Time For More Of The Same

Don’t expect a radical India policy from likely PM Imran

PAKISTAN: 2008, 2013 and now 2018—ano­ther election, perhaps another government. But will things really change in the country domestically or in its external orientation? Or will khaki continue to be the colour of the country as it always has been, except for a brief opportunity after the decisive defeat of 1971, which a charismatic leader squandered, or a fleeting moment in 1998, which flattered only to deceive when a gentlemanly army chief, to the chagrin of his officers and troops, decided to follow the democratic principle and put in his papers?

The election campaign and process has been dark, vicious and violent. It has been symptomatic of the nature of Pakistani politics since the 2013 national elections, which witnessed Nawaz Sharif’s party, PML(N), sweep Punjab and consequently, given the province’s overwhelming weight in all aspects of Pakistan’s national life, comfortably form the federal government; Sharif became prime minister for the third time. The Zardari­Bhuttos remained confined to Sindh while Imran Khan did well to gain a majority in Khyber­ Pakhtunkhwa and also put up a bet­ter­ than ­expected show in Punjab.

Unreconciled with the results, Khan complained of widespread rigging by the PML(N). His party’s public agitations, including a lockdown of Islamabad in 2014, had the army’s tacit support. Its animus towards Sharif—rooted in the souring of their ties in the early 1990s and exacerbated by Pervez Musharraf’s coup—grew because of his desire to take control of the country’s India policy and pursue cases against Musharraf. The army got its chance in 2016 when the Panama Papers revealed that the Sharif family owned firms and property abroad.