The Panama Factor And The Imran Factor Have Coupled To Shatter Mian’s Dream Of MONARCHISING Pakistan’s Democracy

The only election that Mian Nawaz Sharif had actually and genuinely won was the one that had followed the fall of Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto’s government on November 4, 1996.
The said government was toppled as a result of a comprehensive ‘arrangement’ (or ‘deal’) between the PML (N) and the two key ‘players’ at that time—General Jahangir Karamat and President Farooq Laghari.
Barely three years earlier, the ‘Establishment’ had facilitated the fall of Mian Nawaz Sharif’s corrupt and arrogant regime, paving the way for BB’s return to power.
BB then again proved that it was in the OPPOSITION that she could excel outstandingly. In POWER she was a combination of misjudgments and misgovernance. Having worked for her in her electoral campaigns, it is my strong view that it was beyond the capacity or capability of the great lady to overcome the Zardari factor when in power.
Both times it was the Zardari factor that had led to her fall. The first time the damage was less lethal. Mian Nawaz Sharif had to seek the help of the Powers-That-Be to steal the 90-91 elections. The Election Commission was put virtually at MNS’s service to ensure that the alliance that BB had engineered was soundly trounced. I had the privilege of compiling and publishing a white paper on that election under the title HOW AN ELECTION WAS STOLEN. Later on Air Marsal Ashgar Khan’s famous petition surfaced on this very election.
In the 1997 election, MNS did not need ‘additional help’ to trounce the PPP. The inaction of the PPP activists and workers was enough. The Zardari factor had done wonders.
Apart from that election, MNS has always needed the help of the ‘Unseen Hands’ to emerge victorious.
Who doesn’t know that in the May 2013 election Mian Sahib had declared victory long before the votes were counted. The question that subsequently rose was:
WERE THE VOTES REALLY COUNTED?
For 2018 too, Mian Sahib has similar plans. He wants to have his own Election Commission, his hand-picked administration and his own set of rules to go through THE MOTIONS OF AN ELECTION.
Unfortunately for him, the Panama factor and the Imran factor have coupled to shatter his dream of MONARCHISING Pakistan’s democracy.