will also go up in the air simultaneously. Now this is a tricky assumption. The logical link between the two does not exist. In fact, there is a clear negative co-relation due to the relation of distrust between the people and the state. Bhutto did not die in Punjab till Zardari did his magic and Nawaz Sharif may not be harmed till Captain Safdar takes charge of the PML-N.

Behind such resilience lies a narrative of the people’s rights. Nawaz Sharif has made this narrative the battle cry of his recent campaign. While the PTI sticks to its narrative of corruption, the PML-N has made a leap from the narrative of development to the narrative of the people’s right to rule. This is an invincible narrative. No one has been able to withstand the power of this narrative. It has put the PTI in an unenviable position of defending the state. That exposes it as a force for the status quo and a proxy for the establishment.

There are glaring holes in this narrative in the current situation. Pakistan’s politics is in such a mess because the political elites lack a consensus. One reason for this situation lies in the fact that Imran Khan does not consider himself a politician and his followers agree because, in their opinion, he does not even belong to this earth. But the PML-N has played no small role toward weakening the democratic consensus through its acts of omission and commission. During the last four, it hardly did anything to strengthen democracy or democratic institutions.

In fact, the PPP was able to do a lot better. During the period of the thirteenth parliament (2008-2013), parliament emerged as a strong institution and it passed more legislation than any other in Pakistan’s recent history. Only the 1973 parliament, which passed the current constitution of Pakistan, passed more bills than the 13th parliament.

Nawaz Sharif did go along with Benazir and the PPP in signing the Charter of Democracy and adopting the 18th Amendment to the constitution. However, it was a troublesome partner in the process. According to various reports, the PML-N resisted changed to Articles 62 and 63 in the committee that gave shape to the 18th Amendment.

During the current tenure of the Muslim League, parliament was put on the backburner as the two most popular leaders, Nawaz Sharif and Imran Khan, showed no regard for the institution. While Imran Khan did his best to humiliate the mother of all institutions, Nawaz Sharif made no effort to strengthen it. He ran a parliamentary system on the style of a presidential system.

But narratives do not go into such details. Nawaz Sharif is out on the street and he has a story to tell. Both the story and the story teller carry a huge appeal to the audience. Since the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, politics in Punjab, and to some extent in KP, has been defined by the pro-Nawaz and anti-Nawaz sentiment. Imran Khan owes a good part of his appeal to his success in attracting the segment of the vote bank in Punjab that had lost a credible leader due to Benazir’s assassination.

It appears that the PTI had calculated that Nawaz Sharif would land in Adiala Jail or he would spend the rest of his life at the Ittefaq Mosque praying for his forgiveness from the Almighty. Instead, the disqualification has sent him back to his support base – which he has built over thirty years. For four years, he behaved like a mild-mannered grandfather facing a street bully. But the disqualification has resurrected the old Nawaz Sharif. It has reawakened the killer instinct in him. He appears angrier than perennially angry Imran Khan.

In electoral terms, Nawaz Sharif’s challenge is to keep his support base intact and ensure the loyalty of his voters. Imran Khan, on the other hand, needs to substantially increase if not simply double his vote bank to get into the PM House.

The rally shows that it was easier to deal with the Nawaz Sharif tied to the lamp post of the Prime Ministerial office. It is far more difficult to deal with a Nawaz Sharif on the loose. By facilitating his ouster, Imran Khan might have committed the worst blunder of his political career. It may have granted Nawaz another life.

Nawaz Sharif may not become the prime minister again. He may not even like to take the post again. However, there is enough fire left in him to consume the political ambitions of his arch-rival. I have never voted for Nawaz Sharif and now that I have lost my chance to send him to the Prime Minister House, I find this flutter in my heart. This man is a magician, isn’t he?

The writer is an anthropologist and development professional.

Email: zaighamkhan@yahoo.com

Twitter: @zaighamkhan