Daily Times

Over the last two weeks many among Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leadership have made certain utterances where, in rejoice for Nawaz Sharif’s ouster from PM Office by Supreme Court, they said that Nawaz Sharif was never a democrat who grew up under dictator Zia and repeatedly conspired against PPP’s regimes, that he deserved this fate, and that he mustn’t react over Supreme Court’s verdict which is although contestable. Reiterated so vehemently over the last two weeks, it may partly be also in an effort to remain in the political frame since PTI was seen as the leading actor behind Nawaz Sharif’s ouster, it felt so hard as if PPP is playing a saint.

True, Nawaz Sharif entered and grew in politics under the aegis of General Zia in early 1980s;he called Zia as his ideological father and abhorrently vowed to continue with Zia’s mission in Pakistan after he died in an air crash in 1988. He kept this ‘Ziaist’ streak in his politics until his second government was overthrown in a military coup in 1999. It’s also true that Nawaz Sharif remained bogged down with confrontational politics against Benazir Bhutto throughout 1990’s. And as recently as 2011, he stood to humiliate PPP and Prime Minister Gilani in the Supreme Court over much-hyped and orchestrated Memogate scandal.

By this narrative PPP may attempt to but can’t portray itself as unerring and free from any blemish.The thing is military ruled Pakistan for most part of its existence. How could any political leader of Nawaz’s level have grown without military establishment’s prop? Didn’t ZA Bhutto grow in politics as a prodigy of General Iskandar Mirza and then that of General Ayub Khan? ZA Bhutto called Mirza as a leader of greater calibre than Jinnah, while Ayub Khan, a fatherly figure. Except for the periods of 1966-69 and of 1977-79, Bhutto was embedded with the establishment. In fact during December 1971 to April 1977, Bhutto personified the establishment as he ruled the country with unbridled scorn against his adversaries, be those Awami National Party and Baloch politicians or within his own party.

Likewise, if Nawaz Sharif conspired against PPP governments in the last thirty years, unfortunately, PPP too couldn’t resist tit-for-tat. In 1993, Benazir Bhutto connived with President Ghulam Ishaq Khan to remove Nawaz Sharif through infamous 58-2b article of the constitution. Then, just a week after having her nominee installed as Governor of Punjab, she animated a forward block in PML-N and led a successful No-Confidence motion against PML-N in Punjab. Off late too, after signing a Charter of Democracy with Nawaz Shairf in May 2006, Benazir Bhutto went into secret negotiations of a deal known as NRO with General Musharraf. Startled, Nawaz Sharif and his party publicly opposed the NRO and Bhutto’s secret dealing.

It doesn’t end here; during last PPP government when Justice Hameed Dogar disqualified Shahbaz Sharif from holding any public office in 2009, PPP government in the centre imposed Governor Rule in the province instead of letting the provincial legislature elect new Chief Minister. The idea obviously was to promote breakaway factions within PML-N. If nothing else it might be for amnesia when PPP leaders urge Nawaz Sharif to not criticize the court’s verdict. Else, we know Benazir Bhutto had been vociferously criticizing so many of courts verdictsagainst her, and rightly so, she called those as Kangaroo Courts. She used to express her grievances at the hands of establishment and courts in ethnic terms too.

The PPP will shoot itself in the foot if it thinks that articles 62-63 of the Constitution will never hurt its leadership. My optimism suggests better sense will prevail

So, the point is no one, including PPP, can play saint here. Both parties have their fair share of skeletons in the closet of history. Another thing that appears juvenile here is Bilawal Bhutto’s statement, saying since PPP has been fighting PML-N’s highhandedness and that Nawaz Sharif has been undermining democracy, PPP can’t sit with PML-N in response to Nawaz Sharif’s call for a grand dialogue to strengthen the parliament and civilian supremacy. Bilawal’s aversion might not be entirely misplaced but he must know that in 1981 his grandmother Nusrat Bhutto and mom Benazir Bhutto had to work with the same ANP to lead the MRD movement against Zia which had led PNA movement against ZA Bhutto in 1977. Kneejerk politics doesn’t help in a country such as ours where democratic forces are already maimed.

True, PML-N is hurt and down now. Seeing PML-N bleed might be tempting to satisfy the grudge of some in PPP, but it’s a ‘lose-lose’ attitude; far from political wisdom. Nawaz Sharif has lost what could be the last thing ie his qualification to hold a public office — but not for the first time. PPP will shoot itself in the foot if it thinks the article 62-63 of constitution will never hurt its leadership. My optimism suggests a more realistic and better sense will prevail.

The writer is a sociologist with interest in history and politics. He tweets @ZulfiRao1

Published in Daily Times, August 17^th 2017.