Nawaz shooting his mouth off to save his skin

This, then, is Nawaz Sharif ’s way of not going down without a fight. But this time — after comments on the Mumbai attackers, of course — the former prime minister of Pakistan has not just stunned the opposition and Press, besides giving the Indian media a field day, he’s also left his party scrambling to pick up the pieces.

First Shehbaz Sharif, chief minister of Punjab and president of Pakistan Muslim League- Nawaz (PML-N), tried to distance Nawaz from the controversy saying that he had been misquoted by the newspaper (which published the interview). That seemed like a natural fall-back strategy for the ruling party. But guess who had egg on his face early next morning when Nawaz, outside the accountability court, clung on to his position? “I asked a question, now I need an answer,” he said. Then the party completely lost the plot.

Pakistan Prime Minister Khaqan Abbasi, chairing a National Security Committee (NSC) special session shortly afterwards, had little choice but to agree with the brass, and categorically rejected Nawaz’s claim as “incorrect,” “misleading” and “fallacious.” But, if front-page news reports are to be trusted, he got a dressing down from Nawaz as he went straight from the NSC meeting to appraise the former PM of the gravity of the situation. You should “stand by me, instead of siding with others”, Nawaz is reported to have said, clearly referring to the security establishment that asked for the extraordinary session.

And that explains why the PM then held a hurried press conference, which the electronic media was not allowed to air for still unexplained reasons, and adopted a Shahbaz-like position. Nawaz, once again, had been misquoted by Indian and Pakistan media alike.

But then Nawaz flew to Buner, a small town close to Islamabad, and stuck to his guns once more, this time making his PM look silly. Addressing a large gathering, Nawaz went a step further and called for a national commission to establish, for once, who the country’s real traitors are. “I will appear, but actual traitors must also appear,” he demanded, so those found guilty can be “publically hanged.”

Now, with the election due in mid-July, core PML-N strategy continues to revolve around the person and family of Nawaz Sharif. That, in the absence of a proper election manifesto, makes Nawaz’s single-minded assault on institutions the party’s main agenda. But since Nawaz’s corruption trial will wind up more or less just before people go for the vote, and he’s squarely failed to account for “his loot stashed abroad,” as Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s Imran Khan puts it, there’s a good chance he’ll be convicted for corruption just when Shahbaz is counting the votes. And hit by a wave of desertions, party leaders are questioning Shahbaz’s loyalty to Nawaz when big brother is leading the party into a blind alley.

There are also rumours that some people inside the ruling party – quite close to Shahbaz Sharif, actually – have begun suspecting that Nawaz is not only out to hurt state institutions, but also his own party. As much as the party means to Nawaz, some say he’s not taken too well the prospect of the PML-N settling down nicely without the ‘N’ for too long. And should Shahbaz succeed the party, it will only rally more around little brother. He cannot bear the thought, according to the doubters, of the country or the party moving on without him. He’ll make everyone regret, allegedly, putting him aside.

Much of the opposition, especially Imran Khan, on the other hand, is convinced that Nawaz’s Mumbai-specific remarks were an SOS signal to the ‘international establishment’. He said words (about Pakistan) that they like to hear — even though he was not nearly as vocal when he was still PM. His narrative will come under discussion shortly at the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) as well, a multi-country alliance formed to check money laundering and terror-financing, which has grey-listed Pakistan amid threats of sanctions in case of further non-compliance.

“He’s telling them that he’s their man,” Imran has said repeatedly. “It’s his way of saying he’ll serve their purposes as long as they protect him, which means protect his wealth.”

Since Nawaz, for all intents and purposes, has pretty much put his cards on the table – attack judiciary’s outreach, expose military’s vulnerability, and opposition’s complicity – it is now for Shahbaz to decide just what line the party will take to the election. Some say he will stand by Nawaz even if it means adopting a losing strategy and having nothing to show on election day. But others, growing in number, feel that Nawaz’s goose is cooked. He’s not just staring serious prison time in the face, but could also be sidelined by the party. If he can’t keep quiet, they might want to keep him out altogether. Shahab Jafry is a senior journalist based in Pakistan

Since Nawaz, for all intents and purposes, has pretty much put his cards on the table, it is now for Shahbaz to decide just what line the party will take to the election.