Imposition of Sharia law in Swat by the NWFP government has given birth to differences between the government and the establishment, leading to political wrangling between the two major political parties and restoration of deposed judiciary.
Sources in the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Central Executive Committee (CEC) told Business Recorder on Tuesday that the establishment got a wrong impression that the government was misleading the Washington administration on the agreement relating to the imposition of Sharia law in the NWFP.
The establishment, said the sources, assumed that the government was conveying to the US administration that the establishment was forcing it to endorse the NWFP governments agreement on Sharia law. An angry establishment, therefore, approached the opposition camp to support the lawyers long march for restoration of deposed chief justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry.
According to the sources, the establishment was angry to the extent that it was even ready to take extreme step against Presidency, but the timely intervention of Washington administration averted from being worsened. "Both the establishment and the NWFP government were in favour of implementation of Sharia law in the Swat," said the sources.
"However, the government not only refused to validate it, but also extended an impression to Washington that the establishment was pressing upon the government to validate it at the earliest," they added. According to the sources, the lawyers movement grabbed the attention of general public and they ignored the developments taking place in the wake of Sharia law in Swat.
The opposition parties also joined the lawyers during the presence of the Army Chief in the US, and strengthened the movement. Earlier, it may be noted, the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) was avoiding the lawyers long march, stating that they had not been consulted before deciding about the sit-in in Islamabad.
The imposition of the Governors Rule on Punjab in the wake of disqualification of Sharif brothers added fuel to the fire and the situation headed to the point of no return. Both the government and the establishment were at the loggerheads amid furious stance of the PML-N and a situation arose where the "minus one formula" became popular among political circles of the country.
A timely intervention of the US administration, said the sources, resulted in a reconciliation move launched by the Prime Minister, Chief of Army Staff and the PML-N chief. Further, added the sources, the US administration also made clear that the "minus one formula" would not be acceptable in any case. Meanwhile, the public mood also played due role and the concerned forces had no option but to bring the political developments to a logical end.