Totally unfit for democracy
Despite being in power for the third time, Nawaz Sharif has yet to realise that a country with 190 million population cannot be run like a small family business concern. If a PM ruling a modern state was to follow the micromanagement based model of a small enterprise, run with the help of handpicked and pliant relatives by an arrogant family elder whose directives must not be challenged, disasters would not be not far behind.
The confrontation with the PTI and PAT had resulted from this highly personalised and arrogant style of running the country. Imran Khan’s original demand of reopening the four constituencies was rejected out of hand. Tahirul Qadri who had a considerable following received the kind of treatment that characterises military rule than democracy. Imran Khan and Tahirul Qadri, who were endowed with similar inflated egos, turned out to be the government’s nemesis.
It was arrogance that led Nawaz Sharif to remain absent from Parliament for months. What was the need to listen to noisy speeches when a docile Cabinet was willing to do the PM’s bidding? It was only after the PTI and PAT, seemingly in collusion with the offstage players, threatened to drag Nawaz Shrif out of the Prime Minister House that he sought the Parliament’s support. The PM and his copycats in the Cabinet attended several consecutive National Assembly sittings from beginning to the end, having an earful of the critical comments from the Opposition.
Once the crisis was over, it was again business as usual.
The style of governance led to the petrol crisis followed by an unprecedented power breakdown. In both cases the government found scapegoats. A storm is again gathering. Pakistan Bar Council has announced a countrywide strike against the 21stamendment. There is a likelihood of the religious parties also chiming in. The military courts were accepted by many legislators under duress. With no judicial commission in sight, Imran Khan too might use the situation to give another jolt to the government. The PML-N, it appears, will face crisis after crisis till the end of its tenure.
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