And why it was just like every other morning
Moving on to the other side of aisle, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf has started to get a feeling that the ouster of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has all the contents of being a Pyrrhic victory
It was never as plain and simple as many of our seers made us believe, dearest sirs and ma’ams. Chugging out Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif didn’t crumble the entire PML-N in immediate aftermath of 28 July Panamagate verdict. There were no mass desertions from the party, the haters celebrated their victory, the losers didn’t turn sour, the morning after the verdict, Pakistanis were back to do what they had plans to do on a regular Saturday.
The PML-N kept its wits about, the party men agitated the verdict, their supporters protested the decision, although they rued it and regretted the judgment still, with a heavy heart, they accepted it.
PM Nawaz Sharif, now former, packed his belongings and left his palace in Islamabad and took sanctuary in the hills of Murree from where, coincidentally, our Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi hails. An old party loyalist, Abbasi will look after the premiership for next two months, during which Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif will contest election from vacant seat of Nawaz Sharif and reach the national assembly. What does that mean? It means that PML-N is in no mood to go in early election and all set to complete its term, come what may.
Moving on to the other side of aisle, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf has started to get a feeling that the ouster of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has all the contents of being a Pyrrhic victory, as their Lordships decided the matter on a mere technicality that was un-withdrawn receivables and failure of Nawaz Sharif to show them in his nomination papers and cited legal definitions present in trusted Black’s Law Dictionary for the basis of their monumental verdict. Although Imran Ahmed Khan Niazi may look and feel invincible to khanistas and the youthias, in reality he is only as strong or as fragile as the dwellers of Big Marble Palace make of him. The swords hang on him, and he has to escape them multiple times, he needs to be lucky every single time, and them swords just need to get him once. Which they eventually will.
During the Panamagate hearing, those present during the interval could hear Mr Imran Ahmed Khan Niazi referring to a future where he is the prime minister and adding ‘If I was the PM’ as sole panacea to all that ails our republic and its citizenry, however, every now and then, whether consciously or unconsciously, a sentence kept on slipping from Mr Niazi’s mouth, ‘When I will be the PM’ followed by promises of mana and enough bliss for everyone.
Was it a sinister plot against them or complete abandon of their duty to run the state that civilians made way for khakis is another question where only prejudice and bias holds sway
And this is what and how we plan our triumphs, and this is where our blunders and sins take us. The morning after the revolution, like everything we imagine, is never ever how we imagined it to be, it never plays out as we imagined it playing out in our heads.
There were sobs, not bloodshed, there were tears, not chaos, there was acceptance of defeat, not retaliation in kind, and most importantly there were winners, who thought their victory was final triumph in a battle between good and evil and there were losers, who knew that finality is but an illusory mirage and impermanence rules the roost since time immemorial.
In hushed whispers, one could hear a lady equate the decision with a coup undertaken by their Lordships. Hundreds of joyous lads, oblivious to why, how, and what of the ouster, danced like mad men because they waited and prayed that a certain ‘who’ be served the justice their beloved leader envisioned for him.
70 years old, the sages tell us, and we are yet to have a prime minister who has completed his tenure. Why, comes the question. What we get is silence followed by speculation and assumptions telling, estimating, delineating all that went awry, comes the reply. Whose fault is it after all: the civilians or the khakis have become a causality dilemma bigger than which came first: the chicken or the egg.
If only we had a dedicated, devoted civilian leadership after Liaquat Ali Khan, we wouldn’t have to see the boots and bureaucracy marching in and calling the shots, says all them who hold civilians responsible for our travails.
Them soldiers and them babus, how come in the world they dared to go beyond their cantonments and above their pay grades, they steered this country away from its destination, we are told by the other lot, the khaki-bashing, democracy-craving folks who are fast losing their already thin audience.
Was it the patriotic vigour of our soldiers or their narrow, self-serving agenda that made them overthrow the civvies? The question is open to all those who care to indulge.
Was it a sinister plot against them or complete abandon of their duty to run the state that civilians made way for khakis is another question where only prejudice and bias holds sway.
Now that we’ve lived the ‘revolution’ and have to brave an endless number of mornings after it. How do we plan to go around them? Do we plan to boot out civilians before they complete their turn and khakis as and when they go stale on the throne? Or do we want to usher in a new way?
The only question to ask right now is that since many seers believe that the best days of PML-N are behind it, is it not the case with PTI as well? And while at it, ruminate about the cursed, cursed seat of prime minister of Pakistan.
