Nawaz Sharif's desperation

Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif appears to believe that he is as cocky as the king of spades. Unfortunately, however, little does he know that he has grievously hurt the electoral prospects of his party as he has dealt the PML-N a bad hand on the very eve of the general elections through his post-Panama Papers verdict anti-institutions narrative. In other words, the self-assured hubris in him refuses to die down, adding to political uncertainty and promoting a negative business sentiment in the country in an alarming manner. There is, therefore, absolutely no doubt about the fact that civilian-military and executive-judiciary relationships have hit their nadir after a highly embittered former prime minister held military and the higher judiciary responsible for a slew of woes that he has been facing after his government proceeded with institution of a treason case against former army chief General Pervez Musharraf for abrogating the country's constitution.
It was last Wednesday that Sharif testified before the accountability court, stating that he was shocked when the head of an intelligence agency conveyed him the message to 'resign or go on a long leave' when the sit-in of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) was at its peak. Later, he read out the same statement at a press conference held in Islamabad's Punjab House. According to him, "[I]t was strange that an official of a subordinate organisation asked the PM and the elected government to pack up. ...Before the filing of the treason case I had met Imran Khan in Banigala and he did not demand my resignation. But surprisingly after Musharraf had been booked in a treason case, Khan and Qadri met in London where they planned the sit-in against my government." The PML-N supreme leader then praised the armed forces for their sacrifices and claimed that he had increased the defence budget and refused to accept $5 billion that he had been offered if he would not conduct the nuclear test in 1998. Sharif has also claimed that he had already been punished once for his unwavering stance on civil supremacy and recalled, "Some 19 years ago I was detained in torture cells, sentenced to life imprisonment, handcuffed and sent off in an aircraft. Was there a Panama [Papers case] at that time? The answer is simply no. At that time, too, I was demanding civil supremacy. I wanted foreign and domestic policies to be in the hand of the elected representative."
All his vicious insinuations sought to target the country's military and higher judiciary in a less than subtle or refined manner when he averred: "I wish you could ask [PM] Nawabzada Liaquat Ali Khan why he was martyred, why [PM] Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was hanged, why [ex-PM] Benazir Bhutto was assassinated?...`I wish there was a court that could dare to ask generals why they had abrogated the Constitution and why the judges had legitimised their dictatorial regimes". Nawaz Sharif became the prime minister for record three times, but every time he was forced to quit in the middle of his term. He must know that he pays for the Himalayan blunders that he has been committing much before the 2013 elections. Not only did he completely ignore the Charter of Democracy that he had signed with the late Benazir Bhutto, he also began to denigrate and demonize the Parliament when Opposition asked him to let the National Assembly and Senate deal with the Panama Papers issue, paving the way for his opponents to move the apex court against him. Winston Churchill had famously said that all men make mistakes but only wise men learn from their mistakes. Unfortunately, however, Nawaz Sharif is yet to prove that he's a wise man. It is about time he critically reviewed his 'narrative' in the greater interest of his own party and the country. He must, therefore, not live in regret over missed opportunities, for if he does, he will miss even more.