Jamali cold-shouldered

Quite expectedly, Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali has failed to successfully persuade Nawaz Sharif to come to the fold of Muttahida Muslim League - at least of now.
As they met they were on different wavelengths. Jamali's failure was spectacular, especially when seen against the much-hyped and widely-speculated impending 'change' in Islamabad - so much so that his host, Nawaz Sharif, was missing from the post-parleys press conference and Jamali seemed more content and less bitter with the presence of Sardar Zulfikar Khosa. An upbeat Jamali was found insisting the PML (N) leadership has yet to say its last word on the issue of 'unification' of all Muslim Leagues. But Nawaz Sharif sounded much less sanguine when he told his visitor that on the question of unification/alliance he would be consulting his party leaders.
Should the two meet again Nawaz Sharif made no such suggestion. An unvarnished comment on the Jamali-Nawaz meeting should be that it was the proverbial nail in the coffin of Pir Pagaro-inspired Muslim Leagues merger-plan. Perhaps, Jamali was not fully informed of the deliberations of the Central Executive Committee of the PML (N) which met in Islamabad the last Friday. Or, the case may be that an optimistic or profoundly naïve Jamali thought he would win over Nawaz Sharif by his sweet words and gentlemanly demeanour.
From the very beginning, the PML (N) leaders smelt a rat in Pir Pagaro's move to unite Muslim Leagues, where at point of time even General Musharraf's proxies turned up. The move was suspected as a plot to divide the PML (N) votes. The nearest the PML (N) came to agreeing to be part of unified Muslim League was conditional in that the Chaudhrys of Gujrat were not welcomed. As to what is the minimum Nawaz Sharif would not give up is that 'all those who acted as Pervez Musharraf's henchmen will not be welcomed.' He is said to have told the Central Executive that 'all these people who had ditched the PML (N) after the coup and remained in important slots in nine years of Musharraf regime' will not be taken back.
But, as the say politics is the game of the possible it is quite possible that over the period he would agree to take back the deserters but only as 'individuals'. The merger of the Muslim Leagues, of which Jamali says he could be the heads, as of now has no political relevance. And, being a supporter of unification of various Muslim League factions means Nawaz Sharif accepting their independent existence, which he would not do.
In fact, Nawaz Sharif looks at the Muslim Leagues merger/alliance question from a far more detached position. He seems to be skeptical of viability of a unified or allied Muslim Leagues as political option for the country. If at this conglomeration comes to power it has nothing special that it can do what the present ruling coalition cannot. What next? A martial law - the MQM leadership has correctly concluded. Given a choice between military take-over and the corrupt and incompetent PPP-led coalition government Nawaz Sharif would go for the latter.
Without questioning the rationale of his probable choice for the second option one would also like to point out that Sharifs who are in power in Punjab have a legitimate vested interest in the continuity of the system. Of course over his long political career Nawaz Sharif's political philosophy has come to acquire strong moral and ethical dimensions, which tend to make him stand separate from the rest of the lot. No wonder then he told Jamali that he would hate to support any move that is essentially power-driven.
But given our peculiar political ambience Nawaz Sharif should be confronted with Hobson's choice. Should his commitment to uphold ethical politics by refusing to be part of the game changing moves be a source of strength for the present government which is widely perceived to be corrupt and incompetent. The available indicators suggest that he is already beset with this dilemma, his recent letter to President Zardari is a case in point.
The points that he has raised in his letter are genuinely reflective of broad public concerns and should the Zardari-Gilani system decide to consign them to limbo that would be seriously detrimental to the cause of democracy. Such is the state of people's plight that democracy tends to forfeit its popular appeal. For far less compelling the reasons or excuse the things have been sent packing. If Nawaz Sharif has cold-shouldered Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali one is not greatly surprised.