- And political time bombs
Has the Supreme Court, with its scathing ‘you can’t fool all the people all the time’ critique, delivered the kiss of death to Nawaz Sharif’s political future? PML-N is confused enough. Some in the press, through their contacts, are pretty sure that Shehbaz will ride the horse into the next election. Yet the story of heir-apparent Maryam has not yet played out either. But there’s the NAB references to think of also. The verdict, with the six-month mandate, will come out before the election one way or the other. The worst case scenario, for the Sharifs, is far removed from who will lead from this generation or the next; it’s about whether they are rubbished to the dust bin of history forever or not.
Yet the politics is confused all over. PPP tried a couple of times over the electoral cycle but could not really undo the damage of the ‘13 rout, especially in Punjab, but Zardari sb still claims it’s his turn next. And if anything substantial can be drawn from MQM-P’s botched merger with PSP it’s that the powers that be are, for all intents and purposes, being seen moving pieces over the board yet again as the election draws closer.
Then there’s Imran Khan, of course, always asking for the moon. Now he wants early election, even though PTI knows no other party would fall behind the call. But with Nawaz bending over backwards for inter-institution chaos, Zardari trying to consolidate and MQM imploding, Imran clearly wants to press home the advantage he got from pursuing the Panama Papers despite the initial snub from the Supreme Court itself. The road to the election, it seems, is littered with time bombs. Will PML-N implode? Will PPP hang on to Sindh? What, really, is in store for MQM-P? And what of the footprint of the establishment? Also, has Imran Khan wriggled well enough to avoid the axe of disqualification? Much will become clear in the coming days.
