Daily Times

Fidel Castro, the great Cuban revolutionary, had said that revolution is in fact the name of the struggle between the past and the future. It is impossible to advance towards revolution by simply imprisoning oneself in the present. Without getting entangled in a deep philosophical discussion – which, in any event, is beyond the capacity of my limited knowledge – I only submit that one has to keep an eye on the back view mirror while driving a car. Otherwise, an accident is inescapable.

Nevertheless, we try to understand the politics of our times through the Idiot Box. Yes, the same television channels that are totally independent and utterly fearless, where by the grace of God, with only a couple of exceptions, all-knowing and veracious ladies and gentlemen rule the roost. These days these sadiq’s and ameen’s of our journalism are, with the full might of their lungs, egging on the revolutionaries who, in turn, are targeting the elites of this country.

The Sharif family has dominated our politics in one way or another for the past thirty years. In my youth, this unfortunate scribe too had tried to create hurdles in the rise of this family. And I had to suffer some pain because of that as well. Eventually, however, I realized that a humble reporter like myself should mind his own business. The elite decide upon their internal loyalties and differences without any external involvement. Our role is merely to serve as clerks or mouthpieces to one faction of the elite or another.

The day of 12 October 1999 was celebrated in our country by distributing sweets. An institution of journalism as venerable as the BBC prepared a special documentary to describe the causes of Nawaz Sharif’s downfall. In this documentary, some of our renowned journalists can be seen quite happy with the “exemplary fate” of Nawaz Sharif. Some of these were deemed to be Nawaz Sharif’s favourites during his third term. But I would not indulge in a peripheral debate here by naming names.

From 1985 to 2006, I wrote for the English language newspapers about the proceedings of the National Assembly as seen from the press gallery. I was extremely critical of Nawaz Sharif’s style of governance during both this tenures. When General Musharraf made his scarce through a military takeover, a number of important people in the new set up contacted me. They mistook me as someone they could use to make Nawaz Sharif a “lesson for the ages”. However, knowing my place well, I busied myself with other things while standing in a corner. I am well-ensconced in the corner of my cage.

However, my readers expect me to write only about politics in this column. Therefore, it becomes impossible to sit silently in a corner of my cage. I am obliged to say something because my livelihood is associated with it. I don’t have any vendible skill other than writing. I have also reached that stage in my life where there is little chance of me learning a new way of earning a living.

The writing on the wall is that with Nawaz Sharif declared the “Godfather” and his family compared to the Sicilian mafia by the highest court of Pakistan, the permanent state institutions have no choice but to inflict exemplary punishment on them. A third-time Prime Minister of Pakistan has been sent home on charges of not being truthful and trustworthy with regards to disclosure of an “iqama”. To look now for the possibility of Nawaz Sharif’s return to the seat of the Prime Minister is akin to chasing a mirage.

After this disqualification, the fates of the Sharif family are those corruption cases which the National Accountability Bureau – acting in this instance under the direct supervision of an honourable Judge of the Supreme Court – has to prepare and bring before the Accountability Courts. A time limit of six months has also been fixed for deciding these cases.

All anti-Nawaz elements sitting in the permanent state institutions are now duty-bound to fully focus on preparing these cases. Playing victim would not help the Sharif family. Their first and final priority should also be diligently defending themselves in these corruption cases.

Any other route adopted by the Sharif family and their opponents to demean one another would look like antics on the English language TV series ‘X-Factor’. With his back against the wall, Nawaz Sharif has no X-card to play at the moment

Any other route adopted by the Sharif family and their opponents to demean one another would look like antics on the English language programme “X-Factor”. With his back against the wall, Nawaz Sharif has no X-Card to play at the moment. But I fear that Nawaz’s opponents would “add more sweetener”, as the Punjabi saying goes, in making Nawaz a lesson for the ages. Whenever the state has tried to add such sweetener, the playing board tumbled over and the winners became the losers.

Ever since Nawaz Sharif’s disqualification by the Supreme Court, there is a lot of talk of “for the first time in history”. Those making this talk would probably not remember a party by the name of National Awami Party, with Khan Abdul Wali Khan as its leader. A proper reference was filed against this party before the Supreme Court during the regime of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. Through this reference, it was determined that Wali Khan and his party are traitors; that they want to break Pakistan up with the help of Afghanistan and India and establish Pashtoonishtan. Accordingly, Khan Abdul Wali Khan and his entire party were disqualified to contest elections, and even the name “National Awami Party” was banned forthwith.

After this decision on disqualification, Hyderabad Tribunal was set up so that the National Awami Party’s countless leaders may face trial on grave allegations of treason and thus be made a lesson for the times to come. However, Khan Abdul Wali Khan and his companions could not be brought to that fate. After 4 July 1977, General Ziaul Haq dropped the charges against them and released them from jails. It was only after this that, instead of holding elections within 90 days, the decision was taken to hold Bhutto and his People’s Party accountable. The lesson for the ages, it turned out, was not the leadership of National Awami Party but Bhutto hanged at the hands of Tara Masih.

If more “sweetener” is added with reference to Nawaz Sharif, then the long term scenario would certainly not be the same as it appears today. If the “Godfather” has been surrounded, then the focus should entirely and exclusively be on preparing and conducting the trials against him, so that justice may be seen to be done. With one eye on my career in journalism and the other on the back-view mirror, this opinion should suffice for the time being.

The writer is a senior journalist, analyst and TV commentator. This article appeared in Daily NawaiWaqt on August 17. S Babar Mirza translated it for DT

Published in Daily Times, August 26^th 2017.