Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has stepped back from the brink by conceding the rights of the chief justice of Pakistan, Justice Sajjad Ali Shah. But if truth be told, this is due in large measure to the firm and principled position taken by President Farooq Leghari. At every stage of the senseless confrontation launched by Mr Sharif, he privately urged the PM and his various emissaries to comply with the CJ’s orders. At one stage, he flatly refused to “denotify” the CJ or countenance any move by the government to drag him before the Supreme Judicial Council. Indeed, when push came to shove last Friday following the SC’s order to the president to “notify” the five judges, the dye was cast when the president discreetly informed Mr Sharif’s emissaries that he would be constrained to obey the order if the government did not do so immediately.
The role of the army chief, General Jehangir Karamat, during this crisis was also exemplary. Although he would have much preferred to stay clear of the confrontation, General Karamat rose to the occasion when he was explicitly asked by the PM to lend his shoulder to a resolution of the crisis. The COAS, it is learnt, remained strictly “neutral”, even as he privately urged the main protagonists to see reason and end their warring in the larger interests of national security. Whether the constructive role informally played by the president and army chief in a moment of impending constitutional breakdown strengthens the case for activating the much-maligned CDNS, however, remains to be seen. Certainly, if the issue had been formally discussed threadbare by the Big-3 in a body such as the CDNS before it ballooned into an unprecedented constitutional crisis, we would have been spared the agony of the last three months.
Mr Sharif’s premeditated suicide attempt raises a host of uncomfortable questions. Who fingered him to rush headlong towards the precipice? Will he seek to dispense with their “services” now? Did cabinet members or party backbenchers proffer wiser council or did they lack the guts to speak their mind? How is the PM likely to react to the on-going “cases” against him in the SC? Is the crisis over?
By all inside accounts, it appears that the PM was held hostage by a small group of sycophants in his secretariat. Among these may be counted three senior, serving bureaucrats, one retired army colonel and a retired army major-general. All five constantly urged the PM to fight the CJ to the bitter end. Mr Sharif was also ill-advised by two retired supreme court judges who were made senators for services rendered in 1993. It is said that both gentlemen persuaded the PM that the CJ was “isolated” in the SC and were largely responsible for triggering the disgraceful abortive “coup” against the CJ within the SC.
Then there was the law minister whose exact role has escaped scrutiny because he chose to keep his mouth shut in public. But two facts about his conduct are now known. Before the PM and in PML party meetings, he was quick to denounce the CJ in pretty strong words. Before the mediators, however, he was wont to tread ever so softly, always disclaiming responsibility for the PM’s aggressive stance. It is also known that in his separate meetings with the PM and the CJ he was loathe to explain and articulate the full and exact viewpoint of the other to each of them. The fact is, the law minister’s conduct was thoroughly unbecoming of someone who has pledged to uphold the supremacy and majesty of the law.
The role of Mian Shahbaz Sharif and a number of cabinet ministers and advisors, like Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, remained “dubious” for a long time. On the one hand, they were in full agreement with the PM that the “CJ had gone too far and should be forcefully reined in”. On the other, they were quick to pick up the threads of the failed coup against the CJ and urge the PM to negotiate a “compromise”. Fortunately, when they saw that a compromise was out of the question and the government’s end was nigh, they were able to urge unconditional surrender.
There were, we are pleased to note, a few backbenchers who, even before the crunch came, were not afraid of speaking their mind before the PM and urging him to end the conflict by complying with the CJ’s orders. Two MNAs, Mr Ejaz Shaffi and Mian Khurshid Kasuri, stand out in this respect. Both gentlemen deserve praise for the courage of their convictions. Such people should be sitting in the cabinet instead of languishing out in the cold.
Mr Sharif could now be under pressure to “react” to the continuation of a number of cases against him in the SC. He would be foolish if he were to succumb to bad advice or “provocation” again. The prime minister is not above the law. And since there are no winners or losers before the law, only good can come from the law taking its course.