Daily Times

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz seems to have found a way to accommodate two tendencies in the party that came to limelight during the proceedings of the Panama Papers trial. That reflects in former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s activities on Tuesday. He started the day with an appearance at the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) court, secured an adjournment of the hearing till October 2 when he is likely to be formally indicted. Later, Sharif addressed the press in the same aggressive tone characteristic of his speeches during the GT Road rally — criticising the court over the Panama Papers verdict and reiterating his suspicions regarding possible manipulation of the due process in the case. But that is apparently not the only problem the former premier faces at the moment.

Reports suggest that the unrest among a sizeable number of electables in his party was also a factor in his decision to return to the country. Because of their ability to make public institutions deliver goods and services in return for votes, these constituency politicians have been time and again used in undemocratic projects. Any fair and objective account of weak democratic institutions and imbalance of power between elected and unelected institutions will remain incomplete without factoring in the role of this breed of politicians.

It will be a travesty if this group is once again used towards the ends that it has been serving up till now.

But part of the reason for this role of the constituency politicians has to do with inability of mainstream political parties to expand their organisational structures throughout the country in all constituencies from which representatives are elected to the Parliament. The local government elections of 2015 were only the most recent reminder of this stark reality of Pakistani electoral politics. Back then, party organisations were found mostly in major cities and the hinterland and suburbs that constitute most of the country were left open to electables to fight it out among themselves, to be wooed by the winning party later on.

The lesson in this for Sharif — as for any other politician invested in strengthening of democratic institutions — is that pandering to electables is good neither for his own political future nor for the health of Pakistani democracy. Investment in party organisations will be good for democratic health of the country.

So, as he alternates between legal and street contests, Sharif — the democrat that he aspires to be — should not lose sight of the need to cultivate democratic norms and practices in the party. Others who look towards the Pakistani people for their mandates to rule would also do well to do so.  *

Published in Daily Times, September 27^th 2017.