LAHORE: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif took oath as the 23rd Prime Minister of Pakistan on May 11, 2022, after ousting the popular Prime Minister Imran Khan through the vote of no confidence after which the newly elected premier personally visited his coalition partners including Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), Balochistan Awami Party (BAP), Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M) and others but many political pundits believe that it will not be the bed of roses for Shehbaz Sharif. 

According to political insiders, Shehbaz Sharif has a tough job at hand, and the celebrations will be short-lived because he has to not only revive the stalled economy, introduce electoral reforms, improve governance, repair damaged diplomatic ties, move ahead with taking coalition partners together and also deal with fully charged Imran Khan who seems more dangerous in opposition as he has managed to convince a large number of people that his government is ousted because of an international conspiracy and current government is unlawful. 

Even after a detailed presser of Director General (DG) Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Major General Babar Iftikhar in which he clearly stated that the statement issued after the meeting of the National Security Council (NSC) last month didn’t use the word “conspiracy” after the journalist asked him about the establishment’s stance on former premier Imran Khan’s claim of a foreign conspiracy to oust him and whether the NSC endorsed such a claim. 

Whether there was a conspiracy or not to oust Imran Khan’s government only time could tell. But soon after being elected as the premier Shehbaz Sharif in his inaugural speech on the floor of the house announced a parliamentary probe into the “foreign conspiracy” to oust Imran Khan’s government and offered to resign if there is a shred of evidence to prove the allegation.

Shehbaz had maintained that this debate should be laid to rest and he will make arrangements for the in-camera session at the earliest where the military leadership, ISPR DG, foreign secretary, and the ambassador who sent the letter should be present and opposition leaders will be also called.

’Imran Khan building pressure for early elections’

But former premier Imran Khan had announced on Tuesday after the parliamentary committee meeting of the PTI that it would on boycott any meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on National Security, which may look into the cable that allegedly revealed a conspiracy to oust his government, and demanded the country’s Supreme Court constitute an inquiry commission on the matter.

“The public pulse is in favour of Imran Khan as a large number of people are buying his argument that he is ousted after a foreign conspiracy hatched by the US and it is an ‘imported government’ which is not acceptable to them,” sources said while adding that it is very dangerous for the country because first time in the history of Pakistan the masses are doubting the words of official spokesperson of the army that could destabilise the country, they fear. 

Following an impressive show of strength one day after the ouster of the government and a good power show in Peshawar on April 13, the PTI has called for protests across the country every Saturday to re­gain what they call the freedom lost to the US. 

The political insiders believe that after resigning from the assemblies and with the backing of large numbers of masses, Imran Khan would be able to assert a lot of pressure on the Shehbaz Sharif led coalition government and the Jalsa/Protest of Lahore which is scheduled on April 21 will be of immense importance. 

Speaking to Bol News, Senior PTI leader Farrukh Habib said that on April 21 at Minar e Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan would give a big or major call to the masses and stay tuned for that. 

“Only early selections are in the better interest of the country and we will pressurise the government to hold early elections as masses are with us,” he concluded. 

Keeping all coalition partners happy

Speaking to Bol News, Acclaimed Political Analyst Dr Hasan Askari Rizvi said that when a large number of parties form a coalition government it is always difficult to keep all of them happy. 

“We have witnessed in the past too that MQM is usually not happy and comes out of coalition governments when promises made to them regarding the opening of offices. New census etc are not fulfilled and it seems that this time too all the promises made to MQM might not be fulfilled,” Dr Askari feared while adding that this might force them to quit the coalition government. 

For Dr Askari, the coalition partners were together till now as they were previously working on a one-point agenda that is to oust Imran Khan’s government, and now when it is done it will be a gigantic task for Shehbaz Sharif to address the concerns of all the coalition partners because all of them are different political parties with different strategies and mindset. 

“Also one cannot rule out the fact that although they are in a coalition government they would be fighting the elections against each other too,” Dr Askari said. 

Read more: PPP, MQM-P refrain from joining federal cabinet

“It would be a difficult situation for Shehbaz as a large number of these coalition partners are convinced by Asif Ali Zardari who played a major role in ousting the Imran Khan government,” he said. 

Dr Rizvi also believes that Zardari is a shrewd and cunning politician who will give an impression that he is not interested in many of the portfolios in the federal cabinet just to play safely in case the current government fails to address the key issues of the masses they don’t have to carry the baggage. 

Agreeing with Rizvi, Senior Analyst Arif Hameed Bhatti told Bol News that it is likely that all these coalition partners will be fighting each other in the coming few months on different issues as their ultimate aim was to topple Khan’s government which is done and now nobody could rule out the fact that they are different political parties with different mindset and strategies which would make it difficult for Shehbaz to satisfy all of them as all of them have different stakes and political differences are likely to arise.  

However, Speaking to Bol News, Senior Vice President of PML-N Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said that all the coalition partners are committed to addressing the problems faced by the country and none of the coalition partners are after ministries, incentives, or opposition and all of them are ready to play the part for the betterment of the country. 

“In coalition governments, one has to take every party on board and we will do it InshAllah. We have run coalition governments in the past and will run it this time too with the support of coalition partners as all of us are committed to addressing the issues faced by the masses and after stabilising the economy and electoral reforms we would ensure the free and fair elections in the country after completing our term,” Abbasi said.  

What does Shehbaz Sharif need to do? 

Political insiders believe that the only way forward for Shehbaz Sharif is to provide relief to the masses and take measures that could revive the economy and his actions should speak louder than words. 

“He should ensure electoral reforms and mend the economy without targeting the Imran Khan-led opposition and let them do what they are doing. Masses would be only attracted to him when they see good measures are being taken to address the issue of inflation and revival of the economy is on the cards,” sources said. 

The political insiders believe that the pulse of the masses is currently in favour of Imran Khan and the only way forward for Shehbaz is to put the country’s economy back on track and take measures that could convince the masses that he is serious about addressing the concerns of the masses.