Of late, both the Imran government and the two of our main opposition parties had surprisingly been acting “mature and patriotic.” Disregarding the either/or battles, ceaselessly being waged for the past two years, they finally opted to cooperate with each other, ostensibly with ‘patriotic’ intent of pulling Pakistan out of the grey list of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). With the said intent, a long list of laws, related to terrorism and watching over multiple forms of business transactions was massively revamped, almost with consensus.
The ‘consensus,’ primarily delivered by Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), shocked and annoyed the rest of opposition parties. In utter fury, they publicly began calling these parties as “collaborators” of the Imran government. This scuttled the possibilities of a multi-party alliance, eventually leading to a mass movement against the government.
Perhaps to dispel the impression of a MUKK-MUKKA (the deal), the main opposition parties felt forced to resist the smooth passage of government-introduced amendments in the Anti-Money Laundering Bill Monday evening. The government also reverted to its take-it-or-leave posturing and finally managed the national assembly approval for the amendments it had desired.
It was but obvious that the PML-N and the PPP had done no homework to mount some fierce-looking resistance. In a very subtle manner, Khawaja Asif, one of the most experienced parliamentarians from the PML-N, rather preferred to ‘demystify’ “the mature and patriotic conduct,” we had been witnessing during parliamentary proceedings for the past three weeks.
“Representatives of the National Security Outfits,” he revealed in matter-of-factly tone during the national assembly sitting, “had been goading both the government and the opposition to reach consensus for approving FATA-related laws.” In supreme national interest, the main opposition parties appreciated their role and heeded to advice, coming from these quarters.
After conceding this, he quickly switched to pinch the government by claiming that active involvement of the national security outfits to ensure the smooth and speedy progress on FATA-related laws, in effect “exposed the immaturity of this government.” Even after spending two years in power, it could yet not develop the capacity for engaging the opposition to seek consensus on preparation and passage of the laws, the supreme national interest of Pakistan requires, almost on SOS basis.
Shahzad Akbar Mirza, Prime Minister’s advisor on accountability, on the other hand, calmly kept promoting the allegation that while resisting the smooth passage of laws, urgently required to pull Pakistan out of the FATF’s grey list, the PML-N and PPP representatives remained hooked to seek relief for their leaders.
With restrained contempt he also recalled maliciously that the opposition leader, Shehbaz Sharif, and Asif Ali Zardari, the PPP leader, were facing serious charges of money laundering these days. They failed to explain about how “millions” had landed in accounts, opened in the name of persons otherwise trying hard to survive by selling “PAPPERS and FALOODA.”
Mirza kept insisting that the opposition representatives were employing their numerical strength in both houses of parliament to extract concessions for the same leaders. Instead of being honest and straight about it, he went on, the opposition representatives “rather pretend as if defending fundamental rights of ordinary Pakistanis.”
Whatever the truth, the PTI handlers of parliamentary business, did succeed, so far, in trumpeting the message that Pakistan found itself in the FATF’s grey list, primarily not because of “terrorism.” The audacious “money laundering,” allegedly indulged in by the PML-N and PPP leaders had pushed the country there. But instead of feeling apologetic about their conduct, people representing them in parliament tried hard to delay the speedy approval of FATF-related laws and in return of their cooperation sought relief for the Sharifs and Zardaris of this world.
Shehbaz Sharif, the opposition leader and the PML-N President, was present in Islamabad Monday. He certainly had a perfect opportunity to confront the government with his side of the story. But instead of attending the national assembly sitting, he preferred to hold a mega press conference, precisely at the time when the national assembly was holding its meeting.
The alleged “incompetence” of the Imran government was the dominant theme of the event staged by him. The event, itself, projected the feel of a seminar, evaluating two-year performance of this government. It certainly lacked the heat and energy of a political event.
Since the early 1990s, as a politician Shehbaz Sharif has certainly established the look of energy-personified about him. From 2008 to 2018, he had ruled the most populous province of Pakistan, Punjab, like a hands-on manager. In that capacity, he always looked ever vigilant and too quick to reach the trouble spots for dealing with issues in then and there manner.
At the Monday event, he certainly looked “not being there.” Not for once he seemed overwhelmed by emotions. He threw no tantrums and felt pleased merely by distributing a 41-page document, which attempts to evaluate the two years of Imran government in an academic manner. The data-driven content doesn’t convey a spirited political message.
Increasingly, it now is becoming obvious that for another time, media-attention has again begun switching to his elder brother, Nawaz Sharif. The third-time prime minister had to vacate the Prime Minister’s office after being disqualified for holding it by the Supreme Court of Pakistan. Multiple cases of corruption were then established against him and eventually the Accountability Court sentenced him for a long term in jail.
While in prison, he was suspected to have developed serious health-related issues, having the possibility of turning life threatening. This helped his release on bail and later the Imran government allowed him to go abroad to seek treatment. He left for the same in November last year, with the condition of returning back to the country after four weeks.
Eight months have passed since then. He continues to stay put in London and often seen walking on the streets of London like a healthy person. The hawks among the Imran government feel too agitated about his behavior. They have rather begun to seriously believe that he had managed the permission for going abroad after submitting alarming but “false medical reports.” The UK government had now been formally approached to help his returning back to the country.
Meanwhile, after many months of remaining mysteriously quiet since Nawaz Sharif’s departure from Pakistan, his daughter and apparent political heir, Ms. Maryam Nawaz did create an impressive political show in Lahore, when summoned by NAB early this month.
I have it from highly reliable sources that Nawaz Sharif had personally asked her daughter to reach the NAB office in a defiant manner. He interpreted her summoning as complete collapse of the real or perceived “understanding,” Shehbaz Sharif was believed to have negotiated with powerful setters of the political scene in Pakistan, by unwaveringly pursuing a presumably “responsible and pragmatic” approach for more than a year.
Nawaz Sharif has reportedly been feeling extremely frustrated about the line his younger brother had adopted and promoted. He strongly believes that this strategy miserably failed to extract anything substantive to sustain hope among party loyalists. The PML-N under the command and control of Shehbaz Sharif has rather begun to drift towards wilderness. He needs to get back the everyday management of party affairs. How he intends to achieve it? This remains a question, no hardcore loyalist of Nawaz Sharif is yet willing, or capable, to furnish a convincing answer.