Political fallout

There was a sense of inevitability to the indictments handed down against former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his family.         On Thursday, Nawaz, his daughter Maryam Nawaz and son-in-law Captain Safdar were indicted by an accountability court in the London apartments case, while on Friday       Nawaz was indicted for holding assets beyond his means in offshore companies. Both the indictments were expected, having been all but ordered by the Supreme Court in its Panama Papers investigation report. That was certainly the reaction of the PML-N, with Maryam Nawaz saying it reminded her of the days when dictators would go after her father. Hyperbolic though that may be, the PML-N is convinced that it is being deliberately being targeted. It believes the accountability court cases have been rigged against it and there is a larger game being played to bring it down. Whether or not that is true, it has been received as accepted wisdom and is leading to splits within the party. The attempt to eke out political mileage is obvious everywhere including within the PML-N. A faction of the PML-N – about 40 current and former members of the Punjab Assembly and one sitting National Assembly member, Riaz Hussain Pirzada –     now wants Nawaz Sharif to step aside as party chairman and allow his brother Shahbaz to take over         till the end of the former’s legal troubles. To many observers, that essentially translates into the end of Nawaz – and his family’s – political career.

Pirzada was one of those PML-N members from southern Punjab who were named as being close to militants in a report attributed to the Intelligence Bureau – which the government has denounced as fabricated. Quite a few of the others leading the revolt against Nawaz now were also named in the so-called report. These members started becoming vocal after that affair came into being – as if it had anything to do with what they are doing now.         Shaikh Rashid, on the other hand, has long been claiming contact with them, and ‘predicting’ and looking forward to the revolt of the 40. This shows how the problems Nawaz faces are not only legal. The signal sent by his indictments is that of a leader struggling to hold on.         A possibly deeply damaging rift between Nawaz Sharif and his younger brother Shahbaz Sharif is also now becoming increasingly visible, with lines of alliance also drawn up. Maryam of course stands with her father, Hamza Shahbaz with his. The PML-N may claim that differences are a part of democracy; but differences within a single party, led since its inception by a single family, aired out so publicly will obviously draw a great deal of attention. In many ways, these factors have surmounted the issue of corruption and accountability. That means that the process currently under way will do very little to solve this issue within the country or set an example for the future.