Within days of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s forceful speech challenging the army leadership’s interference in Pakistani politics, the grand opposition alliance created to overthrow the Imran Khan government appears to be crumbling.
Not surprisingly, this comes with a little push from the military.
While the government was unable to counter much of the accusations made by Nawaz Sharif, it was the military that came into action with a series of leaks and statements in the media that created divisions not only in the political alliance but in itself. Sharif’s party, PML-N. facing off against his brother Shahbaz Sharif, who is also the party chairman, on a collision course with his daughter Maryam Nawaz, who is the party’s vice chairman and Nawaz’s political heir.
The first statement after the former prime minister’s speech at an alliance meeting came the next day from the army chief, General Qamar Bajwa, in person. Meeting with selected parliamentarians, Bajwa said that the Pakistani military had no role in matters related to politics.
He added that the military played no role in the recently passed FATF-related legislation, the functioning of the National Accountability Office (NAB) and the policy proposals for Gilgit Baltistan (GB).
The government had passed a slew of compliance-related bills from the Financial Action Task Force, the global watchdog on money laundering and terrorist financing, in a joint session of parliament after several of them were defeated. by the Senate.
By insisting that the political leadership was responsible for all of these matters, Bajwa recognized that GB was of strategic importance and therefore a broad-based consultation was necessary. The government is moving forward with holding elections and declaring GB province status, both opposed by India, which considers it a region within Jammu and Kashmir illegally occupied by Pakistan.
As this debate gained momentum, two days ago it was leaked to the media that the main leaders of the opposition parties had met with Gen Bajwa and the head of Lt. General Faiz of the ISI, days before the Conference of All the Parties of the incipient alliance.
The Minister of Railways, Shaikh Rasheed, who considers himself close to the military, made this revelation while mocking the opposition for criticizing the military on the one hand and meeting with it on the other.
It was learned that the meeting was attended by Shahbaz Sharif, along with his party colleagues Khawaja Asif and Ahsan Iqbal on behalf of the PML-N, while the PPP was represented by party chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Senator Sherry Rehman.
The leak embarrassed most of the attendees. Shahbaz Sharif confirmed the meeting and said nothing more. Bilawal Bhutto Zardari clarified that they had attended a briefing on national security and that such meetings are often kept secret.
In a hastily convened press conference, he justified the meeting with the military, as Prime Minister Imran Khan had not engaged with the opposition on national security issues that had arisen during his tenure, such as the deterioration of relations with India after Pulwama’s attack. He also said that the issue of Gilgit Baltistan was discussed at the meeting.
Soon after, PML-L leader Maryam Nawaz Sharif took this opportunity to criticize her allies and criticize her uncle and party chairman, Shahbaz Sharif.
She told the media on Wednesday: “They (opposition leaders) were called (to the GHQ, the military headquarters) on the issue of Gilgit Baltistan. This is a political issue that must be resolved by the representatives of the people … These issues must be decided in parliament, not in Headquarters ”.
When asked if the PML-N leaders who went to see the army had Nawaz Sharif’s blessing, she denied having any knowledge of it. However, she said that “the political leadership should not be summoned or should go to discuss these issues.”
In reaction to Maryam’s statement, the Minister of Railways, Sheikh Rasheed, further revealed that the PML-N leadership held not one, but two meetings in the past two months with the military leadership.
Meanwhile, Maryam’s statement appears to have hit home, and the military retaliated within hours. In response to his claim that Nawaz Sharif had not been part of the meeting with the army, the head of the media wing of the Pakistan Army revealed that the senior leader of the PML-N, Mohammad Zubair, held two meetings with Gen Bajwa in recent weeks on the former prime minister. And your daughter.
Babar Iftikhar told a news channel Wednesday night that both meetings were “requested” by Zubair, a former governor of Sindh. “In both meetings, he (Zubair) spoke about Mian Nawaz Sharif sahib and Maryam Nawaz sahiba,” Iftikhar said, adding: “The army chief made it clear to him (Zubair) that whatever his legal problems (Nawaz and Maryam ), will be resolved in Pakistani courts, while political issues will be resolved in parliament. “
The army line seems to be that they do not interfere in the politics of the country and that all politicians turn to them for help, including Nawaz Sharif.
When asked about it, Zubair said that he had had personal ties to Gen Bajwa for more than 40 years. “There is nothing unusual about the meeting,” he told an interviewer, adding that he never approached the army chief when the PML-N was facing difficulties.
“As a friend, I thought I should brief him (Bajwa) on the state of Pakistan’s economy and governance issues. But I told him in clear words that I had not come to seek relief for anyone in my group, nor had I come at the request of anyone, not Nawaz or anyone else.
Although the army appears to have won the last round, what is clear is that the issue of military interference in the country’s political landscape will continue to be debated. It has also shaken the government of Imran Khan, who is being accused of coming to power after a rigged election.
Analyst Kamran Yousaf said the days of Imran Khan’s rule could soon be over, and a government stoned by consensus could take over. But others totally disagree.
At the same time, most analysts say that Nawaz Sharif’s speech to the APC via video link from London, where he is receiving medical treatment, appears to have sparked a hornet’s nest. His claim that the military is now a “state above a state” will resonate in the corridors of power for a long time to come.
.
