Pakistan Opposition Indicts But Still Supports Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif

Contrary to the news and editorials in Pakistan's hyper-partisan media, the fact is that protesters led by PTI leader Imran Khan and PAT chief Tahir ul Qadri have already achieved many of their key objectives, including the following:

1. Going by the speeches of Aitzaz Ahsan, Khursheed Shah, Javed Hashmi and other parliamentarians at the joint session, there is broad agreement that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his ruling clique are guilty of abuse of power, corruption and nepotism, the charges leveled by PTI and PAT against the ruling Sharif family.

2. The speakers at the joint session,  particularly Aitzaz Ahsan, also believe that Nawaz Sharif has violated the constitution by placing shipping containers in an attempt to stop PTI and PAT marches.

3.  They said that the last general elections held in May of 2013 which gave Nawaz Sharif's PMLN party majority in the parliament were massively rigged as alleged by Imran Khan.

Sen. Aitazaz Ahsan's Convoluted Logic 

However, what is most surprising is that the same speakers who indicted Nawaz Sharif also pledged to stand by him and urged the Prime Minister to not resign. They argue that  they are defending Pakistan's constitution and democracy by supporting Nawaz Sharif to remain Prime Minister of Pakistan. This stand by the PPP and other parties, particularly by Senator Aitzaz Ahsan, raises the following questions:

1. If Senator Aitzaz Ahsan and some of his fellow parliamentarian truly believe that Nawaz Sharif is guilty as charged, then how is he qualified to hold the office of the Prime Minister?

2. Will they, Aitzaz Ahsan and others, use constitutional means to remove Mr. Sharif from office based on the charge sheet that they have laid out in their speeches to parliament?

3. If they support electoral and governance reforms in Pakistan, how would they go about pushing for it while Nawaz Sharif and his family remain in power?

This is Nawaz Sharif's third term as Pakistan's Prime Minister. Given the history of Nawaz Sharif's behavior in office, is there hope that any serious electoral or governance reforms can take place on his watch? This is the key question that those who oppose his resignation must answer.

Here's a description of a video discussion on this subject: Have PTI and PAT dharnas succeeded in their objectives? Did Pakistan Parliament Joint Session speeches indicting Nawaz Sharif help or hurt PMLN government? Will current crisis lead to radical reforms in electoral process and governance demanded by Imran Khan and Tahir ul Qadri in Pakistan? Is Modi aligning himself with Japan and US against China in the new great game in Asia? Viewpoint From Overseas host Misbah Azam (www.politicsinpakistan.com) discusses these questions with panelists Ali Hasan Cemendtaur and Riaz Haq (www.riazhaq.com)

https://vimeo.com/105405781

http://youtu.be/Enyny6SB150



Pakistan Political Crisis Resolution; Modi's Attack on China from WBT TV on Vimeo.


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Pakistan Army's Contingency Plans in Response to Escalation in Political Crisis

As the protest marchers led by cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan's PTI and powerful cleric Tahir ul Qadri's PAT enter Islamabad, the political crisis in Pakistan appears to be escalating amid serious attempts to defuse it. There has been some progress in averting street violence on the streets of the nation's capital but the outcome remains far from certain. 

Pakistan Army Chief Gen Raheel Sharif

If Pakistan's history is any guide, the nation's military will most likely be the final arbiter in the event that the crisis continues for an extended period of time. The Atlantic Council's Shuja Nawaz is a younger brother of Pakistan's former Army Chief late General Asif Nawaz Janjua. He continues to have close ties with top military brass in Pakistan. He personally knows Pakistan's current Army Chief General Raheel Sharif and some of the corps commanders. Nawaz says the Pakistani military always has contingency plans to deal with all possible crises, including political unrest, that could threaten national security. Such plans are triggered into action by a series of events included in them. 

In the current crisis, there is a range of possible military responses. Military intervention could be soft as seen in Kakar model or the Kiyani model.  The Kakar model is named after General Abdul Waheed Kakar who forced the quarreling President and Prime Minister in 1990s to resign and hold fresh elections under a caretaker arrangement. The Kayani model refers to the phone call by Gen Kayani in 2009 to stop PMLN's march by assuring them the former Chief Justice Mr. Iftikhar Chaudhry will be restored to his post by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani. 

A soft intervention is much more likely given the military's current focus on Operation ZarbeArb in FATA to rid Pakistan of the Taliban and other terrorists who have claimed the lives of over 50,000 Pakistanis in recent years. 

In the unlikely event that soft intervention fails, the military could be forced into directly taking power for a period of time to bring back some semblance of order.   

Will escalating political crisis draw Pakistan Military into the fray? How will Gen Raheel Sharif and his corp commanders handle the situation if the politicians fail to resolve the crisis? Mr. Shuja Nawaz, Pakistan's top expert and author of books on civil-military ties, joins ViewPoint from Overseashost Faraz Darvesh and panelists Misbah Azam (politicsinpakistan.com) and Riaz Haq (www.riazhaq.com)

Here's a video discussion on the subject of possible military intervention in Pakistan:

 https://vimeo.com/103522159 


Pakistan Army's Contingency Plans to Handle Escalating Political Crisis; Future of Democracy After PTI Azadi March from WBT TV on Vimeo.



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