Daily Times

On December 30, 1906, Muslim elites of the time founded the Muslim League in Dhaka to safeguard the rights of second largest community of united India, the Muslims. According to history, the Muslim League remained a party of elites for the rest of its existence. Prominent Nawabs, Khans, Khan Bahadurs and Sirs relished the political privileges membership of the ‘League’ accorded to them. Jinnah’s success at forming a state for Indian Muslims as a member, was a great honour for the Muslim League.

The All India Muslim League (AIML) fragmented in December 1947 and the Muslim League (ML) was its political successor. It later split into various factions including the Muslim League-Q, All Pakistan Muslim League, Awami Muslim League, Milli Muslim League and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N). Unfortunately, Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif took the opportunity to serve Pakistan as Prime Minister three times because of his leadership of the PML-N. However, he was always unable to complete his term. The PML-N’s autocratic conduct always resulted in some kind of new political train wreck. These include the1997 Supreme Court attack, the Pervez Musharraf plane high jacking case and the Panama Papers case.

The PML-N’s troubles are still ongoing. The FIR for the Model Town massacre is registered against the PML-N high command. In the Najifi Commission report, the Sharif brothers and their close companions are found guilty. Following the pattern of the party leadership, many other PML-N members in the National and Provincial Assemblies are found to be involved in illegal activities. This also includes Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, who’s involvement has been discussed in the extra-judicial killings of Inspector Abid Boxer’s political rivals.

Because of its nature, politics attract the power hungry. In Pakistan, most politicians get caught up in illegal activities which directly go against the pledges they take in Pakistan’s Assemblies. Does this make them thugs? Unfortunately, an analysis of PML-N parliamentarians’ conduct does make them seem like it. Many of them are directly or indirectly involved in a number of criminal enterprises. These office-bearers routinely exploit their positions in the name of politics and so-called democracy in Pakistan.

In August 2017, Nawaz Sharif’s convoy, which was travelling on GT Road, ran over and killed a nine year old boy. Nawaz gave the boy the title of ‘first martyr of the campaign’, as if all of humanity was created to be sacrificed for his cause

Allegedly, Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah has intimate ties with a number of banned militant groups. Chaudhry Sher Ali, father of Federal Minister Abid Sher Ali from Faisalabad has accused Rana Sanaullah of being involved in the murder of 20 people. Moreover, Sanaullah is one of the key individuals responsible for the Model Town massacre. The Punjab Government tried very hard to repress the Justice Najifi report, but luckily, it was unable to stop the report from being released.

There are numerous other examples of petty criminality by members of the PML-N. In 2014, PML-N MPA Rao Kashif Raheem slapped Dr Saeed Ashraf while he was examining patients in a hospital in Samundari near Faisalabad. Raheem assaulted the doctor because he did not ‘stand up to salute him’ on his arrival to the hospital. In another incident, MPA Hammad Nawaz Tipu from Muzaffargarh beat up Dr Tariq Jamshed (the incharge of a hospital’s Maternal and Child health programme) in the EDO office with his fists and shoes. Tipu was beating the doctor because he wanted a person from his own constituency appointed as a hospital security guard.

In Sheikhupura, MPA Arif Sandhela slapped Dr Sana Jabin in July 2013. In 2013 PML-N MPA Nighat Sheikh beat a bus hostess named Iqra while travelling from Murree to Lahore. In November 2011, MPA Asadullah Arain from Hafizabad seriously injured a clerk named Faiz Ahmad Bhatti. Allegedly, the MPA was demanding some illegal transfer on political grounds. In 2012, Ali Imran Yousaf (son-in-law of CM Shahbaz Sharif) tortured a bakery worker named Irfan in Lahore. The victim later withdrew the lawsuit because he was being pressured to do so. In July 2017, a 15 year old domestic servant named Akhtar was beaten to death by his employers, one of whom was the daughter of a PML-N MPA. In October 2013, MPA Naeem Gulman manhandled a traffic warden for pulling over his car. These are just a few examples of the sort of culture the PML-N follows. None of these cases, or any other case that involves gross abuse of power in Pakistan, has ever reached a logical conclusion.

In August 2017, Nawaz Sharif’s convoy, which was travelling on GT Road ran over and killed a nine year old boy. Nawaz gave the boy the title of ‘first martyr of the campaign’, as if all of humanity was created to be sacrificed for his cause. He failed to stop the convoy and didn’t even visit the boy’s family to offer his condolences. No legal action was taken.

In 2013, MPA Rana Shoaib Idrees, who is ‘wanted’ in several extortion cases in the Faisalabad area, staged an assault on a police station and beat up several police officers. CCTV footage of the incident was broadcast by electronic media, yet somehow he still walked free because of ‘lack of evidence’.

In 2014, when PML-N’s Minister for Trade and Textile Engineer Khurram Dastgir Khan visited Gujranwala, workers openly celebrated with gunfire. The local police registered a case under terror charges but presented the suspects in front of magistrate in an ordinary court, not a terrorism court. Police withdrew the terrorism charges and the magistrate promptly granted the accused bail. Regrettably, Khurram Dastgir Khan was promoted to ‘Defence Minister of Pakistan’ last year. Another influential MNA, Suhail Shaukat Butt’s brother Zohaib Butt was found involved in aerial shooting in Lahore at a wedding ceremony. However, police was unable to register a case against him. The police is a department of the State paid with the taxpayer’s money, however, it dutifully serves any political entity along with the families.

Crime rates rise when criminals have an influential person backing them. Criminal politicians are weakening the state’s writ and wreaking havoc on our society. Hanif Abbasi, another PML-N MPA from Rawalpindi is allegedly involved in ephedrine smuggling but no action has been taken to get to the bottom of the matter. The PML-N’s criminal mentality was also shown when Senator Nihal Hashmi openly threatened the Panama Papers Joint Investigation Team (JIT) members. No action has been taken against him by the higher judiciary.

One can’t help but question the role played by the authorities when dealing with crimes by the political elite. This also encourages immature and shameful conduct in the Parliament House. Verbal abuse, cursing and threats are all too common.

Can the PML-N be called a party worthy of leading Pakistan? Can the current state of affairs be called democracy or is it civilian martial law? Unfortunately, after the Panama Papers case, the PML-N has hijacked the country’s entire system. Public institutions like the police and NAB have been paralyzed. The fact that one party can take advantage of the system this way creates hurdles in forming national solidarity. With the next elections around the corner, the country needs to decide if it wants Mohammad Ali Jinnah’s Pakistan or the PML-N’s Pakistan.

The writer can be reached at busharathistorian@gmail.com

Published in Daily Times, January 16^th 2018.