Kh Asif’s arrest: Political temperature surges

LAHORE: The arrest of 71-year-old Khwaja Asif, a former federal minister and key PML-N leader, by NAB on Tuesday heightened the tensions between the Imran-led regime and his political adversaries.

The PML-N leadership also spent some anxious hours on Tuesday following misreporting by a section of the press that the PPP central executive committee had decided that its members would not resign from the assemblies. However, PPP leader Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari later appeared on the television and refuted all such misleading reports.

A study conducted by the Jang Group and Geo Television Network revealed that both the PML-N and the PPP have reached many need-based agreements since the signing of the much-trumpeted Charter of Democracy in London on May 14, 2006, though leaders of both political parties have been running a historic acrimony since 1988.

That was the time when the PML-N and Jamaat-e-Islami were accused by the PPP leaders of widely distributing objectionable pamphlets showing the late Begum Nusrat Bhutto dancing with American President Gerald Ford at a function during her husband Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s era as prime minister.

And that was the time when the PML-N hierarchy was found guilty of chanting slogans on linguistic grounds. The venue was Bhatti Chowk Lahore, near Data Darbar.

The fate of these short-term treaties signed between the PML-N and the PPP, however, speaks volumes for the love-hate relationship between Asif Ali Zardari and Nawaz Sharif, who have been ditching, trusting and mistrusting each other at various junctures.

If history is any mirror, it seems quite improbable that the duo would pull along for a long time, though the opposition well-wishers are hoping history would not repeat itself this time around.

Let us recall a few instances that had seen bad blood running between the two parties’ leaders:-

On March 28, 2018, Nawaz Sharif expressed his regrets over taking the Memogate controversy to the Supreme Court in 2011. Wearing a black coat, like solicitors do, Nawaz had literally jolted Zardari and company by moving the apex court.

In Nov 2017, Asif Zardari had refused to meet Nawaz Sharif for the fourth time within three months, saying his party was ‘not ready to be used’ to save an individual who was corrupt.

In March 2019, Bilawal had met the imprisoned Nawaz Sharif at Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat jail and inquired about his health.

In May 2008, the federal ministers belonging to the PML-N had submitted their resignations to the-then prime minister Yusuf Raza Gilani.

In Dec 2012, Shahbaz Sharif had accused Asif Zardari of robbing the nation of billions of rupees. He had emotionally pledged to ‘dissect Zardari’s stomach’ and retrieve the hoodwinked national wealth.

After the PML-N returned victorious during the 2013 elections to form a government, the PPP leadership opted to extend a shoulder to the then government for full two years, from June 2013 to June 2015.

On Aug 23, 2013, Asif Zardari had hosted a dinner at the Presidency for the newly-elected prime minister Nawaz Sharif. And on Sept 5, 2013, during a farewell luncheon, the then prime minister Nawaz Sharif had honoured the outgoing president Asif Zardari.

Interestingly, the PPP had provided crucial support to the PML-N government throughout 2014.

During April 2014, Asif Zardari had supported Nawaz Sharif when calls to remove his defence minister Khwaja Asif had surfaced.

And then came the most crucial support from the PPP, after Imran Khan and Tahirul Qadri had led a long march to Islamabad in August 2014, followed by the sit-in and the storming of the capital's Red Zone by their supporters. The PPP then came forward and advised Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to convene a joint session of Parliament. And somehow, the PML-N government had survived the 126-day long protest led by Imran Khan and Tahirul Qadri.

In Sept 2015, Zardari accused Nawaz of “repeating the vindictive politics of the 1990s”.

And then came the “Panama Papers” on April 2, 2016. Zardari publicly dubbed Sharif corrupt and dishonest. On Oct 20, 2017, he had demanded the immediate arrest of the Sharifs.

At this Nawaz was quoted as saying: “PPP remembered the law of the dictator while they forgot the one given by Bhutto? I feel like tearing up the Charter of Democracy.”