Picking up the threads

The tide has somewhat turned since the euphoric days in May, with the days lengthening, when the media, with few exceptions, which supposedly reflects the national mood, was welcoming in the third advent of Nawaz Sharif as prime minister of this Islamic Republic. Now, in September, with the days drawing in, commentators have, with few exceptions, come around to expressing doubts as to whether or not the euphoria was misplaced.



Mian Sahib has been in the service of the state for long, since 1980 when at the age of 31 he was picked up by the Ziaul Haq regime (and there’s no forgetting that one) and made finance minister of the mighty Punjab — over 30 years ago. His ascents and descents need no comment, well mapped as they are. The point is, was it wise or logical to put faith in his future, knowing his past?

Policies play little role in Pakistan’s politics. It is all about individuals. Policies are — and have forever been in the life of this country — set following the whims of the one person poised at the pinnacle, whether the pinnacle be the presidential palace or the prime ministerial mansion. Under each rule of whoever, there has been little dissent from the members of the team gathered by the top gun, because dissent is usually not tolerated and is sycophantically absent. Divergent opinions have been rarely expressed and swiftly silenced.

We were asked on these pages this week to decide how we want to remember the Zardari years. Well, as that wise man from China, Chou en Lai, remarked to Henry Kissinger (when asked last century as to his thoughts on the impact of the French Revolution on Western civilisation), that for him, it was too soon to tell. Thus it is with Zardari and his firm five-year grip upon this country, during which he ruled at will. But it would be the supreme irony were we, years down the line from now, to look back and be forced to say that his era was better than what followed.

Addressing the nation on August 10, Sharif, briefly remarking on his Afghan policy, said that: “We have to devise a strategy which will enable Pakistan to be recognised with a new shining face all over the world.” Good luck to him (and to us)! In his interview with The Daily Telegraph, London, published on August 23, he is quoted as saying that, as far as India is concerned, he will “pick up the threads from where we left off in 1999”. Fair enough and so far, under direly changed circumstances, he is trying to do so. The interviewer goes on to remark, “In fact, the 63-year-old politician wants to pick up the threads of his last government in almost every respect”.

Oh dear, what springs to mind is the Fifteenth Constitutional Amendment introduced into the National Assembly, on August 28 1998. Through this amendment, Sharif famously sought to have himself declared ‘Ameer-ul-Momineen’, with all the trimmings. The bill was passed on October 9, by 151 to 16 and referred to the senate on October 23. It was not introduced in the senate as the PML did not have the majority to pass it. The plan was to keep it hanging until March 2000, till after the senate elections when Sharif was sure of gaining the necessary majority.

Sadly, on October 12, 1999, a PIA flight, a bit of hanky-panky over the dismissal and appointment of an army chief intervened and March 2000 was washed away. If threads are to be picked up after a 14-year gap, could a repeat performance of the Fifteenth Amendment be possible?

This land has had a tough and rough life, so far short by universal standards. But, as a Greek playwright put it over 2,000 years ago, “The plague will not be lifted from the realm until the leaders see that they themselves are the cause.”

Published in The Express Tribune, September 7^th, 2013.

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