Shades of Shah Alam II?
It has become a peculiar characteristic of our top political leadership that whenever a fresh crisis brews up in the country, which nowadays unfortunately means every other day, they are more often than not nowhere to be seen, being on some always historic trip abroad which would reap rich rewards for the people. While the country was ravaged by the worst flooding in its history, who can forget that video shot of the helicopter taking then president Asif Ali Zardari to his chateau in Normandy in France, apart from his other frequent absences abroad. Another former president, Farooq Leghari, took a planeload of family and favourites in a chartered aircraft to his son’s graduation in the US. Now it is Mian Nawaz Sharif’s turn to put on the vanishing act. First it was the Commonwealth moot in Colombo, which was of some, although, diminished relevance. But the Thai trip makes even less sense, being an essentially Information Technology affair made of utmost importance by the participation of ‘global heavyweights’ like the Solomon Islands and Micronesia. Even while he was the top opposition leader in the last regime, Mian Nawaz was not found to be among those present whenever a tough decision was to be made.
The anarchistic events of the Ashura in Rawalpindi and elsewhere have compounded the error of his present course of action, or inaction. In the first place, a senior minister could easily have been sent to represent him in Colombo and Bangkok, but after the mayhem in Pindi he could have taken the first plane home. But he has chosen to stay put in the South East Asian tourist paradise, while his country is literally going through hell. There is also the recent vengeful threat of the Taliban to contend with. And, not to forget, he also carries most of the important offices of state in his person.
There is certainty a surreal quality of apathy that leaves one wondering. It reminds us of the later Mughals – particularly Shah Alam II, who on receiving some bad news about the crumbling empire, would hasten away from the capital to ’soothe his nerves’ for a few months with some hunting, fishing and the other pleasurable activities the Mughals were addicted to. This may be a harsh comparison, but the PM must realize that the time of hard decisions is here and now. Urgent things cry out to be done, and he should ‘seize the day, seize the hour’.