The man without a plan

What Nawaz Sharif should do with Pervez Musharraf

Nawaz Sharif is a very fortunate man – plucked from obscurity by a generous dictator. This despite being devoid of any charisma or great political intellect, he has continued to win elections, especially in the all important Punjab province. His first two terms were known to be filled with political turmoil mainly due to his bellicose temperament. Frequent clashes with various branches of the state occurred regularly during his two stints in power during the 1990s. A robust and feisty opposition lead by the late Benazir Bhutto kept him on his toes as well. But for his third term in the office the conditions are looking better. The troublesome chief justice is gone, Kayani is gone as well, replaced by a handpicked Nawaz Sharif nominee. The President is a Sharif nominee as well: pliant and obedient as Sharif likes his presidents. The political opposition is non-existent. The military establishment has been playing ball as well. Pretty soon he will have his own ISI chief as well.

Given these set of ideal political conditions, one would think that the Nawaz Sharif government would show much more confidence and decisiveness in dealing with the biggest threat that this state is facing. But no sir, Sharif has been plagued by indecisiveness at best and complicity at worst when it comes to dealing with the Taliban menace. Some argue that it is an over cautious approach to be compliant towards Imran Khan, the only possible politician that could mean something in opposition. Others see a more sinister motive – basically an appeasement of the Taliban and further Islmalisation of the state. This would of course be perfectly in line with the Zia era. After all, that is when Nawaz Sharif learned the tradecraft of religion based politics. Appeasement to the religious right did not work for the most powerful and able civilian ruler this country has ever seen, the late Mr Bhutto, neither will it work this time. But sadly learning from history has never been the forte of our leaders.

The only issue where the Sharif government has shown some sort of urgency is on the Musharraf trial. That can be put down to pure revenge instincts. But the prime minister needs to tread carefully since inducting and putting on trial a former army chief might be the line that might be too far as far as the army is concerned. I have written against Musharraf in the past and also defended his somewhat botched but still credible action against the Taliban extremists, including the Laal Masjid operation. But the truth of the matter is that a trial against Musharraf right now is probably the best chance that a civilian government may get to show some sort of backbone against the khakis. Unfortunately, having a strong backbone is not what one normally associates with Nawaz Sharif. So this chance like many others will most probably go begging.

If there is one thing in which our leaders have excelled in it is pure short term thinking. It reflects not only a lack of political maturity but also a deficiency of a political vision and courage. Isn’t there a single wise man in the Sharif coterie of ministers and advisors who can show to the prime minister the pitfalls of his continuous appeasement of Taliban? The establishment has made it pretty clear that it will continue to bear the cost of Taliban’s terrorism not only on civilians but also on the soldiers and generals themselves in order to achieve its flimsy ‘goals’ in Afghanistan. The prime minister needs to understand that Pakistan cannot continue to pay the price of these Zia-esque Afghan policy orchestrated by generals who clearly view the interests of their institution above that of the state they continue to feed on. If not today then tomorrow they will force Sharif’s hand. Colluding with the establishment has not saved the Sharif governments in the past neither will it do so in the future.

It is high time that the prime minister formulates and puts into action a robust anti-terrorism policy. But this may be asking for the moon from a man who despite his exile has shown an inability to learn from the past mistakes and move on. Nawaz Sharif, the golden boy of Pakistani politics, will continue to be a man without a plan, a reactionary to the events that might be moving too fast for him to handle.