ISLAMABAD, 15 May 2004 — Within two hours of his arrival in Pakistan, Punjab’s former Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif was deported by the Pakistani authorities. The deportation was a foregone conclusion. The establishment had told him clearly that he would merely be a transit passenger en route to Jeddah. His smooth transfer from the Gulf Air plane to the Pakistan International Airline plane flying to Jeddah had been managed very smoothly. As Shahbaz Sharif came down from the plane he was given arrest warrants by senior police officials. They then directed him toward the plane parked nearby. Upon inquiring why he was not being taken to a prison in Lahore, he was told that National Accountability bureau also required him in some cases. Perhaps twenty minutes into the flying time Shahbaz realized he was on his way to Jeddah.
Of an incident which was so short-lived and indeed predictable five factors are noteworthy. One is that the December 2000 deal struck between the Saudis, the Sharifs and the unwilling Pakistani establishment was not to be violated. President Musharraf had remained determined.
With all their affection for the Sharifs, the Saudis have given a categorical assurance to Pakistan government that they will impose a ten-year quarantine period on the Sharifs. The last deviation from the deal took place in 2003 when President Musharraf personally gave permission for Shahbaz to leave Saudi Arabia for the United States on medical grounds. Against this backdrop Shahbaz Sharif’s deportation to Saudi Arabia must not come as a surprise. The second issue deals with legality and Supreme Court judgment. Although the judgment does uphold the right of Shahbaz Sharif as a citizen of Pakistan to return home, the fact is that the three-way deal in December 2000 was initiated by the Sharif family. Indeed Shahbaz Sharif was a reluctant party to this deal but government’s condition of “all or none” left him with no choice but to accompany a brigadier who had come to collect him from the Karachi jail and transport him to the Islamabad airport where he embarked on his fateful journey to Saudi Arabia.
Shahbaz could have exercised his free will and opted out of the deal. Yet strong family ties and the pressure from his aging father prevented him. Evaluating Shahbaz Sharif deportation within legal parameters may be misplaced.
The third factor relates to the government’s reaction to the news of Shahbaz’s arrival. The Punjab government exercised its power with no holds barred in areas where a small PML(N) crowed was assembling to head toward the airport. In limited spots in the old city, the PML supporters took to stone pelting to break the cordons. The police in some cases responded with tear gas. Behavior unbecoming of women constables intimidating PML workers was reported in the press. Earlier around one thousand or more PML (N) party men were arrested. The airport had been completely cordoned off. Hence the Shahbaz Sharif affair began and ended with a lot of sound and fury.
The fifth factor relates to Shahbaz Sharif’s future politics and the broader political context of Pakistan. By arriving in Pakistan despite all odds Shahbaz, the former successful chief minister of Punjab, was able to rid himself of the allegation that unlike the Bhuttos, he opted for an easy way out by returning. He has demonstrated that he would be willing to take the tough road of politics. However at a time when the PPP and PML (Q) are appearing more attractive to the aspiring MNAs and MPAs, it may be unlikely that Shahbaz Sharif’s two-hour stay in Pakistan would galvanize his seventeen member PML (N) to greater political heights. But Shahbaz Sharif as a political man may have acquired some additional political stature.
Yet as things stand in Pakistan today, the irony is that Shahbaz may have lost out on the residual goodwill that existed for him in his individual capacity as an outstanding provincial administrator. After all the establishment moves are the name of the game in Pakistan politics. Confined now to Jeddah and threatened by ill-health, Shahbaz will have to pray for another day of truce between him the establishment and other political forces in Pakistan. There was an unstated truce on a personal level that existed between the president and the Shahbaz family on non-political matters. For now may be all bets are off.
— Nasim Zehra is Harvard fellow, Harvard University Asia Center, Cambridge Mass.
