Return of Nawaz Sharif
By Samuel Baid
A cat is said to have nine lives. In Pakistan, Nawaz Sharif can say a Prime Minister can survive a plan to hang him and two long exiles- one forced by the then ruler and one voluntary- to bounce back from London to become his country’s Prime Minister a fourth time.
The way for his fourth Prime Ministership was paved on June 18 when the Nawaz Muslim League- led governing coalition met in Islamabad and decided to remove life bans on all parliamentarians. This means a possibility that Nawaz Sharif may participate in the elections which should happen before the end of this year.
Mr. Sharif went to London in self-exile in November 2019 following a Supreme Court ban on him in the wake of the leak of the Panama papers related to money laundering and other financial misdemeanors. The Supreme Court forbade him from holding any public or party office.
Mr. Shehbaz Sharif had said a day earlier that his brother Nawaz would return to head the Party’s campaign. He made this announcement after his party’s Central General Council re-elected Shehbaz as party President for another four years. Shehbaz had become party president four years ago when then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was disqualified by the Supreme Court and banned from holding any party office. Shehbaz said when his brother returns, he would hand over party presidency to him. He appeared quite sure that under his brother’s leadership the party would win the next elections and Nawaz Sharif would become the country’s Prime Minister for the fourth time.
Whatever the critics say, in the assessment of this writer, Nawaz Sharif, in the final analysis was most productive of all the Prime Ministers. Pakistan has had Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, of course the most intelligent, but he wasted his talent in vindictiveness. His nationalization programme was unthoughtful; meant to harass businessmen.
Shehbaz said his brother was the builder of modern Pakistan. He eliminated energy shortages and laid down a network of roads, built infrastructure and developed agriculture, industry and other vital sectors of the economy.
The Supreme Court verdict against Nawaz did not convince many legal experts, especially its resort to Article 62 of the Constitution. In his interview, Army Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa after his retirement said the then Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Justice Aseef Saeed Khan Khosa had two grouses against Nawaz Sharif. (1) He would not give him an extension (2) Sharif’s brother Shehbaz had divorced Khosa’s sister. But, Gen Bajwa does not say that the main reason could be that Khosa was aware of the Army’s “Project Imran”. That is, Imran must be made Prime Minister and for that Nawaz Sharif’s Prime Ministership and his party leadership must be sacrificed.
In the past one year i.e., after the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) Coalition government took over, it has been vainly announced a number of times that Nawaz Sharif was returning home. This time, Shehbaz Sharif’s announcement is seen in the context of the coming elections. Shehbaz government is still afraid of the influence of the Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaaf (PTI) Chief Imran Khan on the voters despite threat to disqualify and try him in the military court for the May 9 mob attack on military installations.
Worst, voters have no faith that the PDM can solve the economic problems. Also, it has seen about four years of Imran’s rule. Imran could not convince the common man that he understood their economic and other problems all the four years he ruled. He went hammer and tongs to expose the Sharif and Asif Ali Zardari. The present civil and military leadership will take Pakistan to the point of no return.
In this situation the return of Nawaz Sharif is a must by removing legal hitches. Legal hitches are not more important than the country.
Note: The views and opinions expressed in this article are the personal opinion of the author.