A square peg in a round hole
If anyone is driving a wedge in the family, as claimed by Maryam in a recent tweet, it is not the media. It is instead the policy being pursued by Nawaz Sharif and Maryam of attacking the army and judiciary through insinuations. This was the central point of former PM’s speeches delivered at various points on his way from Islamabad to Lahore. Ever since he has continued to remind the judiciary that it has shown him the door without any proven charge of corruption. He has invoked the separation of East Pakistan to tell the army that his removal could have consequences for the country. Unsure of the strength of his legal case, Sharif considered rabble rousing was the only way to get out of the tight corner where he had landed himself. He failed however to generate the expected mass hysteria. What happened meanwhile was that his anti-establishment line caused a division in the PML-N which continues to widen.
During her meeting with Shahbaz Sharif, Hamza Shahbaz and Kh Saad Rafiq Maryam was told that the PML-N was never a party opposed to the establishment and had therefore always sought harmonious relations with the institutions. Any clash with the judiciary or the military would therefore be neither in the interest of the country nor the party. She was asked to be careful in her remarks.
Much will depend on how the former PM responds to the plea for changing the confrontationist posture. With the SC breathing down the neck of the accountability court Nawaz Sharif has little hope of getting relief from the trial court. He believes that confrontation leading to the overthrow of the PML-N government would help him convince the common man that the cases initiated against him were no more than an excuse to victimise him. The only way Sharif could be made to change his belligerent posture is by convincing him that he was likely to get relief if he was seen to be cooperating with the establishment.
