PAKISTAN'S industrialist-cum-politician, Nawaz Sharif, has called for a civil disobedience movement against President Asif Zardari urging his party workers to come out on streets and protest. He told Dunya TV channel his call to arms amounted to launching a "soft revolution" for the sake of saving the country. As if inspired by the "long march" led by the great Chinese leader, Mao Zedong, Mr Sharif has plans to begin his long march from Lahore and he says Zardari's government will crumble before the crowd reached Jhelum. One of his MNAs, Nisar Ali Khan, the other day threatened to take the protest into the Assembly Hall and stall the functioning.
Why did Nawaz Sharif resort to street politics? Well, apparently because the supreme court upheld the 1999 court decision that bars him from taking part in electoral politics and he says the decision was pushed through by President Zardari. Sharif doesn't approve of the present courts because he says the chief justice and other judges on the panel were appointed by former president and chief of the army staff, Pervez Musharraf. So when the present supreme court upheld the earlier decision, he could not go in for an appeal and the only option left was to accept the verdict and go back to his business.
The supreme court also upheld a 1998 court decision against Nawaz Sharif's younger sibling Shahbaz Sharif which had found him guilty of murdering five government agents. This cost him his post as chief minister of the rich Punjab province.
Nawaz Sharif's background as family head shows that he wants to become the president of the country. He has been prime minister twice and the constitution does not allow him to become prime minister for the third time. He played a key role in pushing former president Musharraf out of job by allying with Zardari in the Assembly and threatening Musharraf with an impeachment. He gave Zardari the "numbers support" he needed in the Assembly to impeach a president. But soon after he changed gears. (Musharraf resigned on August 17 and on August 25, Nawaz Sharif's ministers quit the cabinet an action they had threatened to take four months ago.)
Musharraf out of the way, Nawaz Sharif thought he was one step away from the top post but what really enraged him and which in fact prompted him to pull out of the coalition with PPP was Zardari's announcement through the party that he himself would become the next president. This was the last straw on camel's back.
Sharif, who had supported the lawyers movement from a distance, now poured more money into the movement and lent workers' support to get the former chief justice, Chaudhry Iftikhar, reinstated provided he promised to declare the presidency of Zardari unconstitutional by rescinding the amnesty against corruption charges he earlier received under Musharraf.
The call to his party workers to launch a civil disobedience movement is part of the plan to create a momentum before the proposed long march and sit-in announced by the lawyers in front of the president house in Islamabad. The lawyers announced the protest to mark the second anniversary of the ouster of former chief justice Chaudhry Iftikhar. The long march and sit-in has been announced for March 12.
Why did Zardari prompt the supreme court against Sharif brothers? Clearly, he wanted them to accept the present judges and more importantly to stay away from the lawyers movement which is demanding the reinstatement of Chaudhry Iftikhar. But when Sharif brothers refused, he winked at the timid judges to go for the kill! Why did he do that at such a crucial time? Why not after March 16 is a million dollar question. Most people in Islamabad believe this shows that Zardari was playing in the hands of foreign governments which wanted to create chaos in the country. That is a little far fetched. Suffice to say that Zardari has proved he was not a good politician.
Nawaz Sharif has played his last card. If he is able to keep the civil disobedience movement going till March 16, and his workers and supporters choke the streets of Islamabad, only then he may be able to demand the reinstatement of the former top judge. But as things stand today, the civil disobedience movement has fizzled out on its own. There is a strong likelihood that Nawaz Sharif will have to wait for another day. Having said that, Sharif will never make it to the presidency but in the end he will definitely stay alive in the media (albeit for sometime) and will leave something for the voters to talk about come next elections.
If the former top judge is not reinstated and the chances are he won't, what is Nawaz Sharif's next likely move? In all probability, he is now thinking of impeaching President Zardari by bringing back the same "numbers support" in the Assembly he offered to impeach Musharraf last August. Theoretically, it may be possible but in reality there seems little chance of such a thing happening. Theoretically, there will have to be a rebellion within the PPP MNAs against their co-chairman and a strong will to impeach him. Although a majority would want to do! But if Sharif brothers emerged as strong contenders on the other side of March 16 sit-in and they were able to buy out some PPP MNAs, then there is a possibility that he may be able to cobble together the numbers required to impeach President Zardari. But, alas, Nawaz Sharif will still have to wait. Zardari will bring forth the Chairman of the party, Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari. These scenarios stand ground only if Musharraf does not jump back into politics.
Analyze the 3/3 attack on the visiting Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore with this background in mind. It becomes easier to pinpoint the real culprits. Anyways, the tragic incident shifted media focus away from the Sharifs and provided a reason to beef up security Zardari needs to stop the long march.
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Published: 2009-03-01T13:51:00-08:00
Sharif's War for Political Relevance
