More than a year has passed since that election giving us plenty of time for at least an initial assessment of the extent to which the predictions of political maturity were justified. When Sharif was in power in the 1990s, especially during his second term, he was driven by one idea above all others. His politics did not get into areas such as education or poverty alleviation: rather he was consumed by the task of holding on to power. During his second term in particular he challenged, and attempted to destroy, all those who opposed him. His main targets where his political rivals Benazir Bhutto and Asif Ali Zardari. He gave his attack dog, Saifur Rehman, the task of amassing enough evidence to put the couple behind bars. And as various private investigators around the world were delighted to discover, it was an effort on which Nawaz was prepared to lavish considerable sums of money. Next up it was the judiciary. Back in the 1990s the senior judiciary were somewhat less independent than their counterparts are today. And when the deep state had decided it was time for Sharif to be pushed out, the courts demanded that the prime minister appear before them to face contempt charges. The response was ferocious: a mob of Sharif’s supporters ransacked the court building. That still left parliament. It was here that Nawaz Sharif revealed just how far he was prepared to go. His Shariah law bill – which was passed by the National Assembly – would have allowed him to dispense with any opposition considered offensive to religion as interpreted by Sharif himself. The measure was blocked by some brave PPP senators but would have probably gone through had it not been for the Musharraf coup. Which takes us on to the army. Two years into his second term, it was the only power centre Sharif had not confronted. When the then army chief, Jahangir Karamat, made the not entirely preposterous suggestion of trying to bring some institutional order and stability to the perpetually turbulent civil-military relations by setting up a ‘national security council’ with military representation, Sharif dug in his heels. The very proposal, the prime minister said, was an affront and Karamat was given his marching orders. Less than a year later, when General Musharraf failed to take responsibility for the Kargil debacle, Sharif sacked him too. It was a decision that cost Sharif his government. And it prompts the question: has he learnt his lesson? There are some signs that the older and wiser version of Nawaz Sharif does accept that he has to share powers with others. Imran Khan may now be confronting the prime minister but in the first months of his administration Sharif in fact tried to forestall that possibility by reaching out to both Imran and Zardari. Far from threatening them with court cases he tried to co-opt them into a civilian, pro-democracy front that would see off any challenges from the army. As for the relationship with the generals, the tensions are still there. Sharif’s desire to put Musharraf behind bars is bound to lead to trouble – but it may be that, this time round, he will take more care to stop short of provoking another coup.
Posted on: Mon, 01 Sep 2014 09:05:35 +0000
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