Salahuddin Haider
PML-N the Nawaz
party is in deep cri
sis, of its own making. Unwarranted, unguarded comments, prolonged attack on custodian of national security, unnecessary reflection on judiciary and posing couple of its leaders as supreme commanders, have combined together now to put its very existence in danger.
If Nawaz, looking fresh, hale and hearty, no sign of sickness during a speech at the multi-party conference of Sept 25, and the rebuff it drew from opponents was a lesson in itself, so powerful that it would have cause him uninvited trouble. But caution was not only ignored, it was thrown to the winds. The who-care attitude has its own cost, sometime powerful enough to sink you in an abyss, recovery from where, if not impossible, surely extremely difficult to deliver the results one expects from try, and re-try and re-try.
Then came a statement from Maryam Nawaz, who not only objected to party workers and leading lights from discussing political issues with army and intelligence agencies, but surprisingly denying that some of them had joined the meeting called by army chief General Qamar Bajwa and ISI head Lt-General Faiz Hamid to enlighten parliamentary leaders on the security aspects of Gilgit-Baltistan issue, and seeking their cooperation to handle it sensibly.
Poor Maryam, little did she know that atleast two of her father’s key colleagues, Ahsan Iqbal and Khawaja Asif, along with party president Shahbaz Sharif had attended the meeting. Let us take it that Railways minister Sheikh Rashid lied about him and Shahbaz sharif were on one table during the GHQ dinner, was a feeler, aimed to provoke Maryam to continue the public debate, was a design to cause public stir, then how would Maryam explain the TV explanation of Ahsan Iqbal and khawja Asif that meeting army chief and parliamentarians were healthy exercise to create national consensus on ticklish issues. She was nipped in the bud within les than an hour.
The father and daughter combination has proven lethal for the party in the past, and once again placed in trouble. Niether could realize that it will meet the same fate as their earlier outcry of “Vote ko Izzat. do” (pay respect to the vote and accept public mandate), awaited them again. Government party leaders, Faisal Wavda, Shibli Faraz, Ali Ziaid, Fawad Chaudhry, all pounced on them to condemn them for committing treason, because the country’s Constitution protects the interest of armed forces, and any attempt to paint them black would be punishable.
Whether Nawaz and his heir-apparent realized this, will take time to judge. They may mend fences, realizing their mistakes in days or weeks to come. But those knowing Nawaz, will without resevation and unhesitatingly admit that despite being a product of Martial Law, and find of iSI chief General Asad Duraani, Nawaz had abhorred interference of army in civilian matters. Examples of his feud with General Waaheed Kakar, General Jehangir Keramat, and General Pervez Musharraf are now a public knowledge.
The only exception is his somewhat close association with General Raheel Sharif. His hatred against system now in vogue did not take time to be understood. In fact one of the Punjab MPA Jaleel Shaqpuri distanced himself from Nawaz’s Sept 25 narration, describing it as totally unnecessary. He has been issued show cause notice, and if satisfactory answer is delayed beyond that limit, the MPA may well be proceeded.
Then information minister Shibli Faraz’s claim that some of the Noon Leaguers were in touch with PTI leadership, too needs to be considered. True or false, it difficult to judge at this time, But one of the PML-N MPAs had met PTI Punjab chief Chaudhri Ejaz. The fact that Maulana Fazlur Rehman too is now is in NAB nest, Shahbaz Sharif, awaiting fate of on extension of his bail, and Zardari’s appeal having been rejected are also pointer to something disastrous. Shahbaz bt nature is soft and believes in compromises, but Nawaz speech has shut doors on him too.