Daily Times

As I sit here in New Jersey on a beautiful spring afternoon, I realise that in my beloved Lahore the maximum temperature is already trying to hit 40 degrees (Celsius). Most of the obligatory visits have been done. Grandchildren, siblings, friends, former colleagues, and members of the extended family have been met. And yes, taxes have been taken care of. So in a bit more than a week, it will be time to get back to the land of the pure, and to start looking forward to the mango season. But in between catching up with grandchildren and eating good mangoes there exists a rather large universe of important and not-so-important things like American elections being considered. After all, writing an op-ed piece for this newspaper once a week, and in the process not repeating or being stuck on the same issue week after week requires some imaginative capabilities.

Recently, I wrote about the Sharif family being pure as the ‘driven snow’. It was, of course, all about the Sharifs and the Panama Papers. However, since then something very interesting has happened. Our Prime Minister (PM) cancelled many important international trips and decided to go to London for medical treatment. There is nothing unusual about the PM visiting London with or without some looming sickness, usually of the body. As has often been said, he has probably spent more time in London than he has ever spent in the national assembly of Pakistan,where but for the Musharraf interregnum he has served either as the leader of the house or else as leader of the opposition. As has been reported, the PM during his latest tenure has already spent more than 200 days abroad. So what makes his latest trip so different? There has been much speculation about the sort of illness the PM developed in response to the Panama Papers.

What clearly separates this trip to London from all other trips he has taken during his tenure as PM is that suddenly there is talk that never ever came up before, which is that some ‘other’ member of the cabinet or of the immediate family will take over the responsibilities of the PM during his absence. One of the things about Pakistani politics that has always somewhat mystified me was that offices much less important than that of the PM were immediately filled by a ‘surrogate’ if the holder of the office left the country even for a day. But as I have said above, even if the PM was out of the country for extended periods of time nobody took over the responsibilities of that office during the PM’s trip during that time. Normally, I would presume that the reason why there is no acting PM or chief minister (CM) when one of them is abroad has to do with the fact that these positions are not so important. But that is not the case.

So then why do we not have a person take on the full constitutional powers of a PM or CM during their absence from the country even for ‘serious’ medical problems? The answer for me as somebody that has no legal background seems to be that these two positions bring with them the power to dissolve an elected national or provincial assembly. Clearly, no PM or CM would hand over that power to even a ‘reliable’ surrogate, including it would seem even a close family member. No, never in Pakistan where even a most ‘trusted’surrogate can, at the drop of the proverbial hat or a call from the powers that be,immediately and magically become a ‘lota’ (turncoat). And as a consequence, even during even a ‘pleasure jaunt’ abroad, the PM or the CM might find out that he or she is no longer the ‘leader of the house’ since that house has been dissolved. Such a problem — as happened to the hapless Mohammas Khan Junejo and then to Benazir Bhutto by her ‘puppet’ president, Farooq Leghari — has been constitutionally taken care of but a constitutionally empowered ‘acting’ PM or CM has not been taken into consideration.

The fact that the PM’s latest trip to London is being discussed in Pakistani newspapers with questions about a real surrogate PM replacing him is indeed intriguing. Obviously, the constitution of Pakistan does not provide such a position or possibility. So all the speculation is based upon one consideration. That being that the PM is leaving Pakistan for the foreseeable future and is no longer going to be involved in running Pakistan as its chief executive. During his ‘extended’ absence while he gets his health taken care of, a surrogate will run Pakistan in his name. Who that surrogate will be is an interesting question. It would seem that our minister of the ‘perpetual hair’ like President Reagan’s secretary of state is going around declaring that he is now in charge. But then our minister with the perpetual stubble is also of a similar opinion. And yes, the talented brother cannot be dismissed as the real power behind the ‘Raiwind’ throne at this time.

One thing I, like many other Pakistanis, have learned is that when the Sharif brothers go to London, healthy or not they always return to Pakistan to run whatever they can. So, my personal opinion is that all the conniptions about the PM’s visit to London are a total farce, and are meant to divert the attention of the ordinary people of Pakistan from the Panama leaks. And yes, every day the PM spends in the ‘apartments’ mentioned in the aforementioned leaks will increase his resolve to run Pakistan and acquire even more such apartments. Indeed as a loyal Pakistani I pray that the PM might eventually own more of London real estate than even the Queen of England.

The author is a former editor of the Journal of Association of Pakistani descent Physicians of North America (APPNA)