A Deeper Meaning

Mian Nawaz Sharif the deposed Prime Minister of Pakistan has finally been chargesheeted for abduction as well as attempted murder, hijacking and terrorism in an anti-terrorism court ironically instituted earlier by his government. It is alleged that Mr Sharif and his accomplices prevented a PIA flight carrying General Pervez Musharraf, now the country's chief executive and 200 other passengers from landing at Karachi air-port with a malafide intention. However the time lag of three months between Sharif's detention and formal chargesheet against him sparked hope that General Musharraf would, after an international wave of sympathy for Sharif, sober down from the strident attack on his victim and refrain from taking an extreme measure against him to the displeasure of world community. But now it seems that General has been moving in a calculated manner to dump Sharif forever. The charge of hijacking alone, if proved, can send Sharif to death row. And Pakistan's political history is not without a precedence of such vendetta.

Sharif's fate is widely considered a product of similar personal revenge by General Musharraf whose coup in October last year was triggered by Prime Minister Sharif's fateful decision to dismiss him as Chief of Army Staff when the latter was away from the country. General Musharraf ably supported by his Chief of General Staff was however able to pre-empt the Prime Minister and defeat his plan to have an army chief of his choice.

According to available press reports, General Aziz, a Musharraf loyalist, got the inkling of the order dismissing Musharraf on the morning of 12 October. That gave him sufficient time to put in action the contingent plan which must have been readily available in Pakistan Army tradition to topple the government by the time the order was published in the afternoon.

In retrospect, Musharraf had been Sharif's favourite when the latter fired General Jehangir Karamat two years ago. The Prime Minister eagerly picked up the apparently innocuous Mohajir least sensing that latter would be his nemesis later. With the love's labour lost between the two - the Prime Minister and General Musharraf - since Pakistan's retreat from Kargil a parting of the way loomed for some time. With the Prime Minister drifting away from Kargil commitment and the Chief of the Army Staff at least morally clinging to it also a clash between the two became inevitable on vital security matters. But no one anticipated it to come out in the open and taking an ugly shape. But Sharif's overconfidence duly bolstered by his dismissal of Karamat became a catalyst also in sacking General Musharraf and precipitated the crisis leading to Sharif's overthrow.

To be unceremoniously dismissed from a command slot is considered an insult few generals can stomach. Moreover, if Sharif's alleged conspiracy to murder Musharraf by not letting the aircraft carrying him land at Karachi is proved, it is a case of culpable homicide. Therefore the grudge of Musharraf against the former prime minister is understandable.

But the proceedings against Nawaz Sharif is fuelled by factors more than mere personal. In committing the fatal mistake of fiddling with the Army - dismissing its chief and replacing him with another of his choice - Mr Sharif inadvertently overstepped his authority in the context of Army's place in Pakistani polity. It was already the elastic limit of Army's patience when he dismissed Karamat.

In his post-Kargil series of actions Nawaz Sharif already overlooked the basic fact that it was the prerogative of the military to call the shots in any internal dispute and it was the ultimate arbiter of the affairs of the state in the event of controversy. The Pakistan Army considers itself as the last resort of redressal when things go wrong. Sharif committed something unpardonable by trying to take that place. And the Army is unlikely to relent on his plight.

Mian Nawaz Sharif was himself a military's protégé. It was General Zia's regime that propped him up in politics first in 1982 as a provincial minister in Punjab. Thereafter he swiftly climbed the ladder of his ascendancy till he became the country's Prime Minister in 1990. In 1993 Sharif was dismissed by President Ghulam Ishaq Khan but Supreme Court restored him to power. Superseding both of these actions the Army got both the president and prime minister to resign and fresh election was held. Unfortunately Sharif, at the height of his power, forgot the reach of Army power demonstrated many times even earlier.

Mr Sharif had won a landslide victory in the elections in 1997. Using that huge majority he could get the constitution amended to strip the president of his power to dismiss the prime minister. He got rid of an interfering Chief Justice by arranging his overthrow by his fellows. With the Army Chief on his side he had a showdown with the President who was compelled to resign. He got his family lawyer elevated to the presidency. The largest province Punjab was controlled by his brother. He got his arch rival Ms Benazir Bhutto convicted for corruption and ensured her exile from national politics.

The Army did not mind his grabbing the absolute power so long its own constituency remained autonomous and its unwritten writs were not interfered with. In 1988 Ms Bhutto was installed as Prime Minister only on condition that she would not interfere in Army promotions, nuclear and Afghan policies. Compared to that Sharif enjoyed much more freedom of action including influencing even the Kashmir policy. Army in Pakistan which has always been more loyal to its chief than to the elected government also accepted earlier his dismissal of a chief. This time when he attempted it, it was construed as an offence amounting to dividing the Army. There are few signs that the Army would be in a mood to condone it.