Looking forward?

1998 was a simple time. With computers and the internet a novelty, many of us growing up in those times had the good habit of going outdoors to play, most often cricket. It was also the time when Fridays were part of the weekend holidays, making Thursdays the most opportune time to play cricket. And that is exactly what our group of friends was doing on May 28, 1998, when our host’s Seraiki cook came running to the empty plot where we were playing to inform us that Pakistan was a nuclear power. Congratulations, he said. Only later on would he find the true extent of suffering that the bomb would bring on, especially to those in his class. Nawaz of course was dismissed a year later and shipped off to Saudi Arabia. We went back to our cricket.

A dictatorship, a prolonged but ultimately comfortable exile, and a charter of democracy later, Nawaz returned a more mature statesman and an upgrade on the one who assumed power in 1997. Yet, it was also under the PML(N) government’s watch in 2010, on May 28, that over 70 worshippers were killed in separate Ahmadi “places of worship.” That day, as we scrambled to ensure that we covered Karachi-angles to the story – of how the Ahmadi community was dealing with a reminder of them being yet another insecure minority, of those Karachiites who had lost loved ones in Lahore, of whether security had been increased for them and their places of worship, of whether Friday congregation prayers were safe – our news editors were more concerned with ensuring that the word “mosque” not be used. The hegemony of religious terminology and the “them” factor was never quite jarring as it was that day.

In the national pages, though, were lines upon lines of condemnations, of a resolve to fight against religious extremism of its worst kind. Shahbaz Sharif and Rana Sanaullah led the explanations and reactions, but till today, those grieved and those who stood by them await tangible results. Shahbaz Sharif, meanwhile, hoped that the Taliban would spare Punjab.

It is now 2011, and Nawaz Sharif is a force to be reckoned with yet again. PML(N) commemorated Yaum-e-Takbeer on May 28, but Nawaz did not have the courtesy to pay homage to those who lost their lives on that same day due to the bigotry entrenched in our societal fabric by his political and ideological fathers. The post-Musharraf Nawaz Sharif version is still a bundle of contradictions.

Nawaz would be very aware that he is contesting the same terrain as the military establishment’s new blue-eyed boy, Imran Khan. The PTI chief has the new-found audacity to claim on television talk shows that he will be the victor in the next elections and that we can bet on him. Such claims need very firm guarantees, and seemingly, someone has provided those to Taliban Khan. It is also no wonder that sit-in in Karachi is now being followed by the Jamaat-e-Islami, both keeping their relevance and sentiment of anti-Americanism well and truly alive.

Of course, Imran’s visit to Karachi was more about projecting him as a national leader rather than creating a genuine voter base. Imran’s manifesto, if one can grace that much respect to rhetoric, is the same that was used by Nawaz before he became a victim of a military takeover. The bomb is more Islamic today than it was in 1998, the Ahmadis and even the Shiite, Christians and Hindus are more insecure today than they were in 1998. The liberal space too is shrinking by the day. Without any political strategy or vision for tomorrow’s Pakistan, Imran’s vision is restricted to the one being fed to him.

Imran’s constituency is “fixed” because of where he is now receiving his backing from, but perhaps, Mian Saheb needs to realise that his roots are more organic. Nawaz’s claim that India is not Enemy No 1 needs to be lauded, but as is the idea that the bomb – created and detonated with India in mind – has done more harm than good.

May 28 is a blotch on PML(N) chief Nawaz Sharif’s political career: not one, but two incidents took place on his watch, incidents that reflect everything that is wrong with Pakistan’s concept of honour and shame. Nawaz’s vision needs more inclusivity. As Salmaan Taseer’s birthday was being celebrated yesterday, that would’ve been as good a day to start. However, it’s never too late. An apology for his assassination on the Punjab government’s watch is in order.

Qadm barhao Nawaz Sharif, qaum tumharay sath hai.

The writer is Deputy City Editor, Karachi, Pakistan Today