LAHORE   -  Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam have been keeping silent for quite some time, which is something unusual for the father and the daughter, who had returned to Pakistan from London on July 13 with the hope that their surrender to the law days before the July 25 general elections would return the PML-N to power yet again, cornering all adversaries.

Their silence is being interpreted differently by people belonging to various walks of life. Some say that the Sharifs are waiting for some kind of NRO from the government, a mission that will stand torpedoed in case the PML-N supremo or his daughter said or did anything to antagonize the ruling PTI leadership.

The Sharifs have, however, denied that any effort is being made for the purpose, a claim challenged by some government bigwigs equally vehemently.

The second speculation is that the Sharifs are monitoring the situation very carefully and they will make public their future plans when the situation gets clearer.

The future line of action to be pursued by the second biggest opposition party- PPP – may be a consideration for the PML-N leadership.

Unless the opposition parties join hands, the PML-N alone will not be in a position to bring the government under pressure. And unity of opposition parties will remain a dream unless the PPP makes clear its future course of action.

And so far, it’s not clear whether the PPP will like to join hands with the PML-N or support the PTI government to be able to get some concessions in cases against various party leaders.

Only a few days ago at a news conference in Lahore had Mr Zardari ruled out the possibility of joining hands with the PML-N, clearly saying: “I and Nawaz Sharif don’t need each other”. At the same time he had said that all opposition parties would have to move a joint resolution in parliament to say that the PTI government can’t run the country.

The news conference went both against the PTI government and the PML-N.

It is an open secret that Mr Zardari and PML-N President Mian Shehbaz Sharif are poles apart and one is like red rag to the other. Shehbaz Sharif has been branding Zardari as a corrupt leader and in his election campaign before the 2013 elections he had promised to the nation that he would drag the former president on roads and recover from his belly what he called the looted money.

Shehbaz Sharif’s speeches against Mr Zardari were used by the PPP as a major excuse for not supporting a joint opposition candidate for president against PTI’s Dr Alvi. All efforts to iron out differences between the two major opposition parties failed and the division of anti-PTI vote led to the victory of Karachi’s dentist-turned-politician for the top constitutional office.

Most people insist that the PPP had deliberately kept itself away from the PML-N to help the PTI candidate.

But since there is no final word in politics, Shehbaz Sharif and Zardari entered Parliament House together on Monday, a development which further created confusion about the state of PPP-PML-N relationship.

The third speculation about Mr Sharif’s silence is that the former prime minister’s experience of his two-month stay in Adiala Jail after being convicted by a court has been very bitter and he will not like to do anything that could take him and his daughter back to the same prison, from where they had been released after the Islamabad High Court had suspended their sentence.

That the former prime minister is not taking part in political activities because he has still not been able to come out of state of grief caused by the tragic death of his wife on Sept 11holds little water. Had this been the case he would not have spared time to meet MMA President Maulana Fazlur Rehman at Jati Umra, knowing well that the latter was coming to him to discuss the possibility of holding a multi-party conference against the PTI government.

At the meeting, he got information about the MPC but took no decision about his participation because he wanted to take some more time to monitor some developments. (PPP’s Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari confirmed late Monday evening that his party would participate in Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s MPC, a date for which is yet to be confirmed. And when Nawaz Sharif meets his brother Shehbaz at parliament house on Tuesday, the matters concerning the MPC will become clearer).

Whatever the ex-PM’s decision about participation or otherwise, what may be very depressing for him is the support Imran Khan got from Saudi Arabia during his recent visit to the kingdom and positive vibes he is receiving from China and UAE, the countries he will visit in the near future. The Sharifs always thought that they had developed personal ties with the leaders of these countries, forgetting that the latter can change their policies to suit their own interests, just like Shehbaz Sharif appears to have softened his thinking about Zardari to shake hands with him.

Maulana Fazlur Rehman, who was defeated on both the seats he had contested in the July 25 election, will be the main beneficiary in case the PML-N and PPP leaders participate in the MPC, leaving behind the bitterness of the past. He will be regarded as a bridge between the two arch rivals.

 

Speculations about Nawaz’s mysterious silence go on