Sharif's troubles

As the euphoria over Pakistan's retaliatory nuclear tests dies down, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has to grapple with national dilemmas and domestic politics.

AMIT BARUAH
in Islamabad

PAKISTAN Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was able to galvanise the nation into rallying round him with the nuclear tests of May 28 and May 30, which were described as a "matching reply" to India. However, Sharif appears to have frittered away some of the political gains that he made. As the euphoria over the explosions dies down, he finds himself increasingly under pressure in domestic politics.

Sharif's moves after India conducted its nuclear tests on May 11 and May 13 were well-planned. He held discussions with Opposition political parties and Western leaders. On May 17, Foreign Secretary Shamshad Ahmed was sent on a special mission to China, which is viewed by Pakistan as its only "time-tested" ally.

AP
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif (second from right) visits the site of nuclear explosions at Chagai, 150 km north of Quetta city, on June 19.

Within hours of the May 28 tests, Sharif got President Rafiq Tarar to impose a state of Emergency in the country. All fundamental rights were suspended. Government spokesmen, however, claimed that the Emergency was not directed against Sharif's political opponents but was a precaution against a financial crisis in the event of international sanctions being imposed.

On June 11, Sharif presented a radical agenda before the people of Pakistan: he promised to take over the 12,500 hectares of land gifted to landlords by the British, crack down on those who defaulted on bank loans and utility bills, cut back on ostentation and, in general, make the nation aware of the difficult situation that it faced.

Sharif, however, committed a grave error: he included the construction of the Kalabagh dam on the Indus river as part of his national agenda, which was announced on the state-run television and radio. Apparently, the Cabinet was not taken into confidence on this; the provincial governments of Sindh and the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP), which vehemently oppose the dam project, too, were not consulted. The announcement provided an impetus to the fractured and demoralised Opposition. A few days after Sharif went on air, the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and the Awami National Party (ANP) announced the formation of an alliance in the NWFP to oppose the dam project.

The Sindh Government, in which the ruling Pakistan Muslim League(N) is the dominant partner, was up in arms: it could not support a project that was conceived by and for the Punjab province. Predictably, Sharif, a Punjabi, was at the receiving end. He was forced to make a statement that the dam would be constructed only after a national consensus was arrived at on the issue. The dam could cost upwards of $ 6 billion. No allocation was made for it in the 1998-99 Budget. The Sindh and NWFP Governments allege that the benefits accruing from the project will go only to the Punjab province.

It is not known what prompted the Prime Minister to make the sudden announcement on the construction of the dam. Sharif perhaps believed that the project could be quietly pushed through along with other measures proposed in the national agenda. If that was the case, then he made a grave miscalculation.

In a column published in the Dawn newspaper, Aziz Siddiqui, a human rights activist, argued that the country was in for some of its most trying days since the East Pakistan crisis (which resulted in the birth of Bangladesh). He wrote: "It isn't just the economic jam. The Kalabagh dam, the nuclear aftermath and the swagger these have bred induce a swagger that may become harder to reverse the more it acquires a momentum of its own. The official resolve to build the dam is daily reiterated at increasing length to drown the daily criticism of it...the Khabarnama (Pakistan television news bulletin)....has begun running minute-long clips already celebrating the national boon this monument of plenty is going to be...."

EVEN as Sharif fights his several domestic battles, there is no denying the fact that he has been one of the most powerful civilian Prime Ministers of Pakistan. He has been quite successful in keeping Opposition leader Benazir Bhutto on her toes. The Ehtesab (Accountability) Bureau has sent several cases relating to her "illegal" acquisition of wealth to the High Courts. She is no longer in a position to state that she has no cases pending against her. All her assets in Pakistan along with those of her jailed spouse Asif Ali Zardari, have been frozen by the Ehtesab benches of the Lahore and Rawalpindi High Courts.

ROBERT NICKLESBERG/GAMMA
Benazir Bhutto outside the Karachi jail, where her husband Asif Ali Zardari was housed for more than a year on corruption charges. He was released on a Rs. 10 lakh surety bail on June 23.

The PPP leader, who had non-bailable warrants issued against her by the Sindh High Court for non-appearance before it, has also had to deposit her passport with the court, effectively putting a stop to her travels abroad. There is little doubt that Benazir Bhutto is "feeling the heat" as the courts take up the cases against her.

The PPP, which formed an alliance called the Pakistani Awami Ittehad (PAI) with smaller parties, has been unable to function as an effective Opposition principally because it has championed no cause other than resisting the "campaign" launched against Benazir Bhutto by the Nawaz Sharif Government.

Benazir Bhutto's shifting stances on Pakistan's nuclear tests have not helped her either. She threw bangles into the crowd at a public rally in Hyderabad (Sindh) before the tests: she said Nawaz Sharif could wear them when he met his Indian counterpart Atal Behari Vajpayee. However, she changed tack soon after Pakistan conducted its own tests. "Today, we stand internationally isolated, politically divided and economically bankrupt," she told the National Assembly on June 15.

B.K. BANGASH/AP
Zardari appears at the Rawalpindi High Court on June 22.

A country that feels threatened in the wake of the Indian nuclear tests can hardly be expected to appreciate such "double standards".

Benazir Bhutto is aware that unlike during his previous term in office, Nawaz Sharif will leave no stone unturned to obtain a conviction against her from a court of law. If such a conviction comes, the Election Commission could disqualify her from Parliament.

There is little doubt that Benazir Bhutto is up against heavy odds. The international media have focussed considerable attention on her misdeeds, and this, expectedly, has not pleased the PPP leader one bit. When her Government was dismissed by President Farooq Leghari in November 1996, there was widespread relief in the country that a "corrupt" government was sent packing. The real challenge for the Nawaz Sharif Government now is to accord her the right to defend herself in a free and fair trial. The PPP has alleged that the cases against Benazir Bhutto are heard by particular judges.

Sharif also has the onerous responsibility of steering Pakistan out of the economic and political mess it finds itself in. Democratic practices have largely eluded Pakistan. And, even on a key issue such as the Kalabagh dam, which involves all provinces, Sharif has shown that he is no different from his predecessors.

Table of Contents

Home | The Hindu | Business Line | Sportstar