New Year new hopes
Well, with the ship of the state in capable hands, one can, and must, hope for the best
Politics continues to live through turbulent times in Pakistan. The year 2018 rather marked a rise in the level of political uncertainty in the country. Even a general election, midway through the year, failed to bring the political calm needed for the rulers to focus on issues of core concern for the country and the people, like economy, international diplomacy and internal and external security.
Having dominated the political scene in previous years, disquiet continued into 2018 — the election year. With Nawaz Sharif already disqualified as legislator, and thus as prime minister, in the Panamagate case in July 2017, the clamorous calls for resignation were now directed at Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and his team. Imran Khan, the main political opponent of the ruling PML-N, was desperately looking for a pretext to embark on his most favourite journey of street protest to bring the government down before the end of its constitutional term that was still five months away.
But Tahirul Qadri, the PAT chief, had a ‘charge sheet’ ready, though targeting the PML-N government in Punjab, led by Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif. When Qadri announced a movement meant to topple Shehbaz over his ‘complicity’ in the 2014 Model Town tragedy, no less than 18 political parties and groups rallied around him, including both the PTI and the PPP. But shockingly, the much-awaited January 18 rally of the combined opposition in Lahore turned out to be damp squib — to a huge relief for the PML-N. The turnout at the Mall failed to match the pomp.
The relief was, however, short-lived. The months that followed added to the misery of Nawaz who, in February, was disqualified by the Supreme Court as party president too. Came May, and the caretakers took over the government to hold the general election on July 25. The build-up to the election was both bloody — featuring the deadliest terrorist attack of the country, in Mastung, as well as attacks on election candidates — and politically unstable. Nawaz intensified his criticism of the top judiciary — which had started with his GT Road journey to Lahore after his ouster from the PM House — in a bid to win majority support in the election needed to undo his disqualification through parliament.
But while Nawaz was in London nursing his ailing wife along with his daughter Maryam Nawaz, came the accountability court verdict in one of the three corruption references borne out of the Panamagate proceedings in the top court. Both Nawaz and Maryam as well as Maryam’s husband, Mohammed Safdar, were sentenced to imprisonment. That happened on July 6 — barely 21 days ahead of the election. Against a general perception, the father-daughter duo did land back in Pakistan, in a hope to get bail from a higher court within a few days of imprisonment. But the prison ordeal, during which Nawaz also lost his wife, continued for 69 days — long after the election that saw Imran Khan, the PTI chief, return to power amid widespread allegations of rigging.
The pandemonium in the National Assembly on August 18, the first day of the new government in parliament, showed a glimpse of what was to come up next. While Shehbaz, Saad Rafiq and his brother Salman Rafiq soon found their necks caught in the noose of accountability and taken into custody, Nawaz too was ordered back to prison by the accountability court. Amid all that, the TLP also tried to make its presence felt by staging its trademark sit-ins countrywide against the acquittal of Aasia Bibi in a blasphemy case by the top court. But the challenge to the state was undone, with hundreds taken into custody, including the party’s leadership. The eve of the New Year reverberated with the bangs and thuds of the political fireworks sparked off in the wake of a damning JIT report accusing PPP’s top leadership of massive money-laundering.
Now dawns the year 2019, with a question: will there be calm and stability in the new year that the country direly needs? Well, with the ship of the state in capable hands, one can, and must, hope for the best.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 1st, 2019.
Having dominated the political scene in previous years, disquiet continued into 2018 — the election year. With Nawaz Sharif already disqualified as legislator, and thus as prime minister, in the Panamagate case in July 2017, the clamorous calls for resignation were now directed at Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and his team. Imran Khan, the main political opponent of the ruling PML-N, was desperately looking for a pretext to embark on his most favourite journey of street protest to bring the government down before the end of its constitutional term that was still five months away.
But Tahirul Qadri, the PAT chief, had a ‘charge sheet’ ready, though targeting the PML-N government in Punjab, led by Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif. When Qadri announced a movement meant to topple Shehbaz over his ‘complicity’ in the 2014 Model Town tragedy, no less than 18 political parties and groups rallied around him, including both the PTI and the PPP. But shockingly, the much-awaited January 18 rally of the combined opposition in Lahore turned out to be damp squib — to a huge relief for the PML-N. The turnout at the Mall failed to match the pomp.
The relief was, however, short-lived. The months that followed added to the misery of Nawaz who, in February, was disqualified by the Supreme Court as party president too. Came May, and the caretakers took over the government to hold the general election on July 25. The build-up to the election was both bloody — featuring the deadliest terrorist attack of the country, in Mastung, as well as attacks on election candidates — and politically unstable. Nawaz intensified his criticism of the top judiciary — which had started with his GT Road journey to Lahore after his ouster from the PM House — in a bid to win majority support in the election needed to undo his disqualification through parliament.
But while Nawaz was in London nursing his ailing wife along with his daughter Maryam Nawaz, came the accountability court verdict in one of the three corruption references borne out of the Panamagate proceedings in the top court. Both Nawaz and Maryam as well as Maryam’s husband, Mohammed Safdar, were sentenced to imprisonment. That happened on July 6 — barely 21 days ahead of the election. Against a general perception, the father-daughter duo did land back in Pakistan, in a hope to get bail from a higher court within a few days of imprisonment. But the prison ordeal, during which Nawaz also lost his wife, continued for 69 days — long after the election that saw Imran Khan, the PTI chief, return to power amid widespread allegations of rigging.
The pandemonium in the National Assembly on August 18, the first day of the new government in parliament, showed a glimpse of what was to come up next. While Shehbaz, Saad Rafiq and his brother Salman Rafiq soon found their necks caught in the noose of accountability and taken into custody, Nawaz too was ordered back to prison by the accountability court. Amid all that, the TLP also tried to make its presence felt by staging its trademark sit-ins countrywide against the acquittal of Aasia Bibi in a blasphemy case by the top court. But the challenge to the state was undone, with hundreds taken into custody, including the party’s leadership. The eve of the New Year reverberated with the bangs and thuds of the political fireworks sparked off in the wake of a damning JIT report accusing PPP’s top leadership of massive money-laundering.
Now dawns the year 2019, with a question: will there be calm and stability in the new year that the country direly needs? Well, with the ship of the state in capable hands, one can, and must, hope for the best.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 1st, 2019.