This is the third unceremonious ouster for Nawaz. He could have avoided all the ousters with a modicum of common sense. President Ishaq dissolved his government on April 18, 1993. Supreme Court (SC) restored it on May 26. Mocking this verdict, the army chief Kakar forced Nawaz to resign. Had he not resigned and told the nation the truth, he could have walked with a raised head. Since he had come to power on army’s stretcher, thus, he could not have stood against Kakar’s stick.
Nawaz lost the 1993 election but returned to power with a two-third majority in 1996. This ‘heavy mandate’ went to his head under whose hangover he shot himself in the foot by sacking General Musharraf when the latter’s plane was running out of fuel in the air and Nawaz won’t let it land! Can there be a greater spectacle of stupidity than this? Much before Musharraf’s landing, Nawaz had been ousted. The architect of 1999 coup was nobody but Nawaz! People thronged to streets, danced and distributed sweets. The heavy mandate vanished into thin air.
When the Panama proceedings were underway, his daughter Maryam tweeted: Jo mard hota hay wo bhagta nai (a man never runs away). If Nawaz would not have run away and faced Musharraf! But he ran away to Jeddah with his family under a written agreement that he has been denying vehemently. His host (Saudi Arabia) humiliated him by waving the agreement before the world.
Nawaz would have stood against the dictator if he were a politician with principles. He was a dumb businessman who would stoop to any level for power or to save his skin discarding the loyal friends like Javed Hashmi who endured the worst physical and mental torture for democracy.
Nawaz would pick a quarrel with institutions for nothing. Time is the best revenge. In 1997, he would have the Supreme Court attacked through his goons and the chief justice removed by bribing his colleagues. Time would exact the revenge in 1999. Army would oust him. Time has exacted the revenge again and this time, the Supreme Court has ousted him! No coup or conspiracy was hatched. The removal is on merit that followed the due course of law.
Every sane voice advised Nawaz to step down as Panama proceedings started against him. Like always, he failed to read the writing on the wall. Even a temporary resignation could have saved him from disgrace, shame and humiliation. But time is the best revenge. Time was hellbent to humiliate not only him but the entire family.
Nawaz’s problem is that he looks for dictatorship in democracy. He thinks he is Pakistan. He is democracy and he is the sole custodian of Islam!
Nawaz and his toadies were desperate to get away with the Panama proceedings. One of his sycophants — Nehal Hashmi — went to the extent of making not only the judges/investigation team but also their coming generations an example if they dared to question Nawaz and his family. His threat — we will make this land unliveable for you and your children — instead of earning sympathy for Nawaz gave him the title of Sicilian mafia. Who would need enemies in the presence of such obsequious sycophants?
Nawaz and the army of his bootlickers bent over backwards to convince the people that Panama papers were a conspiracy against them. The statement kept changing colours as time passed. It became a conspiracy against democracy. When his son-in-law Mohammad Safdar appeared before the investigators on June 24, the conspiracy was no more against Nawaz or democracy but Islam! On July 20, one of his trusted boys, Khwaja Asif, the defence minister stated that neither the army nor the judiciary is hatching a conspiracy. Then who is conspiring: the Jews, the Hindus, the Christians, the Pagans, RAW, Mosad, CIA or KGB? Neither Nawaz nor his cronies could name the conspirator.
Nawaz’s problem is, he looks for dictatorship in democracy. He thinks he is Pakistan. He is democracy and he is the sole custodian of Islam! The time has come for him to reconcile with the fact that his political career is over. The SC has not disqualified his party but him and some of his cronies. This is something that the workers, office bearers and the senior leaders of PML-N should understand. It is the end of Nawaz, not the party or the politics. There is no dearth of competent people in PML-N who can turn it into a real political party. Ironically, PML-N — like the PPP and PTI — was never a political party but a business enterprise of the Sharifs. Grandpa dies and the son becomes the party’s head. Pa thought he would be disqualified and did his best to present his daughter — Maryam as the future prime minister. Papa’s cronies projected her as ‘daughter of the nation’. Sadly, the so-called daughter of the nation is facing forgery charges. Sadly, the brothers of the self-proclaimed daughter of the nation are facing corruption references. Sadly, the husband of the self-appointed daughter of the nation is facing the same charges. The entire family has been declared corrupt.
The disgraced Nawaz still has a chance. He should come out of the fools’ paradise and accept the fact that no miracle can make him prime minister again. He should also reconcile with the fact that his daughter too can’t be prime minister of Pakistan. The party is not his fiefdom. He should respect the Supreme Court’s decision; announce the snap elections and resign from politics urging the new leadership to promote and practice democracy within the party.
The writer is an Islamabad-based journalist/researcher. Facebook.com/writershehzad
Published in Daily Times, July 29th , 2017.