Course correction

When Nawaz Sharif chose to leave for London, in the immediate to tend to his ailing wife and then ponder upon his future options as the courts seemed to be closing the net around him, his choices seemed limited. It appeared he was to be gone for some time, till at least the environment became congenial to his return. Mostly, his own adventure on GT Road with his new found ‘ideological inclination’ had already set the course. To him, outright aggression was the most effective voice to fight off what seemed like a certain closing of the gauntlet - legally, politically and morally.

His daughter, Maryam Nawaz, almost sealed it for him when she too, on the eve of winning the elections for her mother in NA-120, challenged the state institutions  into an open war. The others, ministers and party-men, mostly echoed what the leader had prescribed as his way forward. However, knowing that there will be little escape from this dragnet of cases which had risen from the base of the Panama Leaks, he was prudent to find safety in leaving Pakistan for London where the flats in question offered him a haven from the darkening gloom over his personal and political future; and indeed to give company to his wife.

This was then the background in which practically all invested with reading the political scene thought that the political end to the Nawaz Sharif saga was nigh. The incumbent prime minister, Nawaz’s own appointee – who incidentally has performed far more effectively in various aspects of governance – stopped over en route to New York to pay respects and for the usual advice. It was after one such meeting that NS foreboded darker happenings in the country. He was still very agitated, confrontational and combative, firing warning shots at the ‘in the shadows’ perpetrators of his ousting.

But then Shahbaz Sharif reached London the evening after the PM had visited. Shahbaz was known to have been in contact with the army chief over messages of felicitation by the chief on the PML-N’s victory in NA-120, and over Kulsoom Nawaz’s indisposition. SS also met his most intimate colleague in the party Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan frequently; Nisar is known for his contacts in the army. These contacts were consequential. Shahbaz Sharif had also visited Turkey and met with Erdogan, the Sharifs’ and Pakistan’s common friend. Whether this contact with the Turkish leadership too played its part isn’t yet established.

But somewhere along these contacts it became obvious that the military held no grudge against the Sharifs. And that the Sharifs’ challenge was purely legal and political and the military either way had absolutely nothing to do with how these proceed, except of course that the law of the land was upheld. And also that the military was not in any conspiracy to hound the Sharifs out of power, nor inordinately in awe or expectation of one replacement or the other. It was thus in the Sharifs’ interest to legally clear their name of any allegations of misconduct and carve their own political destiny. It must have reassured the Sharifs immensely.

Soon after this interaction with SS in London, NS decided to return to fight his legal and political battles. His tone and nuance with the press after meeting SS had undergone a distinct change. The not so hidden placations of the military were gone and instead the anger seemed zeroed-in on the judiciary. Whether this is learning from mistakes or simply wiser counsel only time will tell. NS is known to be fickle, egotistic and easily swayed by his vulnerabilities – and thus easily manipulatable. Shahbaz Sharif and Ch Nisar have an immense responsibility to keep him steady on a corrective course, away from those who nudge him towards an anti-statist confrontational mode of politics. Mian Sahib will also have to tame the uninitiated exuberance of his daughter from a modern-day Samurai given to easy exhortations of unnecessarily aggressive disposition.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, things weren’t going smooth either. The PML-N as a party had lost its zeal and appeared jaded. It began to show cracks in the ranks. The zest was absent and no one in particular seemed to be in control, especially when the incumbent prime minister was away to New York for the UNGA. London instead became more central for political developments. This did not escape the notice of those involved with the economy, which nosedived with no one in-charge. There was disquiet in the ranks even as challenges began to seem overwhelming. Ch Nisar fired the first shots at his own government and some Leaguers applauded. Shahbaz Sharif may have been the presumed successor who could have kept the party together but was easily out-manoeuvred within the family. It seemed only a matter of time that the party would cave under its own weight. This was almost Altaf Hussain and the MQM redux.

Nawaz Sharif saved the ultimate coup de grace with his return on his three-decades plus investment in forming and nurturing the PML-N as a major political asset of Punjab and Pakistan. He also has a legacy to keep as well as leave behind a political inheritance to his progeny, familial or political. This will need overcoming an inherent propensity for unnecessary confrontation as well as keeping the right counsel. This will also need exceptional levels of self-control and sensitivity for common gain. Egos will have to take a back seat and only a common and consensual approach towards problem-solving will lead the country out of its immense challenges. A fractured nation cannot stand venomous storms.

Leaders don’t pitch themselves against institutions, nor do they engender institutional warring or weaken their own base, politics in this case, or the nation on whose vote their entire being in reality survives. In our system a prime minister is a not a king but one who is dependent on voters to choose him. Once there he is expected to conduct himself within the domain of law and constitution. When found in violation of any of these it is not his volition but the law that will take precedence. On this count, NS now must undergo legal scrutiny. The more he whines, the weaker he appears – crying for some imagined entitlement to save him the ignominy.

His interaction with the press on his return was a good opportunity for him to show himself a leader of vision, of conciliation, of all people and of all institutions, above the fray and willing to through example uphold law without denigrating the law. He instead called the judiciary, or it’s ways, a ‘cancer’ and Pakistan’s army, conspiratorial. What healing is this? It is early days and he may need time to throw away the yokes of his vulnerabilities. But what he displayed on the occasion is hardly the stuff leaders are made of. Course correction must not only come in the manner but in the mind too.

Email: shhzdchdhry@yahoo.com