Shehbaz Sharif may have toppled Imran Khan’s crown, but heavy still is the head that wears it. Pakistan lawmakers on Monday elected Shehbaz as the country’s new prime minister following the weekend ouster of Imran Khan, who resigned his national assembly seat — along with most of his party members — ahead of the vote.
Khan was dismissed Sunday after losing a no-confidence vote, paving the way for an unlikely alliance that faces the same issues which bedevilled the cricket star-turned-politician — a weak economy, rising militancy, and soured relations with the West.
We take a deep dive into the issues Shehbaz is set to battle as PM, and perhaps how the leader, seen as a tough ‘go-getter’ by political pundits, will face them:
Uniting ‘Historical’ Rivals
Shehbaz’s first task will be to form a cabinet that will also draw heavily from the centre-left Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), as well as find space for the smaller conservative Jamiat-ulema-e-Islam-F (JUI-F) group.
Sharif, leader of the centrist Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N), was the only candidate for premier after Khan loyalist Shah Mahmood Qureshi, the former foreign minister, withdrew and resigned his seat.
The PPP and PML-N are dynastic parties that have dominated Pakistani politics for decades — usually as bitter rivals — and their relations are sure to fray in the lead-up to the next election, which must be held by October 2023. “History knows there is no ideological convergence among them,” Qureshi had said before storming out of the National assembly session.
How to assuage Washington?
The new premier may also rethink Pakistan’s global alignment, which drifted away from Washington under Khan and closer to Russia and China — a vital economic partner.
“On the foreign policy front we have to face a lot of debacles. Our strategic partners left us,” he said. Imran had also irked the United States with his visit to Russia and meeting with Vladimir Putin on the heels of the war in Ukraine, a move condemned by the White House aplenty.
Shehbaz has also said he wanted better relations with neighbour India, but a solution needed to be found for Kashmir. For his part, Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated Shehbaz on his election, and called for “peace and stability in a region free of terror.”
To ‘Fix’ a Cash-strapped Economy, Even as The Clock Ticks
After his election, Shehbaz immediately announced a raft of populist measures, including a new minimum wage of 25,000 rupees (around $135), pay rises for civil servants, and development projects in rural areas.
The new premier knows that Imran Khan is leaving behind a broken, bankrupt economy that is on the verge of a meltdown.
The coalition must tackle soaring inflation, a feeble rupee and crippling debt, while militancy is also on the rise — with Pakistan’s Taliban emboldened by the return to power last year of the hardline Islamist group in neighbouring Afghanistan.
The added issue for Shehbaz Sharif is that he is not provided with the comfort of time to fix the problems as his ruling tenure is coming in power with an agenda of doing electoral reforms and immediately going into early elections, expected to be announced immediately after the newly elected Prime Minister presents the Budget in June 2022.
“The situation is very bad, but I am sure that we will change it with the blessing of Allah and with hard work,” Shehbaz had said.
Pakistan’s stock exchange gained over three percent Monday on the hope of more stability, while the rupee also strengthened.
Graft Charges and a ‘Disgraced’ History
Shehbaz is the younger brother of disgraced three-time prime minister Nawaz Sharif, and Pakistan media are already speculating the latter may soon return from exile in Britain.
The elder Sharif was dismissed in 2017 and later jailed for 10 years by an accountability court on graft charges after revelations from the Panama Papers, but was released to seek medical treatment abroad.
The younger Sharif is also mired in graft proceedings. In 2019, the National Accountability Bureau seized nearly two dozen properties belonging to him and his son Hamza, accusing them of money laundering.
He was arrested and detained in September 2020, but released six months later on bail for a trial which is still pending.
…And the Khan Chapter Isn’t Over Yet
Khan tried everything to stay in power after losing his majority in parliament — including dissolving the assembly and calling a fresh election. But the Supreme Court deemed all his actions illegal and ordered them to reconvene and vote.
Khan insists he has been the victim of a “regime change” conspiracy involving Washington and his opponents, and has vowed to take his fight to the streets in the hope of forcing an early election.
Shehbaz promised an investigation into Khan’s allegations. “If an iota of evidence is provided against us, I will immediately resign,” he told parliament.
The mass PTI resignations signal that Khan intends to make good a threat to disrupt the new administration and take his fight to the streets, and he called again for mass protests across the country. “Whether his agitation ability has grown or shrunk in last few weeks remains to be seen,” analyst Mosharaf Zaidi told AFP.
Khan now also seems steadfast in his demand for an ‘immediate, free and fair’ elections. The leader will hold a jalsa(rally) on Wednesday.
Retirement of COAS
Too far but not so, the retirement of the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) will be at the doorstep. As COAS retirement is due in November 2022, it is believed that Shahbaz Sharif would want to dissolve the Assemblies and announce early elections before that time comes as he would not want to see himself in a difficult political situation on the sensitive matter.
Shehbaz Seen as Tough Administrator
He is a seasoned politician in his own right, however, having served for years as chief minister of Punjab province, the Sharif family’s power base, and also president of the Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N).
The 70-year-old jointly inherited the family’s steel business as a young man and was first elected to provincial office in 1988.
During his stints as chief minister in the years that followed, he presided over a series of big-ticket infrastructure projects, including Pakistan’s first metro bus service.
Officials were reportedly kept on their toes by workaholic Sharif’s habit of surprise visits to government offices, which he would inspect clad in a favoured safari suit and hat.
Still, critics say he did little to address the province’s core issues — including the need for civil service, health and agricultural reforms — and instead focused on vote-grabbing projects, such as distributing laptops to students or offering subsidised taxis to the jobless.
Unlike his elder brother — whose relations with the country’s powerful military and his opponents were strained — Sharif is seen as a more flexible dealmaker, capable of compromising even with his enemies.
Pakistan’s military is the country’s most powerful institution and has ruled the nation for nearly half its history — and pulls the strings even when not actually ruling.
“I have always remained a strong supporter of effective coordination between Islamabad and Rawalpindi,” Sharif said, referring to the administrative capital and the nearby military headquarters.
Sharif remains popular despite lurid tabloid headlines about multiple marriages and a property portfolio that includes luxury apartments in London and Dubai.
His current marriage, to author Tehmina Durrani, has largely ended the gossip.
Durrani, a feminist whose book “My Feudal Lord” earned her international acclaim, is also credited with improving Sharif’s respect for women.
Tough economic and security challenges await Sharif as he inherits a stagnant economy and escalating violence from Pakistan’s Taliban and Balochistan separatists.
With inputs from IANS, AFP
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