- Brutus of our times?
“In politics, stupidity is not a handicap.”
―Napoléon Bonaparte
There seems no end to Mr Nawaz Sharif’s grief after disqualification from premiership. He released his anger in the form of a question, “Why did you shunt me out?” Now his much trumpeted question has fallen flat upon the audibility of the masses due to the reasons well known to all of us. At this he started singing: Give respect to vote. While injured with sword of disqualification, the Brutus of our times claimed to be man with an ideology now. The echo of his statement was still resonating in the media when his daughter roared, “Nawaz Sharif is the name of an ideology.” As soon as she issued this statement, the paid quill drivers were quick to prove that Mr Nawaz Sharif’s narrative was gaining popularity among the masses. How can we dare believe in such statements since such tail carriers paved the way for Mr Sharif in becoming ‘Quaid-e-Azam II’ from his previous status (i.e. anapple of the eye of one-eyed dictator Gen Zia ul Haq). Here the question arises: What is the reason for issuing such statements and claims made by ‘qualified’ daughter of disqualified father?
We need to see through the mist of history whether Mian Nawaz Sharif is worried for the people or for himself. History reveals that the people of Pakistan remained deprived of their vote casting right for a long time after partition. In other words the process of government formation without the will of the majority continued for major part of history after independence. The intense mass resistance against General Ayub and General Yayah’s dictatorial regimes made possible to introduce “one man one vote system’ in the country. It was none other than Zulifqar Ali Bhutto who led this mass resistance and the masses rightly awarded him title Quaid-e-Awam (leader of the masses). Interestingly, the Sharif family was nowhere in sight, neither near nor far, during that movement. In fact, they appeared on the horizon in 1977 when the judicial murder of Quaid e Awam was perpetrated by General Zia. Sharif family held a grudge against Zulifqar Ali Bhutto due to the latter’s social justice policy which divested the Sharif family of their factory.
The real purpose behind nonparty based election 1985 was the elimination of ideology based politics from the country. For this purpose, they fashioned an approach based on capitalism, ethnicity and provincialism. Mian Nawaz Sharif, the treasury minister of Punjab being his master’s voice polluted the national politics with the slogan of ‘Jaag Punjabi Jaag’. Dictator Zia was out to support Mr Nawaz Sharif on every occasion and made him chief minister of Punjab. Strangely enough, dictator Zia turned against its own handpicked government and dissolved the puppet assembly in 1988. At that time, Mian Nawaz Sharif decided to side with a dictator instead of Mr Muhammad Khan Junejo. The dictatorial regime ended with the ‘exploding mangoes’ in the air and Mian Nawaz Sharif emerged as the ideological heir to a dictator. Mr Nawaz Sharif pledged to fulfill the General Zia’s mission while offering prayers at the dictator’s grave. It reminds us that General Zia had prayed for the long life of Mian Nawaz Sharif. It proves that both are two sides of the same coin.
The real purpose behind nonparty based election 1985 was the elimination of ideology based politics from the country
In 1988, the masses voted in favour of PPP and brought it to power. Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto became the first lady prime minister in the Islamic world. At this Mian Nawaz Sharif, who trumpets the sanctity of vote today, went against the people’s mandate and launched Changa Manga Operation. In this way, he fashioned and flourished horse trading culture in national politics. Mian Nawaz Sharif succeeded in becoming chief minister Punjab with the help of invisible forces. He became a wind-up toy in the hands of invisible people and invaded Islamabad against the government of an elected prime minister. The recordings of his abusive language against the then lady prime minister are still available. He addressed public meeting and ended up his speech with the slogan: Mard e Momin Mard e Haq, Zia ul Haq, Zia ul Haq. He received funds from Osama Bin Laden to dethrone the prime minister’s government through vote of no confidence. Mian Nawaz Sharif used money as a weapon for horse trading. He could dethrone Benazir Bhutto’s regime through the infamous 8th amendment — introduced by General Zia. In this way, he once again sided with the people who desecrated the sanctity of the vote.
Mian Nawaz Sharif became the central character in the worst play staged to defeat PPP in general elections. A government agency distributed money to buy loyalties of the politicians against PPP led by Benazir Bhutto. All the wound-up political toys including Mian Nawaz Sharif greased their palms without any qualms. Asghar Khan case is the evidence that Mian Nawaz Sharif became the prime minister by trampling down the will of people forcibly. However, his fickle mindedness led him to clash with his own patron, and both lost their status quo in the war for power and authority. In 1993, the people once again showed confidence in Benazir Bhutto and made her prime minister. Mian Nawaz Sharif was prepared to dismiss the will of the people and started Tehreek e Nijat against Benazir Bhutto. He used undemocratic methods to dissolve a legitimate democratic government and succeeded in his plans. Mian Nawaz Sharif became prime minister with a so called heavy mandate and crossed all the limits this time.
He decided to become Amirul Momneen, disgraced the parliament and made it his puppet, arranged an attack on Supreme Court, victimised Asif Zardari and other leaders through Saif ur Rehman and got decisions against Benazir Bhutto and Asif Zardari through judges like Malik Quyyum. His unnecessary tussle paved the way for another martial law. Mian Nawaz, now claiming to champion democracy, could not bear imprisonment after some months. Instead of struggling against dictatorship, Mian Sahab along with Sharif family sought apology from the dictator and left Pakistan for Sarwar palace, Saudi Arabia. At that time Mohatarma Benazir Bhutto decided to return home and resist the militants. Under the umbrella of Benazir Bhutto’s return, Mian Nawaz Sharif thought to exploit the situation for his own return. The armed people of all kinds were united against Benazir Bhutto. They constituted a plan and assassinated the paragon of democracy on 27 December 2007. The chain of four provinces was broken. However, Asif Ali Zardari came forward to support the falling flag and raised the slogan: Pakistan Khuppey (Long Live Pakistan). Bilawal Bhutto declared that democracy is the best revenge instead of boycotting the election. Asif Ali Zardari ousted the dictator and became president while Yousaf Raza Gillani held the premiership. The sanctity of ballot was restored once again.
This time Mian Nawaz Sharif changed his strategy and attacked democracy in the name of judiciary and cooked up plan to restore Iftikhar Chaudhry in an egoistic manner. Iftikhar Ch after restoration delivered severe blows to democracy. Backed by invisible forces, Mian Nawaz Sharif wore black coat and attended court just to get the democratic president dethroned. He continued his efforts and got the elected prime minister punished by the Supreme Court and contemptuously said, “This is not the society of beasts that we might not obey Supreme Court’s decision.”
He continued to meet invisible people in the hush of dark nights. Despite all, the democratic government completed its term. Iftikhar Ch tried to settle the score in election 2013 through ROs. Soaked with heavy mandate, Mian Sahab broke all his previous records of arrogance. However, dharnas shattered his arrogance and he once again started talking about importance of parliament. During his years in power, he did not give importance to parliament and took dictatorial decisions in internal, external and financial affairs while bypassing the parliament. Sharif family took decisions in matters relating to government instead of cabinet. Peoples Party played its part in Meesaq e jamhoriat while PML-N put it on backburner. They attacked the autonomy of provinces and targeted political rivals in the name of accountability. The journey of arrogance and contempt was continued when the Panama and Iqama matters made headlines. At first, they distributed sweets after Supreme Court’s decision but after disqualification they started trumpeting the sanctity of ballot. Honestly speaking, Mian Sahab himself disgraced the sanctity of vote more than any other one in the history of Pakistan. It is impossible to curtain these sins perpetrated against the vote and the voters. Keeping in view all the above, how can a person believe that Mian Sahab has become a man with an ideology? One can deduce that the sole purpose of all the so-called political activity by Sharif family is nothing but the restoration of their dynastic rule in the country.
Abraham Lincoln rightly said, “You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time”.
