Ziaul Haq made many blunders; from the promotion of religious extremism, terrorism, drug and Kalashnikov culture to corruption. But his biggest mistake was promoting Nawaz Sharif. Religious minorities, women and people of smaller sects of Islam had to pay heavily due to Haq’s so-called Islamisation.
Nawaz Sharif is the politician who looted Pakistan’s national wealth while enjoying the best state facilities first as finance minister, then as chief minister of Punjab, and then as prime minister of Pakistan — a position he has held for three terms.
He is like a robber who comes to rob a family and eats their best food, sleeps on their best beds and uses their best cars for travelling, and at the end if the family complains, he claims that the family is being unjust.
Sharif learned early on that every officer has a price, pay it and use them for your aims and objectives. He was not able to play any positive role in improving social systems, including healthcare. This is proven by the fact that he and his family constantly went to the UK for treatment because Pakistan did not have a reliable, quality healthcare system.
He was not able to improve education. He reportedly, once as a prime minister, purchased Mercedes cars with funds meant for higher education. This shows that he did not have any vision for Pakistan and its people.
He was not able to improve the justice system of Pakistan because only a corrupt judicial system suited him and his cronies, allies, and rest of the ruling elite.
He was not able to eradicate poverty. Children in Thar continue to die, and people continue to commit suicide all over the country.
He was never interested in controlling inflation because he has been an ally of the business community of Pakistan, which only believed in maximising profits. It doesn’t help that he and his family own a large business empire, which includes many sugar and steel mills.
The former prime minister was brought in and raised by the army, but he soon began seeing the army as an obstacle. His family made enormous wealth by misusing the bureaucracy and by giving favours to their aides. They further expanded their empire by using their illegally amassed wealth. They began to believe that Pakistan was meant to be their family estate and property. They did not tolerate anyone who became a threat to their vested interests
He never took the issues of power shortage seriously. He just resolved matters on a temporary basis for political gains. He was interested in launching only mega projects, which involved huge commissions and perks for him and his family.
Moreover, Nawaz was not able to make Pakistan a secure country, because he was afraid of Taliban and did not have the courage. He relied on votes in the areas controlled by extremist groups like Sipah-e-Sahaba. That is why jihadi nurseries in Punjab were never touched by his government.
His children have UK citizenship and his family considers Pakistan only suitable to rule and make easy money, but it has never been worth living in for them.
What justification did he have for ruling Pakistan if his own children did not want to live in this country? He proudly confessed in the court that the UK property belongs to his children and Pakistani laws did not have any jurisdiction over his children because they were UK citizens.
What moral justification did he have to go around the world and invite the international community to come and invest in Pakistan while his own children preferred to keep their legal and illegal wealth in UK?
The former prime minister was brought in and raised by army, but he began seeing the army as an obstacle family made enormous wealth by misusing the bureaucracy and by giving favours to their aides. They further expanded their empire by using their illegally amassed wealth. They began to believe that Pakistan was meant to be their family estate and property. They did not tolerate anyone who became a threat to their vested interests.
The former prime minister was brought in and raised by army, but he began seeing the army as an obstacle. He tried to topple Musharraf, and this resulted in Nawaz fleeing to Saudi Arabia and staying out of power for more than 10 years.
Then he began seeing judiciary as a major threat. He has not been able to become a politician or a statesman during his 35 years in politics. This was because he was never trained as a political worker of an ideological party, the way many PPP workers were trained. His training had been as a person who could only use politics to become rich overnight.
The writer is Lecturer at International Relations Department, Lahore Garrison University, Lahore, Pakistan. He can be reached at [email protected]
Published in Daily Times, July 23rd 2018.