Nawaz’s gratuitous showdown with the military

The other day, the three-time former prime minister of Pakistan Mian Mohammad Nawaz Sharif took potshots at the Pakistan army on a number of counts, the foremost being the institution’s all-out support for Imran Khan-led government.

Addressing virtually, at the All-Parties Conference held on 21 September, Mr Sharif lashed out at the military and its agencies as the “State above the State”. In his no-holds-barred harangue, Mr Sharif virtually accused the country’s all-powerful military for a calamitous national security policy that is turning Pakistan into a global outcast.

Sharif’s words articulated the fear of a number of rational Pakistanis, or even the common man who is well aware of the fact that the current Imran Khan government is actually being run by the powers that be, and that he is only a puppet whose strings are pulled from the GHQ. They also believe that a hybrid martial law rather than a democratic government exists in Pakistan today.

But why the question is: why did Sharif say it and say it now? The answer ostensibly lies in the fact that the beleaguered Sharif has been pushed against the wall by the ones who actually brought him into power more than three decades ago.

Nonetheless, the interesting feature of Nawaz’s fusillade of blistering critique against the army is that he only speaks ill of it when he is either out of power or is living abroad in exile. He barely opens his mouth against the military or the establishment when he rubs shoulders with them or enjoys powers as prime minister. He only invokes the mantra of “give respect to the vote” when he finds himself or his government in trouble due to his financial shenanigans and malpractices.

However, the more important question is: will Nawaz Sharif succeed in his aim to change the public’s mindset and bring about a revolution—as it were—in the country’s body politic? The jury is out.