THE ground floor of Stan­hope House is quiet, and the residents of this street couldn’t be more relieved.

The shouting, fighting and police presence outside their front doors as they walked their children down the street to school, or into the lush green expanses of Hyde Park, is gone.

Journalists who endured hours of waiting on the steps outside the office are busy covering other stories. It is obvious: Nawaz Sharif has left the building.

It was on the ground floor of this Grade-2 listed building, where Nawaz’s son Hussain has an office, that the elder Sharif held court over the last four years of his self-imposed exile.

It was here that politicians, diplomats and well-wishers came to meet with him — and where his bitterest critics, supporters of PTI chief Imran Khan, unleashed their fury and — at times — made normal conversation impossible with their deafening chants.

It was also where Nawaz reflected on the past and confronted the realities of returning to Pakistan for several months ahead of his return.

Many have walked away from these rooms, recalling how the three-time prime mi­­nister is still haunted by the final telephonic goodbye he could not have with his ailing wife, the late Kulsoom Nawaz.

This was also the place from where he made that controversial Gujranwala rally speech, calling out “a state above a state”.

It was here that his advisers and brother discussed the appointment of the army chief in September last year.

And it was in this room, that videos of him calling for the accountability of generals were recorded — videos that his party now distances itself from and downplays.

No illusions

No matter how effusive PML-N representatives are about the magic wand Nawaz will wield to make things all better, the el­der Sharif is under no illusions; he knows that his party’s popularity is at a historic low.

He is also cognisant of the fact that today, the space for the civilian government is a fraction of what it used to be when he was ousted in 2017.

The Nawaz returning to Pakistan is certainly not the same man who left in 2019. He is now 73 years old, and as one N-leaguer said to Dawn, “four years in your 70s feels like a lot more than it does in your 60s”. He is returning to play the final innings of his political life, but will he confront his demons — or let them run his life?

For months, it has been speculated, both by commentators and people in his party, that because of Nawaz’s disqualification, Shehbaz would take the lead if the party forms a government after the elections. But recent conversations with key PML-N leaders reveal a growing confidence that a path is being paved for Nawaz.

“The issue of his disqualification may be wrapped up,” one party member shared on condition of anonymity. “He should be able to contest the election. This impression that the establishment prefers to work with Shehbaz is not true. I personally know the current leadership has a lot of respect for Nawaz Sharif.”

The party stalwart also said that, come the elections and a PML-N victory, if Nawaz does become prime minister: “The establishment may retain some functions of the government as it has done in the past”.

But glimpses of the Nawaz who remotely managed his party from London portend that he is not quite in the mood to bury the hatchet. Though he has been advised to tone down the accountability narrative and focus on the economy and the rebuilding of the country, the elder Sharif remains wary.

“Shehbaz in 16 months was not able to succeed as a politician or a coalition manager. The establishment has a sense that the country must move forward. We need a decision maker,” the source said.

Implications for his legacy

Another N-leaguer said Na­­waz’s return and (if elected) his term as premier, will be his final run, and therefore have implications for his legacy.

“He is the senior-most statesman in the country. He is now at a point where he would be thinking about his legacy. He will want to think of some kind of grand reconciliation, to put the country back on track.”

What would this look like, and would it involve Imran Khan, the country’s most popular politician? “Imran Khan’s case is too far gone to be part of this unity conversation. He cross­­ed a red line like the Capitol Hill rioters in the US. Who will forgive them? Certainly not the military. We have tried to sit with him in the past, but he is the perpetual spoiler.”

“By reconciliation, it could be that Nawaz thinks about how politicians, those in char­­ge of defense and those in the judiciary reach an equilibrium of sorts. Nawaz Sharif knows that for the last 75 years each of us have spent too much time watching our backs. He will think of how to look ahead. That is his main challenge.”

Another party member questions whether his legacy is doomed. “As prime minister, Nawaz Sharif wants two things: prices shouldn’t be increased, and we should splurge on development projects. But there is no money for either of his demands, and very little space to create it,” the politician tells Dawn.

As Nawaz returns to Pakis­tan, and to his sprawling Raiwind estate, the dynamics of the family politics, too, will come into play. There are rumours of Maryam Nawaz being primed for the position of deputy prime minister, and questions about the future of Shahbaz’s role given that Punjab is far from being in PML-N’s control.

Many in the party were annoyed that Shahbaz continued to stay in government despite numerous reasons to call an election last summer.

When asked this question, about how Nawaz will work out the family politics, even when they have lasting consequences for the country, an N-leaguer said, “This is a question journalists should ask him, as we cannot.”

Published in Dawn, October 21st, 2023