Nawaz steps out guns blazing

Without having been issued a ‘proper’ NRO by Prime Minister Imran Khan, Nawaz Sharif is not only safely ensconced in the UK, but is also actively leading from the safe distance of London an alliance of about a dozen opposition parties enjoined in what is called Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM).

On Sunday last, Nawaz not only mocked, via a video link, former Supreme Court Chief Justice Asif Saeed Khosa who had disqualified him for life from active politics for not being Sadiq and Amin (attributes of prophets!) but also another former Supreme Court Justice Javed Iqbal, now chief of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) who had gotten him convicted by Bureau’s courts in two of the three references of corruption sent against him.

And the theme of his address at Sunday’s multiparty conference (MPC) was the same that he had coined on the eve of the 2018 general elections: vote ko izzat at do i.e. Honour the electoral verdict of the people! It also carried a strong plea for political supremacy of the civilians as opposed to any hybrid system of governance that directly conflicted with the system envisaged in the 1973 Constitution.

Few had expected Nawaz to come out guns blazing. The government had appeared stunned. And the knee-jerk reaction from it was predictable: An absconding felon has burnt his boats and buried all his chances of returning to normal political life. On the face of it, this would appear to be true because those who did not tolerate the so-called Dawn Leaks in 2016 would hardly be expected to show any leniency for Nawaz for elaborating in a comprehensive narrative what he had meant when he had accused the establishment of bucking the civilian authority.

The battle lines seem to have been drawn for everyone to see and choose which side of the fence he/she would like to be at the time of the final showdown. Going by our political history, Nawaz seems to have dealt a fatal blow to his own and his party’s political fate. And this became even more obvious when the other day PML-N senior vice president Maryam Nawaz expressed her displeasure over party leadership’s participation in a briefing at what she said the ‘GHQ’. In her opinion the briefing should have been conducted at the parliament house.

Indeed, what had appeared to be totally incongruous about this controversial briefing was the absence of the Prime Minister from the session. In fact, any briefing session of such highly confidential nature, one would have expected, the PM to convene and chair with the role of the briefers confined to their input based on their expert opinion on the sensitive security matters concerning Gilgit-Baltistan and leaving the task of evolving a parliamentary consensus on the matter to the elected civilian leadership.

So far the government has not come forth with any explanation as to why the PM did not chair the briefing other than reinforcing by default the impression that he did not want to sully his ‘driven snow white’ reputation by sharing the same table with the ‘well-known’ plunderers and looters of national wealth.

Meanwhile, Sheikh Rashid is claiming from every rooftop that notwithstanding its belligerent public posturing the Opposition was actually at the beck and call of the Army. It has also been revealed that PML-N leader Muhammad Zubair had met Army Chief General Qamar Jawaid Bajwa twice recently, in one of which the ISI Chief Lt Gen Faiz Hameed was also present, “seeking relief for the party and its leadership including Nawaz and Maryam”.

According to the ISPR chief, the COAS during his meetings with Zubair “made it clear to him that Sharifs’ legal issues would be addressed in court, while political matters were to be dealt with in parliament”. He added that Zubair was categorically conveyed that the military should be kept out of political matters.

But the question is: why is it okay for the Army to be on the same page with the PTI government and not okay if the Opposition also wants to join the page in the larger national interest. Remember, the Opposition voted in one voice the bill to give extension in the service for the incumbent COAS?

Published in The Express Tribune, September 26^th, 2020.

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