Split in the House of Sharif

Rebellion: When the chips are down

The divide in the House of Sharif is no more a secret. A visible split in the ruling family has given life to open rebellion against Nawaz Sharif and his ‘talented’ daughter who has gate-crashed her way to claim the throne. Will she succeed is anybody’s guess, though.

The biggest challenge comes from within the family: Shehbaz Sharif’s clever son Hamza Shehbaz.

PML-N insiders claim Hamza Shehbaz has decided to openly challenge the ‘heir apparent’ Maryam Nawaz and has been holding direct meetings with members of National and Punjab assemblies of the ruling party.

The objective is clear: Keep the party intact so panicked ‘electables’ don’t rush towards Imran Khan’s Banigala residence; hence Shehbaz gets his hold over the throne. Around 130 MPAs and MNAs gathered last week at a farmhouse on Raiwind Road to show support for Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif. More such meetings are likely to be held.

On the other hand, Maryam is holding ‘secret’ meetings in Islamabad with her bunch of loyalists in a bid to remain relevant with the party; to keep a hold on the throne. As the panic button has already been pushed, the talented daughter of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif has already urged her papa to fly in and help her stop this ‘revolt’. Sharif has responded in the affirmative.

Hamza Shehbaz camp also claims that late Mian Sharif had once held a meeting with the Sharif family, telling everyone that Nawaz Sharif would always remain the leader. However, once he would quit, Shehbaz Sharif would not succeed him and rather Hamza Shehbaz would be the successor. Mian Sahrif, according to the Shehbaz Sharif camp, had decided that neither of Nawaz Sharif’s sons would ever join politics.

The family remained united under Mian Sharif’s will despite provocations to Shehbaz Sharif by successive military chiefs including General Pervez Musharraf. There was full implementation of Mian Sharif’s decision till Maryam Nawaz rebelled against the family decision.

They say Nawaz Sharif never agreed to the idea of Maryam’s succession, however, the first violation was observed when Maryam started to chair meetings of top bureaucrats in the prime minister’s house in early 2013.

On the other hand, while many claim something is cooking in the General Headquarters (GHQ) too amid rumours of a caretaker setup taking the reins, there is no sign of any move from the army. The judiciary is also observing maximum restraint despite successive subversive attacks from Sharif himself.

His comrades, however, have crossed all limits of decency to malign the judges. A media cell set up by Maryam Nawaz is also actively engaged in ridiculing the army and judiciary online.

Though the army chief, General Qamar Javed Bajwa — handpicked by Nawaz Sharif — has shown his dissent over the decaying economy, the army is silent over the political chaos.

The most disturbing fact is the mysterious absence from political scene of ‘street smart’ loyalists of Sharifs: Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Khwaja Saad Rafique, Khwaja Mohammad Asif, Ahsan Iqbal, Pervez Rashid and many others.

Rafique has been missing from the scene following the friendly advice he publicly gave to Maryam Nawaz soon after the NA-120 by-poll. Rafique had advised Maryam not to attack the state institution. Insiders say this advice did not go down well with the young heir apparent of Nawaz Sharif.

Apparently, a new lot of political wizards has replaced the PML-N ‘wise-men’. The new ‘lieutenants’ of Nawaz Sharif’s daughter include the likes of Talal Chaudhry, Daniyal Aziz, Asif Kirmani, Mohammad Zubair, etc.

PML-N insiders say the party’s heavyweight lawmakers are unhappy with the divide of the ruling family and are planning to part ways with it before elections. But before departing, the opportunist lot of the ruling party wants to get its share of ‘juicy’ development projects which are being finalised these days.

One can imagine the panic in the ruling party camp with the fact that Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has directed the planning commission to immediately complete the development schemes forwarded by the ruling party lawmakers.

The planning commission has thus held two successive meetings of the central development working party (CDWP) during one month – October 2017. The CDWP, which met on October 4, approved several infrastructure projects including roads and bridges.

The CDWP again met on October 19 to sanction 31 development projects worth Rs360 billion. The meeting also referred 12 mega development projects valuing Rs342 billion to ECNEC. This all can provide a hint about the panic in the ruling party’s camp.

Party insiders claim that around 200 PML-N lawmakers have agreed in principle to contest next elections ‘independently’ in case the Sharif family does not stop assailing state institutions including the armed forces and the judiciary.

The angry lawmakers include 98 from 28 districts of the Punjab including Sargodha, Faisalabad, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Sialkot, Okara, Sahiwal, Multan and others. Moreover, the party’s lawmakers from Northern Punjab are specifically worried as successive attacks on the armed forces are fast triggering public anger.

A lawmaker told this author that there are at least two martyrs in each town of his constituency. The MNA said that he would not be in a position to even file his nomination papers from the PML-N if his party chief continued his tirade against the armed forces.

Another lawmaker said that the only livelihood of the people of his native district was recruitment in the army. He said that pro-India stance adopted by Nawaz Sharif had badly hurt his popularity among his constituents.

A member of parliament from central Punjab told of the public outrage over the recent legislation in violation of the Khatam-e-Nabuwwat (PBUH).

A senior PML-N leader said that the dissident lawmakers had decided to resign from the party before the caretaker government takes over the reins. Asked why so late, the lawmaker said that actual line up would only take place before the elections.

He said most of the heavyweights would wait for the right time so the political situation is clearer. “Political scenario is fluid right now. The dust would settle before the polls. By that time our development projects would have been completed and we would be free to take our decision,” he added.

Asked about his plan for the next polls the senior leaguer said that if things within the Sharif family did not settle and better sense did not prevail, he would prefer to contest the polls as an independent candidate.

“Most of my colleagues are also planning to go the same way. We will get elected as independent and will join the next government on our own conditions. Independents would be the biggest bloc in the next assemblies,” he added.

While the Sharifs fight each other to have their share of the pie, Imran Khan and his party are focused to win a clean chit from superior courts in the assets cases against Khan himself and his lieutenant Jahangir Khan Tareen as both are embroiled in the ongoing court cases filed by Sharif’s henchmen.

While the Sharifs are fighting a pitched battle now, one should not forget how the military establishment had dealt blow after blow to former PPP chairwoman Benazir Bhutto in the late 1980s.

While she was perhaps the most popular leader Pakistan ever saw soon after her arrival at Lahore in 1986 from her forced exile, she turned into a controversial and ‘corrupt’ leader within two years of assuming charge as the first woman prime minister of a Muslim country.

While a relatively ‘corrupt’ Asif Zardari had contributed to the fall of a popular Benazir Bhutto, will the divide in the House of Sharif help assail the most controversial and more corrupt Nawaz Sharif?