Do you need a PM or not?

PM’s health, GHQ meeting, ToRs, etc.

Islooites have been hearing through the grapevine that Nawaz Sharif’s illness was a godsend for him. That for the time being, it saved the day for him; ‘for the time being’ because it has caused only an ‘unscheduled’ delay but hasn’t completely warded off the dangers feared to have been coming to him from Pindi side.

One just failed to understand who was spreading the word and why. There wasn’t/isn’t apparently something as bad on the political horizon as to warrant something so dangerous that a quadruple heart bypass surgery should look pale in comparison. Well! But we live in a place where unexpected things are expected anytime.

And something unexpected happened on the first fasting day when the army chief called a ‘high-level civil-military meeting’ at the GHQ where, to the great astonishment of the ‘civilian representatives’, some ‘horrible’ issues were taken up which were beyond their comprehension and purview and control; hence, hangdog look on the face of everyone who was in attendance. Only one man defied the pressure of the over imposing atmosphere of the court of army chief. It was IM, Nisar. He escaped the meekness because he was ‘unexpectedly’ not there at all.

Isn’t it strange that issues like drone strikes, Operation Zarb-e-Azb, conspiracies against the country and CPEC were being discussed in a meeting called by none other than the Chief of Army Staff but Ch Nisar chose to skip it. Many thought up till now that he was capable of doing such a thing only to Nawaz Sharif. But now he has proved that he is a man of principles who can stand up to anyone.

This solves at least one of our long-standing problems; lack of a strong leader who can lead the nation. This country was in search of an upright leader who was a man of principles and whose integrity was un-challengeable. One is, however, not sure which principles he wanted to uphold when being a member of the cabinet he didn’t attend its meetings and who defied his prime minister and refused to meet him for months, instead of resigning as a minster. But, anyhow, we now have two such men to choose from; Imran Khan and Ch Nisar.

That brings us to the question that now when we have two potential prime ministers at hand, do we need one at PM House? Many critics say, it was a mistake of Nawaz Sharif not to assign his duties to someone before he went to a hospital bed. Not only that but keeping the slot of foreign minister vacant for so long is also going to boomerang on him. They argue that were there no loopholes, the COAS wouldn’t be able call the top government (read, civilian) leaders and make them sit like those guilty you can see in courtrooms just before they are indicted in serious criminal offence.

These critics may be right. And they may be wrong.

They may be right that you, being a prime minister, cannot leave the country like that and jump into a sickbed. The Monday meeting, if anything, has reinforced the perception that the country is without a leader at the moment. And this may not auger well for the government and the Sharif family – and may be, for the system, too. But the critics may be wrong on more than one count if one discounts this one aspect. For example, what an arrow an acting PM could have ‘fired’ had Nawaz Sharif officially left behind one in his place? (Sorry, if you didn’t get the real Urdu flavor) Many also favour the PM decision not to appoint a foreign minister without any control over foreign policy. This school of thought believes that Nawaz Sharif has left this ‘vacuum’ on purpose so that those running the country’s foreign policy must be seen by the outside world to be doing that.

Maybe!

But the question now is that when the country’s prime minister is discharged from hospital – and Maryam Nawaz Sharif, with her guardian uncle who appeared the most sheepish, and the other one who didn’t appear at all, at that difficult meeting, being around – is there any need for (another) acting prime minister? Political observers say, yes. Even if that is not so necessary from a purely legal point of view, it is more of a political necessity now.  It becomes all the more important to do so now in the wake of the GHQ meeting which apparently took up only those ‘urgent’ national security matters that requires the presence of someone in the prime minister’s seat immediately or which may harm greater national interests, i.e., country’s sovereignty, integrity, peace, Afghan peace process, relations with USA, and much more.

So, do you urgently need a PM or not?

But handing over prime ministerial responsibilities and powers temporarily to someone else may not whisk away all the dark clouds that are hovering over the political horizon. There are many more issues which have the potential to become serious threats if not taken care of properly.

For example, look at the Panama Papers ToRs committee that is in deadlock for a long time now. This standstill cannot go on forever. Something’s gotta give or else! It can push the joint opposition parties – which have so far played a vital role in keeping the matter within the parliament – to the wall and they can run out of patience. Suppose most of them are just playing game (in cahoots with the government) but even then they will be compelled to call it quits; if not for anything else they may do it for the sake of their own constituencies. But whether they do it or not, spinning out of the PTI from the committee business can become a tipping point for all the hell to break loose. Though, the government can wait Ramzan out in inaction, if it likes it that way. But Ramzan or summer season may not help in the end (PTI’s Core Committee was in a meeting on the issue by the time these lines were written).

Though the PM is out of hospital, it is a CABG (cabbage) protocol that the patient must not be exposed to ‘undue’ stress for months – even years, if necessary. It is Maryam Nawaz and Ishaq Dar’s guess how stressful is this PM-walla work – both of them must know it after their first (direct and indirect) huddle with the khakis. However, they should convince the PM on giving some concessions on ToRs issue. They must also advise Nawaz Sharif through video link that he should first designate someone as PM to work in his absence and then announce elections sometime next year.

P.S. ‘Hello, news has just come in that Rangers have reached Farooq Sattar’s street in search of a wanted criminal. Seems, things are heating up everywhere… And, hello… we don’t have a lion’s heart like you. Yours is also not the same. Please, do the last thing (announcing elections) ASAP, please… Yes, from London. The rest can wait for a while’.