The Devil We Already Know: Nawaz Sharif attempting to destabilize Pakistan and undermine relations w

[southasiawatch]

The Devil We Already Know: Nawaz Sharif attempting to destabilize Pakistan and undermine relations with the U.S.

Pakistan is a country that is continually tested and stressed. Whether it is via Kashmir, tensions with India, being a defacto battle ground on the war against terrorism, or just facing the challenges of being a developing nation with tens of millions living in poverty, the challenges faced by Pakistan are many. The latest challenge to face Pakistan is in the actions of Nawaz Sharif. His challenge to the current democratically elected leadership is not only short-sighted and self-serving, it threatens the stability of Pakistand, and the stability of the region in general.

Nawaz Sharif has been on the political stage in Pakistan since 1988 when he emerged as a protege of the dictator Ziaul Haq. During his tenure on the Pakistan political scene in the 1990's, the country bore witness to increasingly radical and destabilizing plans that bore his stamp of approval, or were initiated by Sharif directly. Sharif's political style has many facets, and few of them are positive. While he claims to be a champion of Pakistan, his support and style of leadership end up causing more harm to Pakistan as a sovereign nation than helping Pakistan achieve internal stability.

Sharif's history in building his power base is checkered, at best. Pakistan, a country that is a diverse mix of peoples, tribes, and ethnic groups, has struggled with sectarianism from its founding. While this is a serious task for any diverse nation to deal with, Sharif has been of little help, and much harm. Sharif has attempted to build his power base via a risky and divisive scheme of pandering to two primary groups. The first group, the Punjab's, were the focus of his corrupt patronage largess and a toxic mix of hardline religious nationalism. The second group is religious extremists and terrorists like the Taleban. Sharif is on record stating he would prefer Pakistan to be run like the Taleban ran Afghanistan, and we all know how well that turned out. Sharif's reckless embrace of religious extremism led him to try and impose Sharia (Islamic law) on Pakistan in 1998 and declare himself "Amirul Momineen" (Leader of the Faithful/Believers). His goal to fuse church and state in Pakistan threatened to destabilize the entire nation. Sharif's embrace of anti-semetism and anti-hinduism serves only to polarize society and encourage violence and instability.

Sharif's leadership style and dangerous course of action do not bode well for the future of Pakistan. He is intent on mixing a volatile combination of sectarian divisivness, religious extremism, hyper-nationalism, and imposition of Sharia with him as the final arbiter of justice.