What to (and not to) expect when prophets of doom inch towards Raiwand
Prima facie, it looks like the opposition (read PTI) is hell-bent to dethrone the government, by fair or foul means. But many believe that all the protests, rallies, dharnas of present and yore are zilch but an attempt to stay relevant and win as many tickets as possible on countless news channels before Election 2018
Is 2016 going to be 2014’s doppleganger? Will Raiwand prove to be someone’s Waterloo? Will something, anything happen this time round or once again we are in for some Macbethian wisdom, which spoke of a tale, told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing?
That we don’t know. What we know, or at least feign to know, about the post-Eid ‘program’ following considerations will be driving both opposition and government.
Prima facie, it looks like the opposition (read PTI) is hell-bent to dethrone the government, by fair or foul means. But many believe that all the protests, rallies, dharnas of present and yore are zilch but an attempt to stay relevant and win as many tickets as possible on countless news channels before Election 2018. Old horses like PPP and Jamaat-e-Islami are less zealous and are consciously abstaining from upping the ante and prefer treading the usual path — staging a rally here and uttering a statement there — slowly and steadily.
The government, on the other hand, is willing to do everything and anything to stick around as long as possible. Recently, it opted a new strategy; to answer a big rally, address a bigger rally; to counter a fiery speech, give an equally fiery speech and when faced with mere, empty rhetoric announce hospitals, universities and roads in far-flung areas.
The dilemma with PML-N is that its Achilles heel keeps changing; once it was electoral rigging. When it scored a clean chit from the Supreme Court, another bolt from the blue i.e. Panama Papers braced it with open arms, landing its claws directly in N-League’s throat.
Panama Papers have gone stale and is a non-issue, says the government. We’ll bring the Panama Papers to their logical conclusion and tear down the perennially corrupt House of Sharif, say IK and company.
Meanwhile, for the past four months, we, the great unwashed (read you and I) had their Ramazan followed by Choti Eid. We were barely done celebrating Eid that Independence Day arrived; folks were about to catch their breath that Defence Day dawned with all colours khaki and everyone jumped on the Sacha Pakistani bandwagon remembering the ‘65 war when our army ‘soured enemy’s teeth’. And now we are sharpening our axes and knives to slaughter en masse around 6.5 million animals to appease God Almighty.
Political theatre, in the meantime, kept on raging in the background of our festive, mundane lives. Every evening, the analysts kept on appearing in our newsfeed and on our tellies and pronounced the end of the world as we know it. Every morning, we plied the same roads to same offices doing same work only to return to same TV sets to be told that different things are afoot by the same doomsayer wearing a different shirt, coat and tie.
Coming back to House of Sharif. I can assure you that a sizable chunk of our populace is more interested in House of Ittehad (and other similar brands) than the fate of the House of Sharif. Their sole interest in PTI is its chairman, Mr Imran Khan, and the charisma that oozes out of him. They crave for ‘hope’, they chant slogans of ‘change’ that has arrived but still eludes them. And since Khan sahab loathes Nawaz Sharif, them folks have to detest him as well, just to be in line with dictums of party position. The very debate about the intricacies of electoral politics, dictates of realpolitik, voting patterns in urban/rural areas to them is sheer tosh and a ploy to distract them from their stairway to ‘Naya Pakistan’.
On a serious note, with two chiefs nearing their retirement, many believe things will get easy for House of Sharif as it will take time for them to settle in and orientate themselves with realities they become a part of. The next Chief Justice of Pakistan, Justice Saqib Nisar, won’t be as ‘news shy’ as our present CJ. About the other chief, rumors refuse to abide by any rules whatsoever. Many tout one or the other lieutenant general as the possible successor to beloved Sipah Salaar e Azam Raheel Sharif
One thing can be said for sure that the dawn of 2017 in Pakistan will see two new individuals at the helm of two pivotal institutions. Will two new chiefs bode well for the government of PML-N has so far been a matter of pure conjecture, even guesstimates are being touted as seer’s vision.
Lately, at a time of filing this column, Khan started having second thoughts about date and venue of his post-Eid agitation. Being condemned by many for the idea of marching towards the Raiwand residence of the Sharif family it is yet to be seen where and when Khan leads his tigers, tigresses this time.
Dearest sirs and ma’ams, what started back in 2014 as a movement to depose Nawaz Sharif because he rigged the elections has now transmogrified into making him accountable for the sins and transgressions of his descendents. The only thing to keep in mind right now is that Khan has run out of steam and the vigour of 2014 is clearly absent from his speeches. PM Nawaz Sharif is no more panic-stricken. The worried, afraid, anxious looking PM of 2014 has given way to a confident, assertive and vocal leader.
Answering the question; will the House of Sharif be sacrificed this time? No, sir, it won’t be sacrificed, at least not by our bat-wielding butcher.