The limits of Sharif’s liberalism

Takes more than slogans

Nawaz Sharif’s remark about turning Pakistan into a liberal democracy last month ruffled many feathers in the religious lobby.

Nawaz Sharif is an exceptionally slow learner. It took him nearly a decade to come out of the influence of the military establishment and realise that democracy was a better system of governance. It took him another decade to realise that democracy was much more than all powers for the elected prime minister. Also that there was something called separation of powers and that institutions like judiciary have to be free from government interference. Throughout the ‘90s Sharif failed to understand that a democracy could not function without tolerance and working relations between political parties.

Liberalism too is no more than a buzz word for Nawaz Sharif. How long he takes to realise its implications is anybody’s guess.

Nawaz Sharif was brought up in a conservative family engaged in business and was fully focused on upward mobility. The children were trained in everything needed to achieve the goal. Conservatism required enforcing ceremonies like prayers and fasting. But to ensure that respect for religion did not turn into religiosity pastimes like cricket and cinema going were to be tolerated if not encouraged. The emphasis was on learning to manipulate the clerics. The army was to be treated with respect since it could be useful. Under Ayub Khan it was already providing contracts to the Ittefaq Foundry.

By the time Nawaz Sharif emerged on the political scene, he was a religious but moderate young man with a passion for cricket and film songs. He retained relations with religious leaders of all sects. In later days a Salafi cleric with Saudi contacts was to be made a Senator while simultaneously a Sunni cleric awarded ticket for the party.

The army contacts led to the initiation of Nawaz Sharif in politics in early ‘80s. He was recommended to Zia-ul-Haq by the military governor, Lt Gen Ghulam Jilani Khan. In 1981 Sharif, who was serving as a director of the Ittefaq Group of Industries, was appointed finance minister of Punjab. Political parties had been banned and the country was being governed by the army through technocrats and generals. Military courts were awarding lashes and jail terms to political workers for raising slogans for democracy.

Nawaz Sharif was perfectly comfortable with the system introduced by Zia as it had opened a vista of opportunities for him. He gave no indication of any democratic leanings for a number of years.

In 1988 the ISI created the Islami Jamhoori Ittehad (IJI), an alliance of nine parties led by PML-N. This was meant to counter the Benazir-led PPP, which was considered to be a security threat by the military establishment. Nawaz Sharif had no qualms of conscience in acting hand in glove with the ISI. Why should he care for these niceties when the deal was a profitable proposition?

In the 1990 elections the IJI received funding from the ISI to enable it to fight the PPP. The list of the recipients of the ISI doles included the name of Nawaz Sharif also. He didn’t mind taking part in the game for the same reason. The PML-N won the elections and Sharif was made prime minister.

Nawaz Sharif’s yearning for democracy is closely associated with his desire for power. He remained dissatisfied as he did not have powers enjoyed by the prime minister in a democracy. He feared that he could be sent home like Benazir Bhutto by the president armed with 58-2(B). For a while he joined hands with the PPP to reduce the powers of the president. This was to bring him into clash with the president. The clash assumed the form of a constitutional crisis which brought in the army as arbitrator leading to the removal of both the prime minister and President Ghulam Ishaq Khan.

An important lesson that Sharif learnt during his first stint was that provinces matter in the federation and must not be steamrollered. Further, to gather support from the other three provinces he would have to abandon his long cherished dream of constructing the Kalabagh Dam. This distanced him from the idea of a strong centre and led him to realise the importance of provincial autonomy.

Whatever understanding of democracy Sharif possesses has not come in one go but imbibed over a painfully long period in small doses. It has come drip by drip, often in somewhat distorted form.

Within months of Benazir Bhutto coming to power for the second time (1993-96), an intolerant Nawaz Sharif was out on the streets to overthrow her government. His blood boiled, as he once put it, when he heard her name mentioned. Finally, the PPP government was once again dismissed by the president.

The so called heavy mandate received by Sharif in 1997 was unprecedented and obviously a farce. Once Benazir was out, Sharif tasked his accountability czar to get her and her spouse behind the bars through cases some of which were sexed up while others were cooked up. Finally she was hounded out of the country.

The false perception that democracy gave all power to the prime minister led Sharif to personally conduct summary trials of government officials, ordering some to be handcuffed there and then and dismissing others without due process.

Nawaz Sharif, who now wants to turn Pakistan into a liberal democracy, was doing something altogether opposite in 1998. Making use of his two thirds majority in the National Assembly he introduced the 15^thconstitutional amendment. On the face of it the amendment was to make the Quran and Sunnah guiding principles for running the government. Under the banner of Islamic system, however, Nawaz Sharif was to assume absolute power. The amendment was passed by the National Assembly but failed to get through the Senate. Pakistan was thus saved from an all powerful prime minister who in his capacity as the Amir al-Mu’minin was authorised to appoint and dismiss the Supreme Court judges and the COAS.

The long exile and consultations with Benazir Bhutto convinced both of the need for tolerance among political parties. This is yet another lesson that Nawaz Sharif continues to remember though it has been entirely forgotten by party leaders like Shehbaz Sharif. Much of the Charter of Democracy still remains unimplemented.

What Nawaz Sharif said about liberalism was more in the context of economy than society and politics. The nation’s future, he had said, lies in a democratic, liberal Pakistan where the private sector thrives and no one is left behind. Within months circumstances have pushed him further on the way. He is now a late convert to women’s rights. Since the extremists are opposed to women’s rights and the war against terrorism requires eliminating the extremist thinking, women’s rights have to be supported.

Nawaz Sharif has yet to do a lot to be considered a genuine supporter of liberal democracy. Laws that continue to be used to persecute religious minorities have to be struck down or thoroughly amended. These were introduced by Zia-ul-Haq to enlist the support of the religious lobby, backward sections of society and extremist elements. Subsequent governments lacked the courage to amend or strike them down. No liberal society can allow the persecution of minorities. Will Sharif gather the courage to undertake the required action?

Jinnah visualised Pakistan as a state where religion was to be a citizen’s private affair and had nothing to do with the affairs of the state. There is therefore a need to replace the controversial Objectives Resolution, which forms the preamble of the constitution, with parts of Jinnah’s address delivered on August 11, 1947 before the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan. Lavishing praise on Jinnah is not enough. Is Sharif willing to implement the founding father’s concept of Pakistan as a modern and progressive state?