Sharif v Sharif
Nawaz Sharif Shahbaz Sharif
Syed Nooruzzaman
Maryam Nawaz
Former Pakistan
Prime Minister
Nawaz Sharif, who
had to resign in July
after he was
disqualified for 10
years to hold any public office by
his country's Supreme Court in
the much-publicised Panama
Papers case, is working overtime
to become the kingmaker, if not
the king (head of government)
himself. He and his family
members, along with his
supporters within the Pakistan
Muslim League (N) or the PML-N
for short, are busy these days to
ensure that either he or his
daughter Maryam, the eldest of
his three children, remains the
head of the party when the next general elections are held there in
2018 as scheduled.
He wishes to promote his
daughter to become a major
claimant to the post of Prime
Minister since he has little chance
of regaining the position he has
lost. But this is a herculean task,
as Nawaz Sharif's idea has strong
opponents within the PML (N) at
this stage.
Among these opponents is his
own brother, Shahbaz Sharif,
though he has been seen
cowering in the presence of his
elder brother out of respect.
Shahbaz and a sizeable section of the party's rank and file believe
that under the prevailing
circumstances he is the most
suitable candidate for the Prime
Minister's position, provided his
party wins the coming
parliamentary (National
Assembly) elections.
The younger Sharif's camp is of
the view that his elder son Hamza
is fully qualified to replace his
father as Punjab Chief Minister
once Shahbaz succeeds in
becoming Prime Minister after
the 2018 polls.
After all, Shahbaz has
established his credentials as a
good administrator during his
rule as Chief Minister. The PML-N
is in a very strong position to
trounce the opposition parties,
including Imran Khan's Pakistan
Tehreek-e-Insaaf and the Asif
Zardari-led PPP, in at least Punjab
in the coming polls, mainly
because of the performance of
the Shahbaz Sharif government.
The Shahbaz camp in the PML-N is
prepared to go to any extent to
Imran Khan
ensure that he gets elevated as
the next Prime Minister of
Pakistan.
There is a sea difference
between the approach of the two
brothers to any issue confronting
Pakistan, particularly with regard
to dealing with what is called the
Establishment --- the army and
the bureaucracy.
While the elder Sharif has
acquired the image of being a
confrontationist, the younger
Sharif is well known for his
pragmatist policies for handling
any issue. Nawaz Sharif's tenure
as Prime Minister has been cut
short by the judiciary using the
Panama Papers case as he has
many detractors in this institution
owing to his confrontationist
approach.
The all-powerful Pakistan army,
too, reportedly disliked Nawaz
Sharif's style of functioning
though he tried to keep it in good
humour by allowing former Chief
of Army Staff Gen Pervez
Musharraf, who captured power by overthrowing Nawaz in a
bloodless coup, to escape the clutches of law by going abroad
on the pretext of getting
treatment for some "major
illness".
Gen Pervez Musharraf
Yet the fact remains that Nawaz
Sharif continues to be the most
popular politician in Pakistan
owing to his achievements on
various fronts, including the
economy.
The PML-N has every chance of
recapturing power after the 2018
elections in case it fights the polls
under the leadership of the senior
Sharif. A split in the PML-N,
because of the differences
between the two Sharifs, if at all it
comes about, will only go in
favour of the opposition parties,
mainly the PPP and the PTI. But
most observers of the Pakistan
political scene are of the view that
the pragmatist in Shahbaz Sharif
will always try to maintain unity in
his party at all costs.
Shahbaz, being an
acknowledged practitioner of
pragmatism, must be fully aware
of the fact that the PML-N can
succeed in trouncing the other
parties in the coming elections
only if it contest the polls as a
cohesive and united political
force. He is not expected to take
his fight for grabbing the Prime
Minister's position to the extent
of jeopardising the future of his
party. He might be already
discussing quietly with Nawaz
Sharif and other senior leaders
about how to find a workable
solution to the Hamza-vs-Maryam
problem.
Both have been nursing high
ambitions owing to the patronage
of the senior Sharif they have
enjoyed at different stages.
Reports have it that at one time
(till the 2013 elections) Nawaz
Sharif was very fond of Hamza
and wanted to groom him to
become the top leader of the
PML-N and a future claimant to
the post of Prime Minister. He
then made it clear that Maryam
was not interested in a political career. But something happened
after 2013 and his nephew got
replaced by his daughter in
Nawaz Sharif's scheme of things
for his party.
After all, filial feelings are
too powerful to be ignored by
anyone. So, the third position
in the PML-N hierarchy has
gone to Maryam Nawaz as the
si tuat ion prevai ls today, but
Hamza has not taken it as fait
accompli .
Hamza recent ly expressed
the view during an interview
with Geo TV that the future of
democracy in Pakistan can be
ensured only by relying on
pragmatism as practised by his
father, Shahbaz, and not by
pursuing a Nawaz Sharif-style
confrontationist policy.
Hamza has been arguing
(may be, at the behest of his
father) that any at tempt to
establ ish civi l ian supremacy
(Nawaz Shari f 's latest
objective) by belittling the role
of the army in the formulation
of major policies will not be in
the long- term interest of
Pakistan as well as the PML-N.
But Nawaz Shari f is not
prepared to listen to anyone
on the issue of civi l ian
supremacy. If he manages to
successfully handle the cases
against him in the Nat ional
Accountability Bureau, headed
by Justice Javed Iqbal (retd),
the PML-N under the former
Prime Minister may contest the
2018 elect ions wi th civi l ian
supremacy being on top of its
agenda.
This may help the PML-N win
the elect ions wi th a
comfortable majori ty in the
Nat ional Assembly again. In
such a scenario, the pressure
on the army to confine itself to
its constitutional role is bound
to increase.
How the Pakistan army
reacts to such a denouement
will be interesting to watch.