The visit of PML(N) supremo Mian Nawaz Sharif to Dubai did not just coincide with the arrival of his daughter Maryam on Saturday or Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and his father ex-President Asif Zardari, but also with the National Assembly’s passing of a law restricting the effect of Article 62(f) of the Constitution, the sadiq-o-amin clause, from life to five years. The persons most affected are Mr Sharif himself and Istehkam Pakistan Party founder Jehangir Tareen. While technically both are banned from politics, both are participating fully, and are over five years from having been ousted from the National Assembly. Mr Sharif may no longer sit in Parliament, or formally head his party, but he still exerts control though his younger brother, who is both PML(N) President and PM. That Mr Zardari and his son met to see him shows that the other members of the coalition government know he is the final authority for them to deal with. The meeting is supposed to consider the situation arising out of the end of the National Assembly’s, and the government’s, tenure in August, with particular emphasis on two aspects: the caretaker set-up to come, and the return of Mr Sharif to Pakistan, with the end of any remaining restrictions on his political activity.
The question does arise about the purpose of the efforts made to secure his expulsion from politics, if the only result was to be his return after a five-year exile. Ironically, during his ouster, he continued to play a political role, just as did Mr Tareen. It almost seems that Mr Imran Khan is heading towards disqualification, and thus a ‘level playing field’ is being established, where the circumstances of 2018 are being replicated, only this time with Mr Khan being ousted. The game of picking enemies and choosing friends goes back at least to the EBDO exercise of 1958. The last such exercise, where the PML(N) was ousted and the PTI favoured, ended not just in the gross mismanagement of the economy by the PTI government, but also in the events of May 9.
That last should teach the establishment that trying to build up ‘its’ party always backfires, and badly. It is best to leave the political forces severely alone to take the country wherever they see fit.At the moment, the establishment dictates the details of defence and foreign policy, even though it should leave this to a freely elected government. Until that happens, the country cannot be called a democracy.
