Sharif backs away from executing a somersault

Sharif hushed calls by hawks of Pakistan Muslim League to go all out against govt.

ISLAMABAD: “Let us test waters before executing a somersault,” these were the defining words of wisdom from former premier Nawaz Sharif at a crucial gathering last week to hush calls by hawks of his own faction of the Pakistan Muslim League to go all out against the government.

“I don’t think we will be the only beneficiary if we opt for this at this stage others may be waiting to use (us) for their objectives if we start improvising now,” said Sharif, without being specific. But it was crystal clear who he thought could spoil the party.

An inner circle in Sharif’s PML-N held a key session here on Friday last to look into the prospects of launching a public agitation campaign against the government, which the opposition party has persistently accused of being corrupt and low integrity.

The way things have been unfolding over past couple of months suggested that the Punjab-based group might capitalise on the administration’s plummeting popularity for its own political gains.

An anticipated move was that the PML-N might call for holding snap elections, a move party’s central leader, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, has hinted at on more than one occasion in recent weeks.

“This is exactly what happened during the meeting…there were loud voices and inflated tempers to support this demand,” a participant told The Express Tribune about the meeting last week.

“Mian Sahib kept on listening to everyone silently, thinking and glaring at them,” he added.

At least one-third of the members of a central organising committee, a close associate of Sharif explained, were trying to lure Nawaz into moving decisively.

“There were heavyweights, and at one time it looked as though Mian Sahib would go along with them,” said the official of the party, giving the amount of the pressure Sharif had to resist to take a different decision.

“I think we should not go for the ouster of the government right away. Before that, we should get to know the people’s mood. Let us see if the people are ready for it,” these were the words from the top that are said to have guided the party in a slightly different direction from the one suggested by hawks.

Subsequently, the PML-N decided to launch a mass contact drive and even that not before the party’s reorganisation, which is expected to be completed in six weeks hence.

But there was an ‘understanding’ that the group may press ahead with a demand for snap polls if a countrywide trip by Sharif drew the “response the top tier leadership of the party is looking for”.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 8^th, 2010.