Armed and dangerous

An eerie sense of deja vu and predictability surrounded Sharif’s short-lived return to Pakistan, Monday morning, under Supreme Court orders which restrained the government from thwarting his arrival home. He did land in Islamabad, set foot on Pakistani soil, held negotiations with government and Arab officials and then was put on a Jeddah-bound plane, though against his expressed desire. This was decidedly the last time his Arab friends bailed him out.

By contrast, brother Shahbaz had a premonition of sorts, just in time; he got cold feet sitting thousands of miles away at Heathrow, and backtracked out of the departure lounge. Good timing; but party sources said they prevailed on him. His well-wishers told him not to return to Pakistan because a nasty court case, one accusing him of extra-judicial killings, was pending with the high court, which wants him presented before the bench. The court had reprimanded the government for allowing Shahbaz to leave the country when he came to Lahore in 2003, wishing to end his exile.

The brothers Sharif are not known to be rabble-rousers. They would not have the kind of opportunity that awaited them this time around at Islamabad if they had been earlier allowed to come and stay. They only have Musharraf and Benazir to thank for their new-found popularity, and not their own heroics. The government has over-reacted by sending Nawaz Sharif back and thereby also plugging any plans of return for Shahbaz Sharif any time soon.

But then this is the kind of fire-fighting that has been the hallmark of Musharraf’s political dispensation. The rules say: ward off anything hazardous for this government’s health for as long as possible. Come the crunch, as it did in the case of the restoration of the suspended chief justice, and you sheepishly buckle under it. Bite the dust, if that’s what it means. So be it.

Tomorrow’s another day.

Call it resilience or a complete lack of shame, but this is how Musharraf has run Pakistan since the October 1999 coup. For the more political savvy, the official modus operandi also means lack of accountability, before the people or the law. State-sponsored lawlessness, of which the gory drama enacted in Karachi on May 12 this year was a stunning example. On that day, roads were blocked to prevent the then suspended chief justice from coming into town from the airport. Some 52 people were killed by state-backed hooligans. The event was hailed by Musharraf as a brave attempt on the part of the citizens of Karachi — read Altaf Hussain’s MQM — who stood by him at that hour of trial.

But, for now, let’s get back to the Sharifs and their aborted 280 km-long GT Road yatra to Lahore from Islamabad airport. There was widespread speculation that Nawaz Sharif would not return. Even as he boarded the PIA plane at Heathrow the night before, muted faces of party workers said it all. On the streets of Lahore, the Sharifs’ hometown, the public response was studied and understated, a highly acquired trait for mela-loving Lahoris. It was no Shab-e-Barat, the Muslim answer to Diwali, when people light lamps, distribute sweets and make fireworks.

Not much spark was seen among the public — read TV viewers; camera crews that went around looking for excitement were disappointed. They could not get anything more than matter-of-fact replies from a few people who said the Sharifs had the right to return and they should be allowed back in. The truth is that the punch that Lahoris had once reserved for the Sharifs as the then establishment’s blue-eyed boys is now reserved for Musharraf and his Punjab deputies, the Chaudhrys. The latter group elicits more unfavourable, negative emotions than anything positive and matchable reserved for the Sharifs.

The reason for this public apathy is that the brothers Sharif, more than Benazir Bhutto, have worked hard on not leaving their party with a second-tier leadership, fearing their own eclipse. The 2,000-plus arrests made across Punjab of political workers on the eve of Sharif’s arrival in Islamabad included a motley crowd. It was made up of political workers of some 30 big and small parties, including most nationalist and nearly all religious parties, who have come together under the banner of the All Parties Democratic Movement to support a single-minded, anti-Musharraf agenda.

All said, this time around, Sharif must be given the credit for at least trying to make good on his promise to defy the powers that be. He stood his ground despite all kinds of pressure. Pakistani officials, even sympathisers from within the establishment, the Saudis, the Qataris and the Lebanese were breathing down his neck, trying to restrain him from coming to Pakistan, but he only listened to his own heart and mind. Landing in Islamabad and then being deported again by Musharraf, this time under no deal but with brute force, will somewhat help him wash the stain of having fled the country seven years ago under a deal.

The writer is an editor with ‘Dawn’, Karachi