Emerging from the depressing shadows of a forced exile, Mian Shahbaz Sharif has moved fast to get a firm grip of the biggest province as its chief minister.
After his return to Pakistan, he re-organized the party, held big public shows, won largest number of seats in the province, fought his way out of malicious criminal cases standing against him, picked the most trusted caretaker, got a clean chit from the Election Commission and filed papers to be elected as an MPA. Who could dare contest against him?
It’s not that no one could, his rivals knew well he could not be defeated and if they did, he could hop from one constituency to another like a ping-pong ball. For his quick succession, the PPP lent its unconditional support and put no impediment to the seat of power in the province.
The indicators he has given after his oath will have a salutary impact on Punjab-Center relations, PML-N-President relations and Punjab-Punjab relations. It augurs well that he wants to keep a working relationship with the President despite incarceration of his family and all the rigors it faced. He has praised Shaheed Benazir Bhutto for laying a supreme sacrifice at the altar of democracy. People of Punjab in particular and of Pakistan in general have greeted his first statement. He has gone one step ahead of the rhetoric of his elder brother, Mian Nawaz Sharif, against the President. Shabaz Sharif has thus heralded a new era of smooth political partnership and the province is likely to get the taste of better governance and public service.
Punjab direly needed him after a savvy, polite, low-profiled Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi. Mian Shahbaz Sharif is a knee-jerking hard task master who is fond of rough riding. His previous tenure was cut short and he could not perform to his full bloom as the brothers had opted ‘to play with fire’. After removing the second army chief unceremoniously, they got the hit back. His first speech as chief minister indicates he is wiser after the event. It maybe that Mother Nature wanted them to return as redeemed leaders of a nation dying to be led by able, sincere and dedicated leaders, i.e., if they really are.
The reason why Punjab desired him most is that during the last quasi-democratic rule (2002-2007) Punjab moved nowhere. If it made some progress in some areas, it didn’t keep pace with times at many fronts. People got sick and tired. They devotedly voted against the rule of Chaudhrys of Gujrat. It was the writing on the wall. Chaudhrys could have performed better at the polls but the Q-League candidates had been waiting for that ‘miracle’ to happen which is best explained in Punjabi as “jhurloo”. However, the custodian angels of Pakistan, this time, opted to sit aside under a new army chief and the Q-League lost the election more miserably than expected, given the level-playing field.
Now that Mian Shahbaz Sharif is in the steed, he will be facing a lot of challenges. Apart from keeping his purse tight, he must give top priority to the law and order. Under the new IG, Punjab Shaukat Javed, who is known as a better professional than many others, Mian Shahbaz has already conveyed his cognizance of the matter.
He must be aware of the fact that that there is a nexus of the Jihadi outfits with the underground crime world. Police never reached out to their dens to cut their umbilical cord. Mr Javed, who also served as IB chief in Punjab, should be aware of the problem and the predicament. Secondly, he must get rid of favorite SHOs.
Mian Shahbaz should see to it that all political strings of the criminal world that had been the problem during the last eight years are cut off. No politician should be allowed to keep his favorite officials in their area of influence. Recommendations of the Police Commission must be enforced for the better security of people.
In short, Mian Shahbaz should give police a free hand if he wants police to deliver. His success depends directly on how he is able to bring down the rising crime graph. Last time he had a few criminals killed in police encounters but he got himself entangled in a murder case at Sabazar, Lahore.
The younger Sharif must have learnt during his exile in Europe about the sanctity of public money. He has indicated that he would be mindful of extravagance but he should also see to it that public money should not be spent on self-aggrandizement as it had happened in the past.
The chief minister should declare his assets publicly. The brothers have already created Sharif Group of Industries out of Ittefaq Group. They have already built palatial bungalows at Jatti Umra in the outskirts of Lahore. What else they need? It is just hoped that they would put an end to their lust for wealth and serve the people with dedication and selflessly. If they do that, they will reap the political dividends themselves.
If roads of Lahore are an indicator, where repair work has re-started after a long gap, Mr Sharif means business and good delivery. There were ditches on the roads that kept snarling for five years at least. They are being repaired. Footpaths, which had started to lose their traces, are being re-built. Encroachments are being removed.
The chief minister has already cobbled his team of bureaucrats and they have started delivering, too. The younger Sharif wants to eliminate VIP culture. It is high time public grievances were heard by officers in position themselves. The period of sitting in cool offices and driving sleek cars should end. Bureaucracy must serve people. If it doesn’t, nobody else but the PML-N will be loser.
But the chief minister will need to be more democratic than ever before. The coalition partner will be ogling at his moves. He will have to see that merit, not cronyism, should be the order of the day. He is known for his dictatorial style of rule but he must have become more tolerant and ready to listen to the other view. Shahbaz Sharif will have to satisfy the opposition as well as the coalition partner.
One of the most difficult tasks for him will be the culling of die-hard, fundamental and rigid values professed and propagated by the clerics. If education is going to be his forte for the enlightenment, he must be able to lift the pall of dark ages of Islam which have not ended yet.
The chief minister must have studied why Muslim empires had the downfall. Ottomans, Spanish and Mughal empires succumbed to fundamentalist leanings. Averroes and Avicenna, the greatest Muslim scholars of the Islamic Golden Age were hounded and exiled by the mullah. Pakistan is once again standing at the threshold to take a jump as a modern nation. Mullah is holding it back.
Mian Shahbaz Sharif should be able to wrest control of the province from their clutches and lay the foundation of a liberal and modern Islamic state as the key player of the coalition government in the biggest province.
It’s a pretty tall order but Shahbaz, as his name signifies, can fly from crest to crest. People pin great expectations from him.
