As riots over Pakistan’s power crisis spread to several cities of Punjab, Nawaz Sharif responded like a true politician. In a meeting with top leaders of his party this week, he decided to follow the mob.
That was a smart move. Now his party will not have to stop rioters from burning down public and private property and disrupting business. Instead, it will join in. Nawaz Sharif has turned what was fast becoming the most serious problem of governance in the province into a great political opportunity.
Nawaz asked key politicians from his party to devise a plan on how to own the protests. But no plans were devised on:
a) How to use Nawaz Sharif’s political influence to calm the mobs down,
b) How to deploy police to protect public and private property without angering the rioters, or
c) How to produce or conserve electricity or ration the available power in a more appropriate manner
The tables have been turned around the problem, but the problem has not been touched. And the PML(N) has reasons for not addressing the problem:
1) The party has no control over the conditions that have led to the crisis. It is not part of the federal government and has no say in matters concerning power production. Why should it own a problem it did not create?
2) People had been angry at power outages for years, but the tipping point was reached after recent outages of up to three hours several times a day that originate from Islamabad. The provincial government does not have a say in how the available power could be rationed or conserved.
3) Nawaz Sharif has already been accused of being too friendly towards the government. Any calls for the rioters to calm down will be seen as in favour of the status quo and compromise Nawaz’s own political position. The PML(N) is in government in Punjab and in opposition in the National Assembly. While it is responsible for law-enforcement in the province, it does not want to deploy policemen against rioters on the state’s behalf because it does not want to be seen as part of the government.
4) Any plans to produce power will take several months or years to yield. The riots are an immediate problem that needs to be dealt with immediately
5) The energy crisis is one of the most notable failures of the government: a glaring evidence of the fact that the government has failed to deliver on the promises it had made. Politically, it is unwise to help solve the problem. The problem must persist for the PML(N) to win the next election
But there are several problems with this approach:
1) If the goal is not to solve problems but to be in government, why does Pakistan’s second largest party have to rely on unruly mobs for several months to get what it can get if it takes up President Asif Zardari’s offer in a week? If it needs a federal government to resolve the electricity crisis, why did the PML(N) leave the federal government?
2) The PML(N) runs Pakistan’s most populated province. It already has the ability to solve problems for a very significant percentage of Pakistani people. Punjab is allowed, after the 18th Amendment, to produce its own electricity. If it produces some of the energy it uses, that will reduce the burden on the national grid, which means other provinces will get more electricity too. Why does Nawaz not ask his party’s leaders to devise a plan to produce electricity?
3) It is true that there are no immediate ways of producing more electricity. But if this new move lands the PML(N) in government, it will have to come up with a smart energy policy that has immediate impact. Perhaps it would have been wiser to start working on a plan?
4) If the point is to prove to the people that the government is ineffective and the PML(N) can do a better job, that could have been done by showing how well the PML(N) can do. The PML(N)’s current approach, if also taken up by the PPP when they become the opposition, will mean no problem will ever get resolved. All resolutions will perpetually be delayed until the next elections
5) If there is no immediate resolution to the power problem, people will continue to be angry at whoever is in charge. The mobs will not disperse even if Nawaz Sharif becomes prime minister, especially if the PPP decides to do what the PML(N) is doing now. Nawaz Sharif will then have to come up with a plan on how to calm the mobs down or how to protect public and private property. Why not start now?
The answer to what it takes to be a good leader is in inherent in the word ‘leader’. A leader is supposed to lead. Nawaz Sharif has decided instead to walk behind the mob.
The writer is a media and culture critic and works at The Friday Times. He tweets @paagalinsaan and gets email at [email protected]
It has never been about leading in Pakistan, it has always been about survival, relevance, and power…why do we expect anything else. The citizens are equally responsible for this in the last 64 years we have never stood our grounds on principle issues, allowed derailment of democracy, we have supported military interventions, supported judicial murder of our constitution, our leaders, allowed extremist minority to run the national narrative. Leadership is developed through a democratic process, which needs freedom, principles and civility. Our silence is the cause of our current state.
Nawaz Sharif should exert pressure on Federal government to set the things in order. He should lead the movement ensuring that the public/govt. properties and the other infrastructure remains in tact and without any harm. By the way why the government wait for a big rally and a "long march" to address the problem.
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