Carrying political rivalry too far
The issue of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s deteriorating health in prison has been agitated by his family for months but the government has either been making fun of his eating habits being responsible or portraying the alarm raised by the Sharifs as a ploy to get him out of incarceration and off the hook. In the process, government officials from Prime Minister Imran Khan downwards have been on the attack on the issue while reiterating their vow never to let corrupt elements go free. What the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf (PTI) worthies neglected to take account of was that there may be some truth in the Sharif family’s protestations that Nawaz Sharif’s health problems were getting worse behind bars. Had the government taken appropriate notice earlier and arranged the kind of medical attention they have now showered on Nawaz Sharif, it would not have faced its present embarrassment at having to eat its previous words and peddle furiously in the water to stave off direct or implied criticism that it had been negligent in the matter and that if anything God forbid happened to Nawaz Sharif in prison, it is the government that will be held responsible. This is an unnecessary pit the government has dug for itself and into which it has now ignominiously tumbled. Had it exercised some restraint in its earlier statements, a quality conspicuous by its absence in this government’s pronouncements, it would not have landed itself in the pickle it is now facing. Now, when things have reached a critical pass, including a reported heart attack, however minor, suffered by Nawaz Sharif on October 25, 2019, the government suddenly appears to have acquired a great deal of ‘sympathy’ for Nawaz Sharif on moral and humanitarian grounds, a narrative jarringly at odds with what we have grown accustomed to hearing over the last year and a half, if not longer.
The criticality and complexity of Nawaz Sharif’s afflictions, as reflected in the reports submitted by the medical board constituted to treat him, has persuaded the Lahore High Court to grant him bail in the Chaudhry Sugar Mills case on the grounds of ill health requiring treatment in hospital, while the Islamabad High Court has granted temporary bail in the Al-Azizia reference till October 29, 2019, when it has summoned a detailed medical report on Nawaz Sharif and directed the Punjab Chief Minister, Usman Buzdar, to appear in his personal capacity. The proceedings in both high courts proved a difficult test for the federal and Punjab governments as well as the National Accountability Bureau, especially in the Islamabad High Court where their representatives were repeatedly asked by the court whether they opposed bail for Nawaz Sharif or not, and if yes, were they prepared to take responsibility for his health and well being? All three institutions were stumped for an answer and with the greatest difficulty, produced a mealy mouthed response that they did not oppose bail.
The entire episode provides valuable lessons for the PTI government if it is willing to learn them. First, when the criticality of Nawaz Sharif’s health could no longer be ignored, brushed away or even made the butt of crude jokes, the government was forced to entertain a humiliating U-turn in the tone and content of its statements. In the process it tried to hide behind a suddenly found soft corner for ‘poor, suffering’ Nawaz Sharif, an attitude whose contrast with the harshness of the past, especially recent days when the prisoner’s health was rapidly deteriorating, as well as the ‘shield’ of the courts and their independent decisions, to which the government declared itself bound. This is an object lesson in the perils of hubris, arrogance, and the tendency of the PTI government to carry political rivalry a step too far to be acceptable. The only silver lining in the whole government farce is that at least it has woken up (just in time, we hope) to reality, showing willingness to modify its policy or attitude.
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