While discussing his Panama leaks problem with his advisers and cabinet colleagues Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, say insiders, has taken to make frequent references to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's success in controlling the country's powerful military, and confronting his political opponents. The PM is obviously thinking if he could do that so can I. But it is rather late in the day for that. Besides, Nawaz Sharif and Erdogan have nothing in common except an authoritarian streak, which is not helping the Turkish President, either. Erdogan is intolerant of criticism, and uses high-handed methods to suppress opposition. According to Reporters Without Borders, Turkey "is currently the world's biggest prison for journalists." Surely our Prime Minister cannot emulate this example. Pakistan is not Turkey.
The Turkish example is relevant to the extent that like in Pakistan that country's military made repeated interventions in politics using the pretext of its constitutional obligation to protect Ataturk's secularist legacy; and also hanged an elected prime minister. Yet Erdogan managed to curb its power, which was not easy, especially for his Islamist Justice and Development Party. In fact, soon after the party won landslide electoral victory in 2002 and formed government, a coup attempt soon followed. Erdogan not only survived the attempt but also brought to trial alleged failed coup makers as well as scores of abettors, among them senior military officials as well as journalists and academics. He could push back the military and ensure an uninterrupted stay in power for so many years because the country under him saw an unprecedented and even-handed economic growth that brought prosperity to the general populace and improvement in social services, health care, and housing.
Nawaz Sharif, of course, is also a popularly elected leader - although the opposition has been challenging the last elections' legitimacy - but he has little to show for his interest in improving the quality of life for ordinary people or to deal with security challenges facing the state. He has repeatedly demonstrated poor leadership. Take the example of the political consensus-based 20-point National Action Plan that the government was to implement, and also the Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA) established in 2013 for intelligence sharing among various civilian and military agencies to help the government take timely action. Most of the vital NAP points remain unimplemented, which included ensuring against re-emergence of proscribed organisations; disallowing militant outfits and armed gangs to operate in the country: registration and regulation of religious seminaries; zero tolerance for militancy in Punjab; dealing firmly with sectarian organisations in Punjab; and revamp and reform of the criminal justice system. NACTA is still not fully functional. The lack of the PM's seriousness about these issue - widely seen as posing an existential threat to the state - is obvious from the fact just last month, he ignored a summary requesting a meeting of NACTA board of governors. So far the board has not met a single time.
The result is that what the government has been reluctant to do is being done by the soldiers. They have been carrying out intelligence-based operations against violent extremists and their facilitators in different parts of the country. They have also started linking terrorism with financial corruption treading on sensitive civilian toes. Although the Punjab government is averse to allow the paramilitary force, the Rangers, to conduct security operations along the lines of Karachi to rid the province of extremist elements, it won't even clear the no-go areas on its own. Just last month, it was the Army which overwhelmed the Chhotu criminal gang operating in southern Punjab's Rajanpur district after the situation had gotten beyond the government's control due to whatever reason. In short, either due to myopic vision and/or reasons of expediency the government has inadvertently been ceding space to the soldiers. This is a situation where the appropriate authority's losses have been turning into gains for the inappropriate one.
Sadly, the balance has kept tilting to the wrong side, which is making the Prime Minister worried as he finds himself beleaguered by the Panama Papers controversy involving his family, and looks for inspiration in the irrelevant example of Turkey. It is no less worrisome for anyone interested in the stability of this ever shaky democracy to read press reports of Tuesday's meeting between the Army chief and the Prime Minister. According to these reports during a one-on-one meeting, before some others joined in, Gen Sharif told PM Sharif that the protracted controversy over Panama Papers investigations was affecting governance and national security hence the issue needs to be settling urgently. Whether this is a reprimand or a gentle advice, it leaves one with a bad feeling. All the more so considering the follow-up announcements by the government that the PM - who had refused to accept the opposition parties demand that he come to Parliament to answer their questions - will be present in the National Assembly on Sunday to make a statement. Giving in to the opposition's demand the government also announced its willingness to negotiate the terms of reference for the proposed judicial commission to probe the Panama leaks.
It is up to the PM Sharif to establish the supremacy of civilian authority. The way forward is to resolve the issue at hand through democratic means. That will lend strength to the democratic system and the civilian authority under it. Anyone familiar with this country's chequered political history, certainly this third-time Prime Minister, is aware of the dangers any misstep at this point in time can lead to. Hopefully, he will be able to suppress the famous confrontational streak in him, and act in the greater interest of democracy, which would protect him too from unpleasant consequences.
saida_fazal@yahoo.com