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POOR Quaid-i-Azam. His tombstone has become the touchstone of political legitimacy. Every leader since September 1948 — whether elected or self-appointed, whether papier-mâché puppets or string-pulling puppeteers — has felt bound to visit his grave to secure his posthumous blessing.
This ritual is not unlike that performed at the shrine of Shah Muhammad Yousaf Gardezi, a 12th-century Afghan who is buried in Multan. His devotees believed that he indicated his favour by extending his desiccated hand to them from a hole in the impacted mound. Quaid-i-Azam has so far withheld such a benediction from his successors.
The latest politician to visit the Quaid’s white marble mausoleum — the Taj Mahal of Pakistan’s democracy — is Mian Shahbaz Sharif, chief minister of the Punjab. His companion was Mushahid Hussain Syed, who once stood with Nawaz Sharif in his election campaigns. In the 1990s, Mr Syed master-minded the conjoined image of Nawaz and his wife Kulsum holding hands in public, to encourage more women to vote for the PML-N. Now, he has been tasked to give the younger Sharif a make-over.
Mr Shahbaz Sharif’s visit to Karachi is more than a belated homage to the Father of the Nation. He hopes, by this albeit symbolic act, to be seen as emerging from his chrysalis to a maturer, more expansive role at the national level. Every move over the past few months has been carefully crafted to convince the cabal in Islamabad that he is the more acceptable Sharif, the Sharif they can work with, the Sharif who can deliver. That does not mean he will abjure his ousted elder brother. He cannot. Their DNA is too deeply ingrained to be affected by a khaki dye. What Shahbaz Sharif hopes is that this genuflection will ensure his elevation to the premiership and his brother’s personal survival.
Chaudhry Nisar’s loyalty has all the tensile strength of expediency.
As the general elections draw near, the knuckle bones of prediction are again up in the air. No one is sure how they will fall, or whether the final configuration will be even workable. Political pundits outnumber possibilities, but one scenario seems more plausible than the others. It is this. Elections will be held as required under the Constitution.
Shahbaz Sharif heading a PML-sans-N secures the prime minister’s slot in Islamabad, conceding the chief minister-ship of the Punjab to Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan. Although Chaudhry Nisar’s loyalty to the PML-N has wavered of late, it is not brittle. It has all the tensile strength of expediency. Mian Nawaz Sharif will be relegated either to living in his Croesean home in Raiwind or gilded captivity in Adiala Jail.
People close to Nawaz Sharif must have already advised him to reconcile himself to a role in Pakistani politics perfected by Mrs Sonia Gandhi in India. As Caesar’s widow, Sonia Gandhi chose to remain not only above suspicion, but beyond the reach of her critics, and from behind her sari’s palloo, to dominate the Congress party and her pliant prime minister S. Manmohan Singh. Only Nawaz Sharif can decide whether he would prefer to spend the next five years battling for restitution, or to rule from Raiwind while his younger brother reigns in Islamabad.
After disqualification, Nawaz Sharif had hoped that Shahid Khaqan Abbasi would act as an obedient regent, like Rama’s brother Bharat, who kept Rama’s sandals on the throne as a reminder of Rama’s superior claim to the throne. Events though have overtaken Mr Abbasi. He is lost in a Black Hole of sinking intentions, with only three months left to oblivion.
Nowadays, rumours swill across the country that a caretaker government with the constitutional mandate to deliver free and fair elections will be installed. It will be given an unspoken assurance that its tenure could/would be extended ‘in the national interest’ beyond the prescribed three months to two or even three years. Certain forces contend that a caretaker setup is needed of carefully screened competent technocrats, who will be given the malodorous task of cleansing the Augean stables of governance before any future general elections. This is a task of heroic proportions. Pakistan has yet to produce even one such Hercules.
Meanwhile, it is reported that the Election Commission has extended its shrivelled hand to overseas Pakistanis. They can vote online. In effect, Pakistanis who voted with their feet and fled abroad can now elect a government which will govern the country in their absence. It is an interesting twist to a recent trend which has seen British MPs with significant Pakistani immigrants in their constituencies canvass in places like Mirpur and Gujrat, to secure their seats in Westminster.
This year, a grueling general election and a punishing midsummer are likely to coincide. Some cynics wonder whether the election is worth the agony involved, especially when a uniformed midwife has already indicated that the nascent government might well be stillborn.
The writer is an author.
Published in Dawn, April 19th, 2018
