- An elusive goal
While the deadly coronavirus global pandemic is knocking at the doors, and going by the prime minister’s own claim that the system is not delivering, special assistant to the prime minister on information Firdous Ashiq Awan- who rarely lets facts come in her in the way of her chosen narrative- is leading the onslaught against the Sharifs.
It’s neither the economy nor governance; rather it seems the biggest issue facing the country is the immediate return of the ‘corrupt Sharifs’ to face their nemesis.
According to Ms. Awan, Sharif being allowed to go to London four months ago for medical treatment was a ‘fixed match’. The fact that it was the government that allowed him to leave ‘on humanitarian grounds’ is conveniently papered over.
To further strengthen her jaundiced view, it is claimed that the medical reports on the basis of which Sharif was allowed to leave were doctored. Whereas the Punjab health minster Yasmeen Rashid who was overlooking the whole process of Sharif’s treatment insists that the tests were authentic.
A government appointed medical board was overlooking Sharif’s treatment when he was hastily shifted from Kot Lakhpat jail to the Services hospital Lahore last October in the middle of the night when his condition suddenly deteriorated. But after the traditional horse had bolted, Khan quietly ordered his interior ministry to probe the personal accounts of some highly respected doctors and their immediate family members on the medical board, to find out whether they were bribed by the Sharifs or not.
But why is the PTI so nervous about such a mild opposition that is simply waiting in the wings unable to or unwilling to upset the apple cart. Khan should be concentrating on governance issues and fixing the economy instead of chasing mirages like trying to bringing the Sharifs forcibly back.
The doctors were also interrogated for hours by the FIA (Federal Investigation Agency). Of course, nothing was found amiss. But the whole episode betrayed a vindictive mindset.
In this backdrop the ruling PTI’s (Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf) propaganda juggernaut has gone into overdrive. However, adding insult to injury is the minister of foreign affairs Shah Mehmood Qureshi writing a letter to the UK authorities for extradition to Pakistan of the former prime minister as he was a fugitive from law.
Qureshi who is a mature and experienced politician and has been in and out of governments and ruling parties for the past four decades should have known better. No extradition treaty exists between Pakistan and the UK. If it was so, Ishaq Dar the fugitive former finance minister would be in the slammer here than in London.
Surely Qureshi must have been arm twisted by his boss to write to the British authorities. But he should have reasoned that this kind of infantile behaviour only demeans the country in the eyes of the world.
This is not to condone the Sharifs’ conduct while in London. Government spokesmen are right to point out that ‘critical Sharif’ has not yet spent a single night in the hospital for tests or treatment.
Prime facie it is a lame excuse that unless his daughter Maryam joins her father, he will not get any invasive treatment done. If Sharif’s life is at stake why would he delay the urgently needed medical procedures?
In any case Sharif’s mother, two sons, one of his daughters, and his younger brother are all around him to take care of him. According to his doctor, he needs an angiography and later another procedure for his carotid arteries.
Owing to his past medical history, his is a complicated case. Nonetheless, the manner in which his medical issues have been handled in the past four months have raised a lot of questions. Now reportedly Sharif is just waiting for his medical appointment to get the procedures done sans his eldest daughter.
The curious case of Shahbaz Sharif languishing in London for the past eight weeks virtually doing nothing is even more intriguing. At a crucial juncture in the country’s history the leader of the opposition prefers to stay away raising a lot of eyebrows in the process.
While the Sharifs are absent from the scene, the PML-N (Pakistan Muslim league -Nawaz) is drifting like a rudderless ship. Even senior party leaders are clueless about the younger Sharif’s plans.
But is there a method in this madness? Most informed pundits contend that the Sharifs extended stay in London is part of a bigger understanding with the ubiquitous powers that be.
The younger Sharif has never hidden his penchant for doing pro-establishment politics.
When Nawaz Sharif was removed as prime minister by the apex court in the Panama Papers case in 2017, against the advice of his brother and old associate Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, he decided to take a hard line against the military establishment. Chanting the slogan: mujhay kiyun nikala (why was I ousted), he took the GT (Grand Trunk) Road route to Lahore. Sharif’s strident narrative was supplanted by his daughter Maryam’s highly critical rhetoric.
The younger Sharif did not endorse his brother’s belligerent narrative imploring with him that the PML-N will not be able to sustain this kind of militancy for long. But in the process Shahbaz lost some credibility with his interlocutors in the miltstablishment.
After all what use was he, if he could not deliver his brother. Post elections with the PTI government in place it finally did happen but perhaps a tad too late for the younger Sharif.
In the changed political scenario- perhaps to increase the comfort level of Khan- it is surmised that the Sharifs were allowed by those who matter in such matters, to go into a mini-exile to their favourite haunt, London.
The question that begs an answer is that when will Shahbaz Sharif be back to play his role as the head of the Party and leader of the opposition in the National Assembly? It seems not any time soon. According to him not before ‘bhai jan’ (elder brother) is medically out of the woods.
In the meanwhile, former prime minister and party vice president Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and secretary general Ahsan Iqbal’s recent release from prison on bail is a shot in the arm for the Party. They will hopefully try to fill the vacuum created by continued absence of the party president from the scene.
A high-powered delegation led by Abbasi that included Ahsan Iqbal and Maryam Aurungzeb reaching out to MQM-P (Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan) in Karachi, should be seen in this context. Interestingly Abbasi is striking a very dovish chord post his release.
In consonance with the new Party line, he believes that the government should complete its five years term. In the meanwhile, he wants a dialogue between stakeholders to develop a consensus on structural problems afflicting the country.
Ostensibly, these are noble goals but perhaps it could be a subtle way to test the waters to tinker with the fragile majorities the PTI holds at the centre and the Punjab. In this context the PML-N holding a similar meeting with their erstwhile nemesis in Punjab the Chaudhrys, cannot be entirely ruled out.
But why is the PTI so nervous about such a mild opposition that is simply waiting in the wings unable to or unwilling to upset the apple cart. Khan should be concentrating on governance issues and fixing the economy instead of chasing mirages like trying to bringing the Sharifs forcibly back. Time is not on his side. He has to deliver in order to survive.
And why is Fawad Chaudhry and others of his ilk so worried about Shahbaz Sharif’s quick return to the country? Speaking allegorically, they should be wishing: let sleeping dogs lie.
