Daily Times

A leopard (or more appropriately, tiger) never changes its spots. Weeks after Pakistan’s longest-serving prime minister stepped out of a helicopter towards a thronging rally in a manner befitting monarchy, PML(N) appears sandwiched between the ghosts of Christmases Past and Christmas Yet to Come.

The political somersaults have thus begun as supreme leader Nawaz Sharif is desperately trying to weave nostalgia based on the miracles he had managed to perform in his past tenures. The huffing and puffing that had put him on the map has long subsided. While his lieutenants chant, “Take charge again, Save Pakistan,” the kingpin scratches his head, yo-yo-ing from reconciliation station to power express.

Most of the narrative seems fixated on the past. Gone is the fanfare that revelled in Mr Sharif reinventing his party with a new design predicated on the future. With every single rebuke, every single furious banter about his ouster, the new sheriff in town sings the same old song that can neither inspire voters nor repair the lost ground in the stronghold of Punjab. Wheelings and dealings may push him closer to the red carpet but from the looks of it, the former premier has squandered away this god-given opportunity to carve his name in the collective memory.

As he reminisces over the visits of Indian prime ministers Atal Bihari Vajpayi and Narendra Modi and stirs tempest in a teacup with Kargal references, his line of action has started to resemble a heated mishmash of ideas and arguments. Recalling the injustices might have earned him the loyalty of biradari elders and urban electables in the past but what the charismatic elder Sharif failed to grasp is that he has returned to a very different, highly charged and increasingly aware Pakistan.

Perhaps, Mr Sharif is throwing everything against the wall to see what sticks. But little does he realise harping on an anti-establishment vendetta only seconds after he had earned the notoriety of having come to an understanding would soon land him in a dead end. Sometimes, it is too late to be what you might have been! *