Man of the moment

Winston Churchill once quipped that a fanatic is someone who won’t change his mind and won’t change the subject.
Nawaz Sharif has shown time and again he won’t change his mind on the subject of the military’s place in the polity. And despite the perceived capitulation of the PPP, traditional antagonists of the military, he has refused to change the subject – or tone it down – ever since the world’s most wanted man was discovered a grenade’s throw away from Pakistan’s premier military academy. Whereas one brand of fanaticism threatens to disrupt our very social fabric, another looms large, it seems, to save it. Once a progeny of the military himself, the PML(N) leader shows all the zeal of the convert. And we’re better off for it.
The two-time prime minister’s suggestions read like a political science textbook. The military and its spooks should be subservient to the political government; their budgets should be clearly presented to the legislators before the latter approve them etc. How to go about it, however, needs some clarification.
This is a time, more than ever, for the political class to stick together and demand some changes. The PPP, it would appear, is more interested in biding its time till the next elections. But the insecurities that drive this prioritisation – insecurities about being left in the lurch without a paddle – were definitely contributed to by the League, especially during the fag end of the Lawyers’ Movement. Mr Sharif might have realised the sanctity of the spirit of the constitution better than anyone else, but he has severe limitations as far as the whole reaching out thing is concerned. In this regard, perhaps he can take a leaf from the book of his counterpart in the PPP. If he really wants to reform the state apparatus, he has to show the PPP’s leadership that they can trust him, come what may.