The Frontier Post
The Sharif Brothers do have a grouse. We empathize with them and have even voiced our sentiments on this account. But protest is one thing; it is at once legitimate and acceptable. Confrontation is nonetheless altogether a different ball game; it is inherently destructive and hence absolutely unacceptable. And completely abhorrent is incitement of people to civil disobedience, as has done Mian Nawaz Sharif unforgivably. By provoking the civil servants and the police force in Punjab to defy the state writ and to disobey the state authority, he has definitely added no feather to his hat. Rather, he himself has torn asunder his donned mantle of martyrdom, showing himself to be what he intrinsically is: a power-hungry politico; no venerable statesman. By instigating the government employees to rebel and revolt, he indeed has forfeited much of the public sympathy that the apex court's ruling had drawn him and his younger sibling, Shahbaz Sharif. This foolhardiness he will keep ruing for long, as the hurt he has inflicted on his person in the popular public eye is hard to heal, so grievous is the hurt. Pakistan, after all, is no real estate or a fiefdom of Nawaz Sharif, as it isn't of Asif Zardari. Nor is it a battleground for the two to wage and fight their dirty political wars on. The homeland it is of 160 million people, who hold it dearest to their hearts and fret concernedly about its security and integrity at the slightest sign of a threat to it. And in these days their country is veritably pitched in a precarious existential threat, both internally and externally. Whichever direction they look at, they see this threat staring their beloved homeland in the face with its vile jaws wide open. So they are deeply worried. And it could only be a sweet delusion of Nawaz and of Zardari that the people are indulgent spectators of their political war. They are not. It is only scorn they have for their repulsive show. Indeed, they are angry and getting angrier; for, as their homeland is slipping deeper into an international conspiracy's lap to hurt it cripplingly, these two are getting embroiled irreconcilably in their own politically-motivated personal fracas. And why indeed should the people get involved in their squabbles when they find both the chips of the same block? Over a year has elapsed since the poll and the restoration of "democracy", whatever it is, they see neither of the two any much concerned about their weal and welfare. Nawaz is craftily touting up his own favourite causes as the people's causes, which they are not. The people's agenda is diametrically different from his agenda. It is their urgent needs and demands that come to them uppermost. But these figure only for lip service in his scheme, driven wholly by his own political appetites and power projects. And Zardari is yet to lay out a coherent state policy for the people's progress and advancement. His government is just chugging off without any direction, without any clear-cut destination. It is mere ad-hocism that characterises his rule. Not as yet has he unveiled any plan for educating the nation's children, for the citizens' healthcare, for the labour's welfare, and for the peasants' weal. No reforms in any sector has he announced and put in place. It seems as if he has abandoned the country to take its own course and the people to fend for themselves. So if Nawaz or Zardari thinks the people are dying for him, he is badly mistaken. They are not. Neither are they enamoured of Nawaz nor of Zardari. Both live in their own core party constituencies; beyond they are just nobodies. They would do well to face up to this compelling reality and act accordingly. With his stridency, Nawaz has just opened up the floodgate to street violence. Already, clashes between party workers of PPP and PML (N) have started, which potentially may flare up into a conflagration, if not scotched right now. One hopes sanity will prevail on both, sooner than later. Nawaz shouldn't overshoot himself; political avenues he should explore for his grouses' gratification. Zardari shouldn't go for an overkill, which surely will boomerang on him; he must be respectful of compelling political ground realities. Both must know that the nation has a resounding no for a political war. It already has too many monstrosities to grapple with. And it would do without one more.
Saved from: http://www.thefrontierpost.com/News.aspx?ncat=ed&nid=262&ad=28-02-200
Dated: Saturday,February 28, 2009, Rabi-ul-Awwal 02, 1430 A.H.
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