Shaken by the latest demand of resignation and fresh polls by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif looks confused, thinking whether to adopt a confrontational path against marchers coming to the federal capital or be friendly.
However, the political leaders Sharif met Tuesday advised him to follow a reconciliatory path to defuse the situation which may lead to anarchy, leaving the army with no option but to intervene.
In any case, Sharif finds himself in a tight corner, believe political analysts.
They think that the prime minister does not have many options left with him as PTI chief Imran Khan has taken a strong position, seeking resignation from the prime minister and calling for fresh elections – a demand not liked by any government. Resignation has never been an option for a sitting prime minister who has only spent over a year in power.
Khan cannot budge from his position as he has gone beyond all limits and any leniency on his part can prove fatal for his political career keeping in view the “emotions” prevailing in his party. Youth may take a retreat as defeat which can cost Khan his political scalp. Media and judiciary would also get an opportunity to settle scores with Khan who has recently opened front against both the independent institutions.
So now, Sharif is consulting with political bigwigs apparently in a bid to muster as much support for him as he could muster and also to politically isolate Khan and Qadri.
Irony of fate for Sharif is that all the politicians he called on were Imran-haters and most of them have no political influence over the young supporters which Khan commands. Whether it is Fazlur Rehman, Aftab Sherpao, Khursheed Shah or Mahmood Khan Achakzai – all are spent cartridges as far as youth are concerned and they have played their political innings.
Also none of these leaders can play any role to convince Khan for adopting a midway or review his demand as they are not only strangers to the youth but also they are the part of the same political coterie Khan has been fighting against. All politicians uniting against Khan would rather give him more strength, public appeal and credence.
Now, Nawaz Sharif has sought help from Jamaat-e-Islami chief Siraj-ul-Haq, who is believed to have better ties with Khan and has also met Khan on Wednesday. We don’t know whether the JI chief would be able to play any role or not to defuse the tensions but at least we know that Khan is not going to give in without exercising his million-march option.
This might be his trump card. If he gathers more than 200,000 people, Khan may adopt a harder stance. If not, he may agree for talks and there comes the option for a bargain for Sharif.
It seems that Nawaz Sharif has nothing to offer to Khan in terms of a dialogue – at least for the time being so he is galvanising political support to prevent any army intervention. He is contacting all the political who’s who of the country to politically isolate Khan. But PTI chief doesn’t care as he himself has decided to go solo. Hence, the prime minister can’t wrong-foot PTI chief.
Eminent political analyst and commentator Ayaz Amir says that Sharif is mustering political support to quell any possible army adventure.
“The political forces are gathering around Sharif to send a message directly to the army leadership and this message is very clear – don’t intervene. This message may prove to be a deterrent against any military takeover. This message is not for Imran Khan or Qadri. They are not the problem for Sharif,” he said.
However, Amir added that Khan and Qadri could set the stage for an army intervention.
But it seems either Sharif is afraid of opening of a Pandora’s box or he is politically dumb. Rather than resolving political mess at home, Sharif preferred spending time and resources on costly foreign visits – the same mistake committed by former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.
But there is a method in the madness for Sharif who is banking on his consultations with politicians like PPP, MQM, JUI-F, JI, PPP-S and others for any situation when Khan turns to the talking table. The government would ask Khan to adopt the jirga module for any reconciliation and there would be the situation when all political masters would try to turn the tables on Khan. This would also be the time when Khan would also have to part ways with Dr Tahirul Qadri, Chaudhrys of Gujrat and Sheikh Rasheed who would want to go to the last end – as they have nothing to lose in any case.
But the political bigwigs can’t play any role to convince Khan on midway truce for the time being. They can’t give anything to PM whose job is on the line. The only person who could have played a role was Chaudhry Nisar but he already has exhausted this option in talks with Khan.
PTI and PAT leaderships allege that the PML-N government intends to use Punjab Police for a crackdown on the second-tier leaderships of both parties while transporters are being harassed to avoid provision of vehicles for Khan’s marchers.
They have perhaps forgotten that arrests and lack of transport would rather cement the resolve of young workers.
Hawks around Sharif are putting him in a situation which may cost him his political career. So any clash or untoward incident is bound to eat away the entire democratic process, something the ruling party needs to understand.
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