COMMENT – It was only a week ago that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) announced its split with the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), saying enough was enough, they could not pull together with the PPP any longer. Hence came the famous goodbye at a press conference by PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif, probably for all time to come. But then came a stunning U-turn the other day when the Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif – as if forgetting the blow his party had inflicted upon the PPP on February 25 by showing its ministers the door – asked the prime minister to engage all stakeholders, including the military and, more incredibly, the judiciary as well, without giving a thought to the havoc it could play with the independence of the judiciary if his new proposal was given a shot.
So what happened in such a short period of time, making the Sharifs completely change their minds and their calculations when the PPP’s sweeteners failed to create any interest among the PML-N leaders? Shahbaz’s new suggestion created a tumult in politics, taking everybody by surprise without exception. Political analysts believe that personnel issues and lurking insecurities of the Sharifs lie at the heart of their new move. The insecurity of how to manage Punjab or more precisely how to secure the largest province with only 171 members in the assembly – especially when the option of the Unification Bloc has backfired and the PPP after, the nceremonious expulsion of its toothless ministers from cabinet, decided to sit on opposition benches, appears to be the foremost.
The Sharifs are now having second thoughts about the inclusion of the Unification Bloc in the cabinet. Given the turnaround, it seems it is no longer as easy to induct bloc members in the cabinet as it had initially appeared to them. The expected backlash from the PPP and PML-Quaid quarters and prospects of creating a political crisis weighed heavily on the minds of the Sharifs. Unification Bloc members do not seem very reliable either. Most of them stayed away from their last meeting. Several members of the bloc are reportedly in contact with either PPP or PML-Q, as the sequence of events hardly went in their favour.
Hence, a realisation on their part: why burn their fingers or face legal battles for nothing? With the PPP gone and the bloc no longer a palatable proposition, the question of how to secure Punjab single-handedly will continue to torment the Sharifs in days to come. It is from this that the need to adopt a reconciliatory tone emerges for the Sharifs. The political leadership is also giving conflicting signals right now.
Rumours abound of a national government in the making or a technocratic order in the offing with the blessings of the military and judiciary minus both the PPP and PML-N. The prospect of losing initiative so close to what the Sharifs believe is their turn to serve the people also must be weighing heavily on their minds. Hence, nothing wrong in engaging the powers that be and the ones that could be instrumental in any future political change if it keeps the PML-N and Sharifs a part of a bigger picture.
