Nawaz Sharif’s ideological shift

Addressing a public meeting organized by Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) at the Ayub Stadium Quetta to commemorate the 44th death anniversary of Khan Abdul Samad Achakzai, former prime minister Nawaz Sharif lashed out at the “PCO judges” who disqualified him and termed him dishonest. “Those who had taken the oath under the PCO (Provisional Constitution Order) called me dishonest.” He continued with the litany that he was disqualified for not taking a salary from his son’s company in the Panama Papers case…The country did not belong to any institution, but the people who were the ones who could decide its destiny. The people will take to the streets if anything happens to democracy and the Constitution.” Nawaz Sharif bitterly criticized judiciary and establishment, and even threatened a long march for ensuring rule of law and the sanctity of the vote.
But even his supporters like Habib Akram analyst was surprised over the statement of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif when he said that his bond with Mehmood Khan Achakzai was an ideological one, as he had always fought against undemocratic forces and dictators, adding that he would never abandon the PkMAP leader. He perhaps forgot that Mehmood Khan Achakzai follows the ideology of his father Abdul Samad Achakzai, who was member of the Indian National Congress and known as Baloch Gandhi, and had campaigned for Pashtun autonomy in a united secular India, along with Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan (Bacha Khan) in the then North-West Frontier Province. It has to be mentioned that it was the time when Quaid-e-Azam was waging struggle for separate homeland for the Muslims of the sub-continent, whereas Abdul Samad Achakzai was toeing the Congress line, which was against the Muslim League and Quaid-e-Azam.
It is strange that Nawaz Sharif has lately starting talking about PCO judges, whereas he had launched the long march in support of former chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry who was a PCO judge. In 1999 he was nominated as Chief justice of the Balochistan High Court by the President Rafiq Tarar. The same year, he took oath under the then Chief of Army Staff General Pervez Musharraf when ascended to Supreme Court in 2002, and validated the LFO ordnance No. 2002. The term ‘PCO judges’ refers to those members of the judiciary who had given verdict in favour of Pervez Musharraf who had suspended the Constitution in 1999, and then again in 2007. Nawaz Sharif did not mind military’s interference so long as military was on the ‘right side’, as it happened on 16th March 2009 at the time of long march vis-à-vis restoration of deposed judges.
Charter of Democracy was a charter of hypocrisy. Point 3 (a) of the COD stated: “The recommendations for appointment of judges to superior judiciary shall be formulated through a commission, which shall comprise of the following: i. The chairman shall be a chief justice, who has never previously taken oath under the PCO. ii. The members of the commission shall be the chief justices of the provincial high courts who have not taken oath under the PCO, failing which the senior most judge of that high court who has not taken oath shall be the member.” Yet he had started a long march for reinstatement of judges and Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry – a PCO judge. Anyhow, there is a lot of deceit and deception in politics especially in Pakistan; and despite signing the Charter of Democracy (CoD), both the PPP and the PML-N leaderships had betrayed each other.
Shifting poles, changing positions and backing out of the promises and agreements are norms of our politicians and political parties. After signing the CoD, PML-N demanded that the MMA be inducted in the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy (ARD), which was opposed by the PPP on the grounds that the MMA had played a pivotal role in passage of 17th amendment. In the face of opposition by the PPP, the major component of the ARD, the PML-N had then formed All Pakistan Democratic Movement (APDM) on the ruins of the ARD. Later, when the APDM decided to boycott the elections, Mian Nawaz Sharif deemed it appropriate to participate in general elections when late Benazir Bhutto had paved the way for herself and Mian Nawaz Sharif to return to Pakistan. And the PML-N ditched the APDM and decided to participate in elections.