Nawaz Sharif can be an engaging partner for Modi - Indian Punchline
Who was the ‘guru’ who taught Karna the art of warfare and archery still remains a tantalizing question that comes out of the great Indian epic of Mahabharata. Was it Dronacharya who refused to teach Karna because he was not born into the Kshatriya caste or the Sun god who begat him but wouldn’t own him as his son, or, the sage Parashurama who mistook him to be a Brahmin and taught him all that he knew? In the case of Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, however, there is no such ambiguity.
Sharif’s ‘guru’ in his Long March to establish civilian supremacy in Pakistan could only have been his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan. But then, Sharif also has something in common with Karna — both eventually equalled and, perhaps, even surpassed their guru in skill.
What Sharif has achieved in such a short span of time is only slowly sinking in — and, unfortunately, Indian pundits seem reluctant to grasp it. Erdogan waited for a second term as prime minister and a renewed mandate from the people before cracking the whip on the Turkish military.
Whereas, it has taken Sharif less than a year in office to put the former military dictator Pervez Musharraf on trial on charges of high treason for staging a military coup and usurping power in Pakistan in 1999.
And, more importantly, Sharif is doing it with elan — no whip-lashing at Pakistan’s Pashas, no locking them up in dungeons in their dozens and throwing away the key. Curiously, he is seemingly carrying the Pakistani army leadership along in his historic journey.
No one says Sharif is tempting Fate. Nor is anyone warning him about the beguiling Sirens luring him to perdition.
Come to think of it, Sharif capitalized on the fateful error Musharraf made by returning to Pakistan last year from self-imposed exile under the wrong impression that he was a popular guy and a great inning awaited him in Pakistani politics.
Sharif simply stepped aside and let him come so that the judiciary, which the dictator had spited and humiliated while at the pinnacle of power, could get an opportunity to wreak vengeance.
Put simply, it is all the ‘due process of law’ exquisitely playing out. Yet, Sharif knows there is a strong case for Musharraf to be hanged until he’s dead, or at the very least given a life sentence. In fact, Sharif has to do nothing. He’s left Musharraf to the wolves.
Except, of course, Sharif has to see to it that the army top brass in Rawalpindi will not interfere with the ‘due process of law’. His choice of his namesake from Punjab as the army chief six months ago, therefore, made sense. All indications are that COAS General Raheel Sharif is bent upon following the precedent set by his predecessor General Ashraf Kayani that politics is best left to politicians.
Thus, the dramatic meeting between Prime Minister Sharif and COAS Sharif in Islamabad recently lends itself to interpretation, but the Pakistani pundits who are in the loop seem convinced that the civilian and military leaderships are on the same page over the Musharraf case.
If so, Musharraf case promises to be a game changer in Pakistani politics. The issue is not whether Musharraf will be hanged or not — not even whether he lives the rest of his life in Pakistan. Rather, it’s the trial itself.
Pakistan is writing history that anyone who usurps the constitution must be brought to book, whosoever it would be — even a Pasha.
The progression of the Musharraf case has profound implications not only for the future of Pakistan but also for the regional politics. India, too, is a stakeholder.
At the very least, if Sharif pulls this off, for the first time, the Indian leadership would know what number to dial up in Pakistan to get through to have a word in confidence.
To put it mildly, this fortuitous happening in Pakistan comes at a time when a new government led by Narendra Modi is widely expected to take over power in Delhi in another six weeks to eight weeks.
The Bharatiya Janata Party manifesto, which carries Modi’s stamp, hints at a creative neighbourhood policy, which cannot but involve making a serious attempt to reach an enduring settlement with Pakistan.
Indeed, it stands to reason that if Modi would have his way and ignore the advice and doomsday predictions of self-styled experts in the right wing opinion in the country, he is well-placed to put behind the timid foreign-policy approach of the Manmohan Singh government, which focused more on managing the equations with Islamabad rather than finding solutions to India-Pakistan differences.
To be sure, Sharif’s political consolidation in Pakistan could open up profound possibilities for the Modi government to rewrite the tortuous history of the subcontinent.
Who was the ‘guru’ who taught Karna the art of warfare and archery still remains a tantalizing question that comes out of the great Indian epic of Mahabharata. Was it Dronacharya who refused to teach Karna because he was not born into the Kshatriya caste or the Sun god who begat him but wouldn’t own him as his son, or, the sage Parashurama who mistook him to be a Brahmin and taught him all that he knew? In the case of Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, however, there is no such ambiguity.
Sharif’s ‘guru’ in his Long March to establish civilian supremacy in Pakistan could only have been his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan. But then, Sharif also has something in common with Karna — both eventually equalled and, perhaps, even surpassed their guru in skill.
What Sharif has achieved in such a short span of time is only slowly sinking in — and, unfortunately, Indian pundits seem reluctant to grasp it. Erdogan waited for a second term as prime minister and a renewed mandate from the people before cracking the whip on the Turkish military.
Whereas, it has taken Sharif less than a year in office to put the former military dictator Pervez Musharraf on trial on charges of high treason for staging a military coup and usurping power in Pakistan in 1999.
And, more importantly, Sharif is doing it with elan — no whip-lashing at Pakistan’s Pashas, no locking them up in dungeons in their dozens and throwing away the key. Curiously, he is seemingly carrying the Pakistani army leadership along in his historic journey.
No one says Sharif is tempting Fate. Nor is anyone warning him about the beguiling Sirens luring him to perdition.
Come to think of it, Sharif capitalized on the fateful error Musharraf made by returning to Pakistan last year from self-imposed exile under the wrong impression that he was a popular guy and a great inning awaited him in Pakistani politics.
Sharif simply stepped aside and let him come so that the judiciary, which the dictator had spited and humiliated while at the pinnacle of power, could get an opportunity to wreak vengeance.
Put simply, it is all the ‘due process of law’ exquisitely playing out. Yet, Sharif knows there is a strong case for Musharraf to be hanged until he’s dead, or at the very least given a life sentence. In fact, Sharif has to do nothing. He’s left Musharraf to the wolves.
Except, of course, Sharif has to see to it that the army top brass in Rawalpindi will not interfere with the ‘due process of law’. His choice of his namesake from Punjab as the army chief six months ago, therefore, made sense. All indications are that COAS General Raheel Sharif is bent upon following the precedent set by his predecessor General Ashraf Kayani that politics is best left to politicians.
Thus, the dramatic meeting between Prime Minister Sharif and COAS Sharif in Islamabad recently lends itself to interpretation, but the Pakistani pundits who are in the loop seem convinced that the civilian and military leaderships are on the same page over the Musharraf case.
If so, Musharraf case promises to be a game changer in Pakistani politics. The issue is not whether Musharraf will be hanged or not — not even whether he lives the rest of his life in Pakistan. Rather, it’s the trial itself.
Pakistan is writing history that anyone who usurps the constitution must be brought to book, whosoever it would be — even a Pasha.
The progression of the Musharraf case has profound implications not only for the future of Pakistan but also for the regional politics. India, too, is a stakeholder.
At the very least, if Sharif pulls this off, for the first time, the Indian leadership would know what number to dial up in Pakistan to get through to have a word in confidence.
To put it mildly, this fortuitous happening in Pakistan comes at a time when a new government led by Narendra Modi is widely expected to take over power in Delhi in another six weeks to eight weeks.
The Bharatiya Janata Party manifesto, which carries Modi’s stamp, hints at a creative neighbourhood policy, which cannot but involve making a serious attempt to reach an enduring settlement with Pakistan.
Indeed, it stands to reason that if Modi would have his way and ignore the advice and doomsday predictions of self-styled experts in the right wing opinion in the country, he is well-placed to put behind the timid foreign-policy approach of the Manmohan Singh government, which focused more on managing the equations with Islamabad rather than finding solutions to India-Pakistan differences.
To be sure, Sharif’s political consolidation in Pakistan could open up profound possibilities for the Modi government to rewrite the tortuous history of the subcontinent.
