Nawaz Sharif's return

Former prime minister and PML-N supreme leader Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz are to return to Pakistan on July 13. The news surely has gladdened the hearts of the party's workers, supporters and sympathizers, demoralized by their absence in the wake of an accountability court's verdict in the Avenfield flats case. It may not have been an easy decision for them to make considering that Sharif and Maryam have been sentenced to 10-year and seven-year imprisonment, respectively. They are likely to get arrested upon arrival unless their lawyers manage to have the convictions suspended. In any event, it is a risk that Nawaz Sharif needs to take for his own political survival as also that of his party.
It is a make-or-break moment. Although as the party's new president, his younger brother Shahbaz Sharif is running its election campaign, the PML-N's fate in the upcoming general elections is closely tied to its supreme leader. Despite his disqualification in a Panama Papers-related case and now conviction in the Avenfield flats reference, he remains the party's vote getter. His defiant rhetoric still strikes a chord with his support base. Throughout the case proceedings, first in the Supreme Court and then in the NAB court, he had been pushing an anti-establishment narrative, casting himself as victim of a conspiracy, which he was determined to fight against. Any show of weakness in the present situation can badly damage the Nawaz League's electoral prospects. Rightly or wrongly, people in this country regard a politician's ability to withstand hardships, especially imprisonment, as a true test of his/her leadership mettle. Maryam, in fact, evoked that emotion when while announcing the return plan she took a jibe at former military ruler Pervez Musharraf, saying "some people use backache as an excuse to flee abroad," after proclaiming "we will sacrifice for the benefit of the nation and the generations to come." If going by these strong words, there is no chance of any change in the arrival plan. The father and daughter may go straight to the jail unable to lead the party's election campaign, but their presence even in jail is expected to energize its vote bank.
From the wider national perspective, also Nawaz Sharif and Maryam need to face the law like any other citizen. In her press talk, Maryam claimed "we will lead the struggle for democracy in Pakistan." Notwithstanding the Nawaz League's election slogan 'Give Respect to Vote', in a functioning democracy elections are only a means to an end - governance for the greater good of the people - not an end in itself. Democratic system is as strong as its institutions. It is imperative therefore that they comply with the legal process. They must come back and file appeals in the relevant courts, accepting whatever lies in store for them.