A sorry spectacle

It was a very embarrassing, if not mortifying, spectacle to see the Saudi monarch’s special envoy, Prince Maqran bin Abdel Aziz, and the Lebanese leader, Saad Hariri, addressing a televised press conference in Islamabad to enlighten Pakistanis on the legal and moral aspects of the undertaking signed between the Musharraf government and the Sharif brothers in December 2000. What we now have are, on the one hand, the innocuous Supreme Court judgment emphasising the Sharifs’ “inalienable right” to return; and on the other hand, the deal which the Saudi envoy waved at the newsmen. The press conference was obviously held on the urging of a government that seems desperate to pre-empt the Sharifs’ return to Pakistan. The Saudi envoy showed respect for the Supreme Court’s judgment of Aug 23 but at the same time he expected “His Excellency Nawaz Sharif” to honour the undertaking — a point also emphasised by Mr Hariri — because it involved the “Guardian of the Two Holy Places”. The law is on the Sharifs’ side, but there is no doubt their moral position has been undermined. The two Arab envoys left no doubt about how they view the agreement: it is binding on the Sharif family.

This episode places not just the Sharifs but also the country in an embarrassing position. Considering the events of the last few days, Mr Nawaz Sharif will commit political hara-kiri if he now chooses not to return. The Saudi and Lebanese intervention serves to highlight the abject failure of our leaders — whether in government or in opposition — to manage the country’s political problems the way a self-respecting, mature nation does. It seems to have become a pattern of politics in Pakistan to call our foreign friends to pull our chestnuts out of our political fires. Foreign powers are also involved in the government’s other deal — that with Benazir Bhutto. If we had a democratic system in place we would not have needed the services of so many “saviours” to help us tide over our difficulties. We have, to say the least, made a laughing stock of ourselves.