- Nawaz and Morsi have much in common while being very different
AT PENPOINT
The death of Mohamed Morsi in dramatic fashion, after having a heart attack in open court, moved Maryam Nawaz Sharif to say defiantly that her father Mian Nawaz Sharif was no Morsi, only drew attention to the similarities between the two leaders, and their two countries.
There are major similarities between Egypt and Pakistan. Both were the centres of ancient civilizations, respectively the Pharaonic and the Indus Valley. This happened long before either area converted to Islam. And both remain centred around rivers, the Nile in the case of Egypt and the Indus for Pakistan. Both were under British rule, out of which both emerged around the same time. Both are leading cotton growers. While both are Muslim, only Egypt was Arabicised. Egypt was conquered for Islam from the Byzantine Empire by an Arab army, while Pakistan was conquered by Mahmud of Ghazni, and its people were converted by Turkish holy men.
In the 2018 election, Field Marshal Sisi won 97 percent of the vote on turnout of 41 percent. Perhaps that tells us why Mian Nawaz remains relevant to Pakistani politics in a way Morsi was not to Egyptian
One of the major similarities has been the prominence of their militaries. Both are large and have not just a prominent role in politics, but the respective economies. Economics provides a recent connection, for Egpyt’s IMF Representative was a US-trained Pakistani, who was only recently tapped to become Governor of Pakistan’s central bank. Both militaries have had a perennial enemy, which seems to justify their right to rule. In Egypt’s case it was Israel, though since the 1977 Camp David Accords that has not been the case, and in Pakistan’s India, and there too the USA is doing its best to bring about a reconciliation.
Politically, Mian Nawaz and Morsi are not identical, but share similarities, starting with their ages. Nawaz at 69 is actually two years older than Morsi, who was 67. Nawaz is neither an academic nor an intellectual (though he has a law degree); Morsi was an engineer with a Ph.D. from California who was once employed by NASA for a short time. He had been convicted on one charge of espionage for Qatar, and was being tried on another. Mian Nawaz was ousted for corruption, there was no such allegation against Morsi. There was also a vast difference between their tenures: Nawaz had first held office in 1981, and had first been Prime Minister in 1990, being in his third tenure when removed in 2017. Morsi was elected President in 2012, his only previous office being as an ordinary member of the People’s Assembly from 2000 to 2005, and was overthrown in 2013.
Both were right-wing, though Mian Nawaz was never as close to the Jamaat-e-Islami in Pakistan as Morsi was to the Ikhwanul Muslimeen (Muslim Brotherhood). While the Jamaat and the Ikhwan have enjoyed friendly relations, the Jamaat has not been as successful electorally. It was a little late, for while the Ikhwan cooperated with Naguib and Nasser in their 1952 coup (after the Ikhwan founder Hassan Al-Banna was assassinated by government intelligence), the Jamaat did not cooperate with the Ayub Martial Law.
The Jamaat and the Ikhwan have another similarity: they were both active in the Afghan jihad. Osama bin Laden’s successor as head of Al-Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahiri, an Egyptian ophthalmologist who had been an Ikhwan member from his schooldays. Mian Nawaz has no record of any association with the Jamaat except for its inclusion in the Islami Jamhoori Ittehad from 1988 to 1993, under his Presidency. In fact, his electoral career began in 1985 with him defeating the Jamaat Lahore Amir, Asad Gilani, for the National Assembly seat he had won along with his provincial seat. An easy means of reminder would be that Mian Nawaz is clean-shaven, while Morsi sported a beard.
Morsi was overthrown by the man he had elevated to be head of the military, as Defence Minister, Field Marshal Abdul Fattah Sisi. Mian Nawaz was overthrown in 1999 by the man he had appointed COAS, Gen Pervez Musharraf. Mian Nawaz was lucky enough to come back to power, and get another chance to appoint a COAS.
It should be remembered that Mian Nawaz does have a history of heart disease, including a quadruple bypass, not to forget that his father also had heart disease. On the other hand, while Morsi did not have any history, falling into that category of heart patients for whom the first symptom of heart disease was a fatal heart attack. However, he did have some predisposing factors known: both high blood pressure and diabetes. He also had a benign brain tumour and seizures on the left side of his face. A pain he had suffered in the left arm was apparently not examined seriously enough, or else his heart disease would have been detected.
It is perhaps interesting that Mian Nawaz and Morsi both provide a commentary on civilian versus military medicine. Nawaz’s attempt to try General Musharraf for high treason failed, not least because he holed up in the Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology instead of appearing in court (which he had to do eventually). Morsi’s tenure was dominated by the trial of his predecessor, Hosni Mubarak, the air force chief who became President because he was Anwar Sadat’s Vice-President, and who ruled for almost 30 years. Mubarak is still alive, though he had been tried while lying in the dock in a hospital bed, at 91 a tribute to the system of medicine which treats him.
One major difference between the two men is that Mian Nawaz’s family (brother, daughter and nephew) are in politics, but not Morsi’s. Morsi was brought into prominence by the Ikhwan, and after his overthrow, his political legacy reverted to his party. Nawaz’s daughter’s statement, that he was no Morsi, has received a blow by the rejection of his bail application by the Islamabad High Court, which he had made on medical grounds. While his family is dissatisfied by both his health and his treatment, no foreign rights group has warned of anything, as was the case with Morsi. However, it should not be forgotten that the lives of us all, Morsi and Nawaz, are in the hands of the Almighty, and while Maryam’s statement is a filial wish, it cannot be relied on.
Morsi’s death in court comes after the 2018 election where Field Marshal Sisi won 97 percent of the vote on turnout of 41 percent. Mian Nawaz on the other hand still remains relevant to Pakistani politics in a way Morsi was not to the Egyptians.
