BY

Pakistan has had a colorful bouquet of leaders throughout the past fifty years. Each person had an individualistic style, although comparisons were duly and often made. The advent of the Nineties heralded the arrival of a scion of an industrial family from the urban areas of Punjab. From a period of orientation at the feet of a military administrator during a stint as a Minister of an obscure department to the lordship of the Punjab province, and from all the way to the hallowed halls of the Prime Minister’s residence in scenic Islamabad until the unceremonious exit due to an ill-advised and irresponsible defiance of the established order.

The transformation from the Lord of the Manor to that of the Shepherd of Daughter of Destiny’s wobbly Opposition was a knee-jerker and projected a confused, paranoid, and easily swayed Cat on a Tin Roof. It looked like Mian Nawaz Sharif was the best thing that could happen to Benazir Bhutto. The let-down was pathetically demented. From a high-profile but patronizing manner in which he offered his support and co-operation to the newly-elected Premier to an immediate backtracking from that pledge, from rattling off a continuos torrent of treacherous accusations to undermining the government’s every step, and from announcing bold retaliatory actions only to end these in whimpers and boo-boos, the Mian did everything.

Meantime, he was busy trying to hold on to his lieutenants, many of them unsure of their own future. Some parliamentarians became the shuttlecocks while some hobnobbed on the sly with the people on the other side of the fence. The newspapers and arm-chair theorists had a field day coming up with figures of probable Lotas. The Mian had his following but his bearings were rusted. Brother Shahbaz went on a long sojourn to London while the family fortune became easy prey for those who couldn’t fathom the phenomenal rise of the Mian’s family empire.

The tax hounds were let loose, alongwith the FIA and other alphabetical forces. The Interior Minister played his Judgment at Nuremberg role with relish and the media was provided all the tit-bits necessary to slay the Ittefaq Goliath. The country discovered that considerate and grateful bankers had burnt the midnight oil to replenish the Ittefaq coffers so that this illustrious family could very soon be the nation’s answer to the Rockefellers or the Mellons of America. A new course in how to make money and get away with it was taught to the viewers and the readers all over the country.

The Mian was in wilderness as the Opposition Leader. His blind hatred for the PPP foreclosed any and all chances of a concilliatory attitude which could result in a sure and sound way of running the country. The Mian and the Mohtrama let their MNAs embark upon a destructive route in the Parliament which in itself was reduced to a paradigm of mockery. Not even the press took it seriously, except of course Rana Shaikh’s Khabarnama.

The Mian then tried to rally his forces behind the Tehrik-e-Nijat which was a monumental blunder and which was ridiculed by all and sundry. Another gaffe was smoking the peace pipe with Manzoor Wattoo of Punjab. This too ended in ignominy and pie in the face. It seemed that the Mian had spent his entire political repertoire and was now a gone thing.

However, 1996 brought good tidings for him. He became the proud recipient of favorable events that seemed to give him the boost he so sorely needed. The errors of judgment being made by the government and the way in which the country is drifting apart provided additional ammunition to the Mian. The Benazir-Babar combine went ruthlessly after MQM. Custodial deaths, extra-judicial killings, and harrowing sieges in MQM-controlled areas became the order of the day. The Mian scored points with the supremo of MQM presently ensconced in London, by going all hog against this policy. A joint agreement was signed by both of them in England’s capital and this will pave for future PML-MQM cooperation, including the eventual plan to dislodge the present government.

At the same time, the incarcerations of Opposition parliamentarians and the outright refusal of the government to pay heed to Rule 90 that the NA Speaker would time and again invoke proved to be manna for the Mian. The under-dog syndrome was working superbly for him. He could now project himself and his party as the tormented ones. Raza Rabbani and N.D. Khan played tinkle-toe and refused to let their legal minds think about the future. Their only concern was courtly obedience to the Premier. The Speaker, never a die-hard PPP man, was left to bear the brunt of catcalls and felt like a castrated tomcat among feline bevies.

The publication of the human rights report on Pakistan by Washington gave an added shot of adrenaline to the Mian. The special mention of the Sheikh from Rawalpindi’s Lal Haveli and the MNA most loyal to the Mian, and the arrest of Shahbaz Sharif among other issues, got the ball rolling. Within no time, Sheikh Rashid was set free only to be received and escorted by one of the largest processions in the history of this Potohar city. It is just a matter of days before Pakistan’s own Bobby Kennedy is out and sitting in the Punjab Assembly.

The historic and pragmatic judicial decision by the Supreme Court provided more vitamins to the Mian’s dwindling political health. Although it was construed by the present government as an infringement of its powers, the Mian promoted the decision as a no-confidence against the present PPP government and that the Premier’s outbursts only reflected the autocratic thinking of the present government. He hailed and applauded the decision and it seemed to score valuable points for him in the minds of the intelligentsia among others. His speech in the National Assembly provided significant insight into the transformation of this man from a bumbling politico to a seasoned statesman.

More importantly, the Mian recently visited USA to present a keynote speech at the Carnegie Institute. His activities and his comments there, his visits with various people, and his trip to different parts of America, seemed to have brought about a substantial change in the Mian. His arrival from American shores was like the return of a rejuvenated man from Lourdes. It has done a world of good to the Mian. He has become more intrepid, like a man ready to take the bull by its horn.

The recent decision of sending a team of Opposition parliamentarians to meet the President, the orders given by the party hierarchy to only resort to PPP-bashing and to refrain from attacking the PPP allies, and the direct offers of cooperation to the government, are all in line with the new thinking of the Mian. It can be sincerely said that the visit to Uncle Sam brought about this fabulous turnaround.

What it boils down to is whether the Mian had a sudden change of heart or whether his yatra to America made this possible. He has become a statesman at the threshold of Pakistan’s democratic edifice for all practical purposes. If Winston Churchill is to be believed, then what he said about Yankeeland, (his quote provided thru the courtesy of a good buddy from San Antonio, Texas, home of the Alamo), seems to ring true for this new and positive attitude of Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif : "Americans do the right thing after they have exhausted all other alternatives."