Nawaz comes out of the closet
Thursday, April 23, 2009
The disquiet expressed by Nawaz Sharif over aspects of the Swat peace deal marks a significant break with his past public posture on the Taliban and offers a glimmer of hope for those seeking a united front to tackle the growing threat of militancy. In an interview to USA Today, the former prime minister was more critical than normal of the Taliban and their threat to export their harsh version of Sharia and capture power in other parts of the country. He stated unequivocally that any deal with the militants must not allow democracy to be derailed or the writ of the government to be challenged. This marks an important shift for a leader who has long been accused of being soft on the Taliban and displaying an unacceptable degree of ambivalence in his public stance on the threat the militants pose.
Two factors seem to have pushed Nawaz Sharif towards finally drawing this red line. First, the initial public euphoria over the Swat peace deal, which was seen as offering a glimmer of hope in ending the bloodshed in the area, seems to be diminishing. The inflammatory statements by Sufi Mohammad against parliament and the judiciary, the expansionist forays of the Taliban into districts neighbouring Swat and the continuing spate of suicide attacks have caused alarm bells to rings even among those initially willing to give the peace deal the benefit of the doubt. There has been a distinct shift in public opinion, not least in Punjab, Nawaz Sharif's power base. Ever the populist, Sharif seems to have sensed the changing public mood.
Second, and perhaps more significantly, the world is beginning to pay attention to Nawaz Sharif, particularly after his role in the lawyers' long march hit the headlines worldwide. For too long, the west had written off Nawaz Sharif as someone too close to the religious right in his approach towards the war on terror and the threat of extremism. In recent weeks, the former prime minister has seen a steady trickle of western notables knocking at his door, eager to rebuild links with a person they see as a potential future prime minister. Having disastrously put all their eggs in the Musharraf basket in the past, the west has clearly decided to hedge its bets this time round. Sharif's change of tune over the Taliban is clearly an attempt to dispel the western suspicion that he is a closet extremist at heart.
The break with the ambivalence of the past will strengthen the hands of those who have called for a broad national consensus to face the extremist threat. After all, the PML-N is the second largest party in the country and has a massive support base in Punjab. Nawaz Sharif's belated decision to come off the fence could be a sign that important sections of the population have finally decided to come out of denial mode and accept that the extremists are indeed knocking at the door.
Nawaz comes out of the closet
