Pakistan’s ex Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif’s disqualification came as a shock to everyone. It is especially sad that he was disqualified during democratic transitional time in Pakistan. However, what followed was even more disgusting then the news of Sharif’s disqualification. As soon as the information of Nawaz Sharif and his younger brother Shahbaz Sharif’s disqualification became public, gangs of thugs throughout the country came out on the streets, who were pretending to be protesting, but in reality, these thugs were determined to destroy both public and private property. It seemed pretty obvious that this “spontaneous reaction” was actually planned in advance; otherwise, it is not possible for so many people to gather so quickly. Worse, Nawaz Sharif did not even consider this looting, burning and violence a crime because when asked about it during a press conference the very same day this was going on, he replied this protest was the natural reaction of “people.” Wow!
To add fuel to the fire, Nawaz Sharif, (who by the way was disqualified by the court) launched nasty and unnecessarily vicious verbal attacks on President Zardari, which has further complicated the political situation in Pakistan.
As awful as it sound, it has become obvious that Nawaz Sharif has not learned anything from his plush exile. Ironically and incorrectly, Sharif still believes that he can win if he opts for confrontation, but this time, he is on the losing side, unless he gives up nastiness. For those of us who don’t remember recent history, let me give you a refresher about Nawaz Sharif and his political history.
— Nawaz Sharif openly disagreed with the then Army Chief Gen Mriza Aslam Beg (1988-1991) and the country suffered.
— Nawaz Sharif fought with the then Army Chief Gen Asif Nawaz (1991 – 1993) and the country suffered.
— Nawaz Sharif engaged the then with Army Chief Gen Waheed Kakar (1993 – 1996) in a personal power struggle and the country suffered.
— Nawaz Sharif demanded the resignation of the then Army Chief Gen Jehangir Karamat (1996 – 1998) after Gen Karamat mentioned the need to bridge the gap between the armed forces and the civilian leadership.
— Nawaz Sharif tried to illegally fire the then Army Chief Gen Pervez Musharraf (1998 – 2007) and the country is still suffering.
— Nawaz Sharif could not get along with the then President Ghulam Ishaq Khan and they were both sent home by the military and the country suffered.
— Nawaz Sharif fought with President Farooq Leaghari and the world laughed at us.
— Nawaz Sharif fought with Chief Justice Sajad Ali Shah and rest of the world stopped taking Nawaz Sharif seriously.
Just by looking at the examples listed above, it seems clear that Nawaz Sharif has never gotten along with anyone, and if we can draw anything from Nawaz Sharif’s history, it is this: he won’t get along with anyone in the future as well.
Still, Mr. Zardari invited PML (N) to join hands because the country needed a lot of help getting out of the mess that was left behind Musharraf. But, as soon as Mr. Sharif joined the coalition, he started hinting that his party would leave the government if Ch. Iftikhar was not reinstated. Leaving aside the pros and cons of bringing back Ch. Iftikhar, Mr. Sharif could have acted like a statesman and after recording his protests and complaints; he should have continued helping the government deal with the colossal challenges about to swallow our country. Sadly, it didn’t happen and Mr. Sharif, once again, decided to use Punjab’s government machinery to topple the federal government. And once again, he has misread the situation and it is pretty safe to assume that if the current system collapsed, Mr. Sharif would be almost entirely responsible for this failure.
It should be mentioned here that there are 10 parties in the parliament and out of these 10, 8 are actively involved in a coalition to run the government, PML (Q) is neutral and PML (N) is the only party that is not in agreement about anything with rest of the 9 political parties in the government. This level of political arrogance exhibited by PML (N) is breathtaking, but sadly, this is what people have come to expect from Mian Nawaz Sharif.
This disqualification by the court provided Mr. Sharif with a rare opportunity in Pakistani politics and instead of hitting it hard and high for a massive six, Sharif has started running for a run that is not there and he clearly runs the risk of being run out. Sharif could have established a superb precedent in Pakistan by disagreeing, but accepting the court’s decision in the larger interest of the country, and this generous gesture would have earned him tremendous support, but just like his past, Mr. Sharif has once again, squandered a great opportunity to serve his country.
Bilal Qureshi
