For Shehbaz Sharif, this is déjà vu — he was tapped to take over as Pakistan's prime minister in 1997, but it didn't work out. Finally, 25 years on, the leader-in-waiting has stepped out of the shadow of familial exigencies to become prime minister. What is the task ahead of him and is he up to it?
Those whom the gods wish to punish, they first make cricketers and then prime ministers. Both Nawaz Sharif and Imran Khan have played cricket and politics. They have won and lost. They now share the unenviable distinction of having been ousted from the same perilous post, the prime ministership of Pakistan — Nawaz Sharif thrice (in 1993, 1999, and in 2017) and Imran Khan most recently on April 10, 2022.
Each owed his position in part to the bullet box. Each was forced out when he dared to exercise his constitutional authority beyond limits defined by others.
Nawaz Sharif spent years of exile in Saudi Arabia and in London. Throughout, he remained head of the PML-N — the ‘king across the waters’ — a supremacy assured by his loyal Bharat-like brother Shehbaz and indefatigable daughter Maryam who stayed behind.
Imran Khan’s children live in London but he is unlikely to join them. Such a flight, however innocuous, would be misconstrued by his detractors. Lady Luck has deserted him. He plans to stay in Banigala, denied power but within tantalising reach of it.
Each owed his position in part to the bullet box. Each was forced out when he dared to exercise his constitutional authority beyond limits defined by others.
Nawaz Sharif spent years of exile in Saudi Arabia and in London. Throughout, he remained head of the PML-N — the ‘king across the waters’ — a supremacy assured by his loyal Bharat-like brother Shehbaz and indefatigable daughter Maryam who stayed behind.
Imran Khan’s children live in London but he is unlikely to join them. Such a flight, however innocuous, would be misconstrued by his detractors. Lady Luck has deserted him. He plans to stay in Banigala, denied power but within tantalising reach of it.