Nawaz Sharif is not democracy

Clearly, some of us didn’t get the memo

That PML-N’s credentials as democratic bears an uncanny resemblance to the PPP’s ghar ghar se Bhutto niklay ga is not only fitting, but also highlights the depth of the disease of dynastic politics that has eroded democracy in Pakistan.

The unanimous decision of the Supreme Court to disqualify Nawaz Sharif, over a receivable asset that he had never received, has garnered as divided an opinion as could’ve been possible. Between the echoes of the Army and Judiciary combining for a coup and the chants of ‘Go Nawaz Go’, there are eons of space not occupied by too many people.

It’s either the military-judiciary complex conspiring to destroy the country or that Nawaz Sharif’s dismissal is the single highest point in Pakistan’s history since its creation. Any endeavour to merge these two arguments doesn’t seem to be getting too many column inches, or minutes on air.

But the reality remains that one can neither downplay the instability Nawaz Sharif’s ouster would cause and the further space that would be ceded to the military establishment, or indeed the fact that a corrupt ruling family being held accountable will eventually end up strengthening democracy.

It is the weakness of democracy, which is believed to have been further aggravated by the Supreme Court’s verdict that forms the centre of those calling it a ‘judicial coup’. While the other section is suggesting that it is one man’s dismissal that in itself is the biggest boost that democracy has needed for a while.

But, for those that might have misinterpreted the reality, Nawaz Sharif is not democracy.

His dismissal alone is not akin to overpowering the democratic process that has strengthened in the past decade. For, if that’s the case Yousaf Raza Gillani’s disqualification should’ve brought us to square one as well – it didn’t.

Similarly, Nawaz’s disqualification alone isn’t synonymous with the cleansing of the undemocratic practices of all major political parties in the country, including the PTI that has presented one man’s removal as the be-all-end-all of solutions that the country needs.

That the entire PTI movement self-presented as an anti-corruption revolution is similarly laughable considering the people that Imran Khan has surrounded himself with.

Meanwhile, Nawaz Sharif outlined his own democratic credentials by earmarking his younger brother as nominee for the long-term Prime Minister.

This basically implies that the former Prime Minister did not consider even a single MNA worthy enough of replacing him, and hence has chosen to simultaneously shake up the Punjab hierarchy as well just so a family member takes over.

Meanwhile, the replacement for the Punjab chief minister is expected to be Hamza Shahbaz.

This means that the federal and Punjab government reins have shifted from a brother-brother duo to father-son duo – all from within the Sharif family.

Khawaja Saad Rafique put it best when he sent a message to Imran Khan saying that “one Sharif is gone and is being place with another one. If another Sharif goes he would be replaced with another, and so on… what would happen after you Imran Khan?”

This, ladies and gentlemen, is supposed to highlight the PML-N’s credentials as democratic while the PTI, not so much. Of course that it bears an uncanny resemblance to the PPP’s ghar ghar se Bhutto niklay ga is not only fitting, but also highlights the depth of the disease of dynastic politics that has eroded democracy in Pakistan.

That those spreading this illness are being deemed synonymous with democracy itself, is the greatest tragedy for Pakistani politics.

None of this is to suggest that the senior military leadership won’t benefit from Nawaz’s dismissal and the instability among the civilian leadership. But it wasn’t as though they were eying space that they couldn’t get a hold of.

The establishment already has a firm grip over defence and foreign policies, with the situation on the Indian and Balochistan fronts also perfectly under control.

So they didn’t really need to put all that effort in to get rid of someone who was barely posing any challenge to their long-held position.

None of Nawaz Sharif, Imran Khan, or Asif Ali Zardari are the same as democracy. Similarly, the interests of none of civilian leadership, the judiciary or the military establishment are synonymous with national interests.

Anyone and everyone should be held accountable for anything and everything that they do. That, right there, is the simplest understanding of democracy, that not a single institution in Pakistan, has any interest in upholding.