Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: He is the ‘power’ behind the uneasy throne—politically—who will do the backseat driving for his younger brother, the new Prime Minister-designate of Pakistan. And he is aware he is himself being backseat-driven by the Pakistan Army.
This, in a nutshell, is the current status of Mian Mohammed Nawaz Sharif, three-time PM, who took oath on Thursday as an ‘ordinary’ Member of the National Assembly (MNA) when the Lower House assembled for the first time after the split mandate of the February 8 General Elections, which produced a hung parliament.
With this, Sharif, who returned home in October 2023 after a four-year self-exile on ‘health grounds’ in London since 2018, is back in Parliament after seven long years. His previous terms as the PM include those in 1990-93, 1997-99, and 2013-17. Like other PMs, he also never completed his five-year term.
The media reported that, amid slogan-shouting, Nawaz took oath as an ‘ordinary’ lawmaker in the 16th session of Pakistan’s National Assembly, days after giving up his bid to lead the chaotic and nearly bankrupt South Asian country for a record fourth time.
Not that he did not want to become the PM a fourth time. The fact is, he did not want to sleep with his bete noire-turned-partner, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), whose top leader Asif Ali Zardari—“Mr. 10 Percent”—is set to return as Pakistan’s President following a deal with the Sindh-based political outfit to keep his another enemy, the jailed ex-PM Imran Khan, at bay.
It was by a quirk of fate following his outfit Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz)’s poor show in the electoral battle that led Nawaz, 74, to abandon his claim to the PM’s position to his younger brother Shehbaz, 72. As part of the deal, Nawaz ‘s daughter Maryam, 50, has taken over as the first woman Chief Minister of Punjab Province, the political-military hub of the restive nation.
“Historic visuals from the 16th National Assembly oath-taking ceremony!” the PML-N X handle posted along with the hashtag #MeraQuaidPhirSeAya and a 1:18 minute video, the media reported.
It showed the smiling elder Sharif entering Parliament, then shaking hands, as the party song Sher Aaya (Lion Nawaz Sharif arrives) played in the background.
According to the Pakistan Constitution, a party must win 133 out of 265 contested seats in the 266-member National Assembly to form a government.
Independent candidates – a majority backed by 71-year-old jailed former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party – won 93 National Assembly seats. The PML-N won 75 seats, the PPP came third with 54 seats, and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement Pakistan (MQM-P) fourth with 17 seats.
This fractured verdict forced the dynastic PML-N and PPP to ally along with four smaller parties to keep Khan’s PTI out of power.
The nomination of Shehbaz Sharif as the next PM surprised many within and outside the party. However, the PML-N leaders and Nawaz Sharif’s daughter Maryam Nawaz, reiterated that her father is not quitting politics and would continue to guide the party.