Will Pakistan have to face political instability now?
Will Nawaz Sharif’s exit fuel political instability? Over the last four years Pakistan has had a
spell of relative economic stability, an easing of the electricity crisis and a
drop in terror attacks. But now Sharif is gone. How will the military deal with
the situation?
The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz has named Shahbaz Sharif, the former
Prime Minister’s brother and the Chief Minister of Punjab, as his successor. Pakistan
is going to the polls next year. Pakistan is coming under increased pressure
from the United States to act against militants. Border tensions with India and
Afghanistan continue to remain high.
Corruption in Pakistani government is not new. Elected politicians have
been found to involve in unfair deals. But, the Supreme Court indicting top
politician is very rare in any country.
That Pakistan lays no great trust in democratic and judicial principles
is a well-known fact which does not need repetition. First, the courts conceded their powers to
the military in cases involving terrorism. It is the military courts that
dispense justice in such cases, always conducting them as a court-martial with
completely abridged human rights. The accused are summarily executed. It is one
such court that convicted Khulbushan Jadhav too. Then, the Supreme Court
allowed the Pakistani Army to appoint two serving officers in the Joint Investigation
Team that probed the Panama gate affairs. Now, it is well known that the
once-blue-eyed 'boy' of the Army had become its implacable enemy decades back.
While Nawaz appears fraudulent, his dismissal brings back memories of how
Z. A. Bhutto was hanged on frivolous charges by Army. Pakistan, though formed
on the same day/night in 1947, when India also became Independent, took the
wrong path of the Muslim Theocracy to rule the nation, through a quirk of fate
in Partition, abetted by the Pakistani Top leader Muhammad Ali Jinnah. Pakistan
became unstable from day one of its formation. Unlike India, which chose a democratic
path, Pakistan was virtually taken over by the Military and the Mullahs,
reneging and usurping the Constitution. Rest is history.
Nawaz Sharif is but one cog in the Pakistani Governance wheel, which
cannot be corrected unless Military and Mullahs are controlled by the elected government.
The people are God fearing, simple, and sincere. Their qualities are smothered
buy the uncertainty of Governance systems. In all fairness - how many judges in
our High Courts and the Supreme Court have the guts like their Pak counterparts?
The vaccum caused by the departure of Nawaz Shariff cannot be filled by
his brother and now Pakistan's polity is at the cross road. Displeasure of US, commitment
on CPEC, controlling the terror factories, updating the Afghanistan stand – all
these are the major issues in which the new incumbent has to concentrate. The
pivotal thing is that hard stance against India needs to be changed and bring a
climate of slating bilateral talks.
As far as India is concerned it really didn't matter who was the PM or
political CEO, the fact being the military bosses either directly or through
ISI call all the shots against India with no exception. Time and again, it was
proved that all agreements with political leadership were broken by them and
even today it is not clear with whom in Pakistan, India should start the
dialogue process often advised by one and all which would end up in failure by
a terrorist attack sponsored by the backroom boys.
The Pakistan Supreme Court has acted in great haste, unseated a democratically
elected premier - so far only the prerogative of the men in fatigues - and
debarred him from public office for life, even before a substantive finding of
guilt is handed down in the Panama Papers case. Clearly, it was a puppet on a
chain. One hopes the people of Pakistan will continue to repose their faith in
the deposed PM and his proxy. He has always tried to improve relations with
India.
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