Adrift in a choppy sea

Mystery surrounds the date of return of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. He has been in the UK since May 22, there for medical treatment. He was operated on May 31 and at the time of the operation, it was being reported that he would at some point before Eid proceed to Saudi Arabia and thence back to Pakistan. The Saudi Arabia option appears to have dropped off the agenda. The latest news is that the prime minister will return at some unspecified time after Eidul Fitr but Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid was unable to give a date — presumably this being dependent on doctor’s advice anyway. The prime minister has had surgery, recovery may not be swift, and the very nature of his job is such that the stress levels associated with it are perhaps beyond what are advisable for a man with a serious cardiac problem.

Both pre-and-post operatively, the prime minister has conducted business essentially by remote control, using communication tools such as Skype conferencing to deal with affairs of state. In the short term, this is a reasonable stop-gap measure, but it cannot become normative and at some point he is going to have to come home and pick up the reins. Or maybe not. The political atmospherics are decidedly febrile, courtesy of the still-not-gone-away Panama Papers. The opposition parties, egged on by the PTI, are cobbling together all manner of improbable scenarios — the most improbable being the attempt to rope in the currently defunct election commission. Improbable they may be in terms of unseating the PML-N government which has a parliamentary majority, they do constitute sustained pressure on the prime minister both personally and politically. After Eid an already charged atmosphere is likely to become more so, and the prime minister’s return to what has become a snake-pit may not be judged by his doctors or advisers to be in his best interests. We wish him a speedy recovery and return, though the likelihood of seeing both together is a little uncertain right now.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 29^th, 2016.

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