Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: An aborted military coup in Turkey has served as political oxygen for Prime Minister (PM) Nawaz Sharif who has been facing intense political pressure for the last three months.

Nawaz Sharif is living under tremendous pressure consistently following the disclosures of the Panama leaks and this pressure has led to make him a heart patient for which he had to undergo four heart related operations in London.

He is living in Jati Umra Lahore after his return from London on July 9 and even the federal cabinet meeting took place in Lahore.

The scale of mounting pressure on the PM can be gauged from this move that an anonymous party openly invited the Army to take over the government but the PM and the interior minister kept mum over it rather than taking action against the party. Even the ISPR disowned the banners hanging matter. Later the case was registered against those behind displaying the banners.

The attempted military coup in Turkey is seen by Pakistani political leaders in different perspectives. Senator Farhatullah Babar said that the Turkish people crushed the military coup because the people were fully backing the democratic government. This was the important thing. “The people come out to support those who do something for them”, he said.

He also went on to say that democracy was facing similar threats in Pakistan in 2014 and then the opposition parties stood with the government and democracy was safeguarded.

He held that the experience of military rule in Pakistan had failed but democratic rulers would have to deliver to the people now and only then democracy would be strengthened.

Senior politician Riaz Fatiana, while talking to Daily Times said that crushing the military coup against Tayyip Erdogan was the second major event in history after Hugo Chavez. Although the opposition parties had differences with Tayyip Erdogan but Erdogan had represented the Turkish people and the Muslims in the real sense and he had delivered to the people. This was the reason that the people surged on the roads and the streets in millions on his call and democracy was saved.

He went to say that there was a lot of difference in the politics of Turkey and Pakistan. Turkish rulers had done too much for the people but Pakistani rulers had done too much only for themselves. The Turkish president had returned to his country following the coup “whereas our prime minister kept on lying in London after the political pressure mounted on him and now he is sitting in Raiwind in hiding”, he said.

The failed military coup in Turkey would give some courage temporarily to Nawaz Sharif and his aides but there was a thing for them to remember that the people would lie in front of tanks for the sake of the leaders who live and die for them otherwise the people would distribute sweets on the arrival of military leaders.

He urged that the PM and his aides should commit themselves for doing something for the people in the perspective of the failed military coup in Turkey because no one would dare to take over the government if the people were prosperous.

He also remarked that PM Nawaz Sharif made many pledges including elimination of load shedding before coming to power but he had not delivered even a single promise. That was the reason that banners were put to display in Islamabad and the PM was scared.

He observed that there were countless leaders in Pakistan but there was no popular leader among them. Tayyip Erdogan was the hero of the Turkish people; therefore, military tanks met a failure on his call to the people.

Former federal minister, Mir Baz Khitran said, the future of the country lay in unalloyed democracy. Expectations could be made from the people of Pakistan like the people of Turkey only when Pakistani rulers did something for the people. “Our leaders are not popular among the people. They are facing different charges. Corruption has plunged the national economy into an abyss of devastation”, he remarked.

He also observed that the Army chief did more work than the PM in terms of the expectations of the people, therefore, the people started showering their love on him. The impression was wrong about the Army chief that he wanted to come to power. This was a self-styled fear of Nawaz Sharif and his aides. The rulers should learn a lesson from the aborted military coup of Turkey and should learn to live and die for the people. If the rulers enjoyed popularity among the people then no one could take over the government, he added.