- Can Shahabaz Sharif thread the needle?
Only a realistation of the ground realities can enable the PML-N to live to fight another day. The party must have realised by now that as far as the cases against Nawaz Sharif are concerned the former PM is fighting a losing battle. Further that security establishment has made it amply clear that it is committed to stand by the courts and support their verdicts. What some in the PML-N’s leadership fail to realise is that while the party’s vote bank might have remained mostly intact, its followers have neither the training nor, for that matter, the appetite for erecting barricades like the Paris Communards to fight out the police. What is more the PML-N government is supposed not only to abide by the courts’ ruling but also suppress any agitation against it.
After being elected party chief, Shahbaz Sharif faces two challenges. On the one hand he is required to keep the party united and lead it to victory in the forthcoming elections while on the other hand persuade and rein in the hot headed elements among the PML-N’s younger leadership. In case the party is able to form the government after the elections, it can try to amend the law to make Nawaz Sharif PM again. In case it drops its characteristic hubris it might win over some in the opposition as hoped by the Punjab law minister who maintains this can be done by adding only two words ‘one-term’ or ‘one-time’ to the disqualification clause in Article 63. A headlong confrontation with the judiciary could however prove to be the PML-N’s undoing
The offstage players are widely seen to have blatantly interfered in the Senate elections. A recourse to intervention in the general elections also needs to be strictly avoided as attempts to thwart the will of the people would be widely resented. To ensure peace and stability in the country the people have to be provided the opportunity to freely choose their representatives. Meanwhile the courts should be seen to be dispensing justice without partiality.
