ate last Friday, the Sharifs arrived in London, once again. Another way to describe their latest sojourn in the British metropolis would be that the Pakistan Muslims League-Nawaz has moved its head offices to its summer capital for a few days. After all, what is PML-N if not the House of Sharifs and those who look up to them for chivalry, chance or charity. Since the Pakistani media has lost its teeth and depth, reports about the reasons or rationale behind Sharifs’ latest family outing hardly went beyond guesswork or gossip. And since social media mostly represents an unwinnable battle between the pampering and praising side and the swearing and slandering squad, for the former, the elder Sharif wanted to see his medical consultants and interact with loyal overseas supporters and for the younger, much-needed relief from incessant sessions of speeches and sermons. For the latter, the Sharifs’ visits to London are always to deposit the proceeds of loot and plunder of the country’s riches.

Forget the commendation or the critique of Sharifs’ recent tête-à-tête à Londres and reconnoitre a while about what is plausible. Nobody knows better than the Sharifs themselves that their roaring and growling times are over. They were never meant to be the ‘lions’ that would roam the plains and grasses of the Punjab along with their pride forever. They were reared to tame and outwit the tigress from Sindh and play second fiddle to the omnipotent establishment.

Nawaz growled a bit in the early 1990s and was promptly pushed out of the ring. In the late 1990s, he thought he could roar with a historic two-thirds majority in the parliament but was not only thrown out of power but also exiled from the country. Fourteen years later, he attempted to grunt a tad before he was hounded out again through a judicial verdict. The fact of the matter, however, remains that despite three elections and an equal number of ousters, only Nawaz had honed the skills to be the party’s cerebral force de jour. Shahbaz was pulled in primarily to underpin the family’s ascendency to Pakistan’s political pinnacle and protect it from the schemers nestled in the Punjab.

The current get-together of the party leader, the prime minister and the Punjab chief minister is possibly being held to take stock of the country’s current politics in “safe and un-snooped” environs. The myriad challenges facing the country also present quite a few opportunities to those who dare. Dealt with deftly, these openings could fortify PML-N’s otherwise weakened political standing following the questionable elections in 2024. The first opportunity lies in Balochistan.

For long, Balochistan has been touted as the guarantor of Pakistan’s financial future – the proverbial El Dorado. Speakers at the just concluded Pakistan Minerals Investment Forum highlighted how Pakistan could make “trillions of dollars” by “responsibly” fostering global cooperation to become the “next frontier for metals and minerals exploration.” That may sound like fiction to many because the province has been a security nightmare for decades. Thousands have perished in battles fought daily between the security forces and the terrorists/ militants. Development projects like China Pakistan Economic Corridor are effectively on hold with scant hope of a quick revival. Activists like Mahrang Baloch have struck a resonant chord with not only the families of “thousands of missing persons” but also with various sirdars and nawabs with depleted political capital.

Following regular terrorist attacks across the province and the siege of Jaffer Express in March, the Balochistan government has banned night-time travel for public transport on major highways in several districts. For some in the province, Nawaz Sharif is the only politician of national stature who could play a role. On Wednesday, former Balochistan chief minister Dr Abdul Malik and some of his party colleagues called on Nawaz Sharif in Lahore. “I asked Nawaz Sharif to play an active political role for Balochistan. He assured me that he would,” Dr Malik said after the meeting.

In February, Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz and the Army chief, Gen Asim Munir, had inaugurated the Green Pakistan Initiative in Cholistan – one of the three deserts in Pakistan. The project promises to turn thousands of barren acres into green fields. Maryam was persuaded to think that the project would “mark the beginning of a new phase” for farmers in the Punjab. However, the project has infuriated many in Sindh and the Pakistan Peoples Party, a crucial ally of the PML-N government. They contend that using water from the Indus Basin rivers to irrigate a desert amounts to stealing water from farmers in Sindh and depriving them of livelihoods.

The PPP has threatened to pull the federal government down by withdrawing support if its objections are not addressed. Government sources claim that President Asif Ali Zardari himself approved the construction of the six “strategic” canals – Thar Canal, Rainee Canal, Cholistan Canal, Greater Thar Canal, Kachhi Canal and Chashma Right Bank Canal – on July 8, 2024, in a meeting at Aiwan-i-Sadr. It was reported that Zardari had urged the federal and provincial governments then to provide regular funding for the [construction] of these canals. However, the PPP stance now is vastly different. As for Shahbaz, he enjoys support from the establishment. Maryam, too, has made the welcome gesture of handing over “land allotment letters to the next of kin of some martyred soldiers and war-wounded veterans.” Bringing down the PML-N government may therefore not be trivial.

Another blessing for the PML-N government has been the infighting amongst PTI leaders. With the central and provincial leaders seriously divided over conciliatory or confrontational approaches, the party is not challenging the PML-N. The PML-N leadership therefore has the time and opportunity to plan its future. Governance-wise the PTI performance in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has been abysmal and the party leaders are literally at one another’s throats. The Punjab, meanwhile, has been quiet recently. Many credit Nawaz Sharif for that, saying that “he is working overtime to build his daughter’s political career.”

Given a supportive garrison, an accommodating IMF, improving economic indicators, a fractured and frayed opposition, the PML-N leaders have a chance to set up the political chessboard to their liking. Can they pull a pigeon out of their tattered hat? Can the Sharifs afford another run-in with the establishment in their effort to reclaim their lost position and power in Pakistani politics? Pakistan may be ready for yet another London Plan.

The writer is the resident editor of The News, Islamabad.