Why I’m voting for Nawaz Sharif.
The standard argument of the bright young people drumming up votes for Imran Khan and his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party goes something like this: Asif Ali Zardari is a crook and so are the Sharif brothers, why waste your vote on people who are tried and tested failures? Khan is honest and he deserves a chance, they say.
I have no problem with the first half of the argument. The Pakistan Peoples Party-led government, which finished its five-year term in March, set new records for fecklessness. That is, for not giving a damn about the welfare of the nation. I hesitate to say that the PPP also set new records for corruption because there are countries out there over which we can still claim moral superiority. But I can say that I have never seen a collection of elected representatives who exhibited such open contempt for the welfare of the people they notionally represented. In years to come, people will talk of Zardari’s selection of Raja Pervaiz Ashraf to the prime minister’s slot in the same awed terms as Caligula’s decision to send his horse to the Roman senate.
What then about the Sharifs? Aren’t they also inveterate thieves? The answer: not quite.
Zulfiqar Balti
Before I elaborate, let me first introduce a concept which Isaac Asimov called “The Relativity of Wrong.” Asimov’s point was fairly simple. People who think the earth is flat are wrong, and people who think the earth is round are also wrong. This is because while the earth is roughly spherical, it is actually flatter around the poles and therefore not perfectly round. At the same time, people who think the earth is flat and people who think the earth is round are not equally wrong. The flat-earthers are a hell of a lot wronger than the round-earthers. In other words, it is important to know not just whether a concept is wrong but how wrong it is.
Just like there is a relativity of wrongness, there is a relativity of crookedness. I hold no brief for the Sharifs, but so far as the last five years of the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) government in the Punjab are concerned, their record is clean. I simply do not know of any major financial or corruption scandal involving the PMLN during this time. Yes, several of the projects on which former chief minister Shahbaz “Khaadim-e-Aala” Sharif lavished attention were economically dumb (the Sasti Roti scheme, for one), but there is a difference between dumb policies and policies designed only to enrich the policymakers.
Similarly, one can reasonably argue that the Metro Bus service is overpriced. At the same time, one also has to concede that Pakistan needs urban transport projects, that the Metro Bus project has been completed, and that it does function. The fact that this project could have been done better or cheaper should not take away from the simple truth that at least this project has been done, that it is beneficial.
Fine, say Khan’s Insafians, but can we not dream of something better? Why should we not aim for the stars; for an honest, competent, dedicated leadership; for a “New Pakistan,” and for a brighter future?
The problem is that while Khan certainly seems to have figured out how to hustle for votes, what he knows about governance can be fit onto a postage stamp—with space still left over for the PTI manifesto. Governance requires knowledge and experience. Khan has neither. Yes, I concede that he has the best of intentions, but, as they say, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
I agree wholeheartedly that the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital is a wonderful achievement. But there is a huge difference between setting up a hospital with a staff of less than 2,000 and running a government with more than 600,000 employees. (Public sector corporations employ millions more.) More importantly, Khan does not run Shaukat Khanum. That job is done by a professional chief executive who is advised by a board of governors. Prime ministerial responsibilities, on the other hand, cannot be delegated. Asking Khan to be the prime minster because he inspires people makes about as much sense as asking him to conduct surgeries because he inspires people.
Khan’s supporters have compared him to Ronald Reagan in an attempt to show that administrative inexperience does not preclude greatness. The comparison is inapt. When Reagan became president of the United States, he had already served two terms as governor of California and been active in politics for decades. In any event, Pakistan is not the U.S. In America, a new president gets to appoint his own (top-level) administration and his own cabinet. In Pakistan, a new prime minister is highly restricted in his cabinet choices and has essentially no choices when it comes to administrative appointments. Given Pakistan’s history as an “overdeveloped state,” there are only two choices when it comes to administration: either you control the bureaucracy, or else the bureaucracy controls you.
I am going to vote for the PMLN this time. That doesn’t mean I support all their policies, because I certainly don’t. My disagreements with the PMLN regarding their playing footsy with sectarian killers, their tendency to grovel before the Taliban, their antipathy toward local government, and their compulsion to centralize power are all a matter of record. Unfortunately, democracy means picking the least flawed option, not the perfect option. Right now, that least flawed option is the Noonies.
Five years ago I wrote a column in which I documented my very reluctant decision to vote for the PPP. The last two lines of that column read as follows: “This is your third time. For God’s sake, don’t f— it up.” Zardari chose not to take my advice. I certainly hope the Sharif brothers will.
Naqvi is a senior lawyer based in Lahore. For updates, follow him on Twitter.
View Comments (98)
So Asimov wrote a book, and you went crazy. Nice.
Lol! Spot on:).
hahaha. crux of the matter.
Hey einstein! I guess you haven't heard about the saying that goes like
"doing the same thing over and over again, yet expecting a different result - stupidity".
Mr. Nawaz Sharif has been in power 6 times already. SIX TIMES. Underline that...SIX TIMES. If his 'experience' is of investing money in flyovers and roads when electricity shortfall is the greatest systemic haemorrhage this economy is facing....then I salute both your and Mr. Sharif's experience.
Being a Pakistani, I attest that PAKISTAN NEEDS NO EXPERIENCE OF CONSISTENTLY WRONG PRIORITIES.
Happy voting!
I agree.
True.
Agreed
No major corruption? Let me educate you. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63oi3gz7JFk
I dont knw about your logic but for most of the rational people logic says, that one should continue his or her search for better alternative and choose the best of the available options and even a 5 year old can tell you PML N is not the best option available at this moment or any other moments.
Yes well said
Naqvi sb is voting for sharifs for reasons best known to him, since the argument here does not hold much water. Sharifs serve the interest of a very small subset of population when they come to power. Besides all the economic indicators of punjab were dismal, hardly qualifying for another shot.
I don't think the PTI actually confuses Pakistan with a hospital, or a university. I believe the parallel Imran Khan draws between running an organization and a country is the importance of professionalism in achieving excellence. 'Experienced' parties like the PPP and PML-N are famously nepotistic, undemocratic and even criminal enterprises with notoriously poor records in providing effective governance.
The PTI is arguably the most democratic of the three parties, and the most passionate in its message. At its centre are experienced technocrats, people who have been successful outside of politics.
Is it completely inconceivable that their skills can't be transferable? Does one have to be a career politician to be a 'good' politician? Pakistan's history is chequered with examples that suggest the contrary.
Of note, perhaps, is that Imran Khan actually holds a degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from Oxford. Furthermore, Imran Khan is unlikely to micromanage the country's affairs should he come into power, which is why he cries hoarse about the importance of a good, competent cabinet.
I suppose, though, that the PTI signals something different relative to the status quo which is why it appeals to me. To each his own, but I am convinced that the PTI is the better, more professional party which is why I intend to vote for them.
Well said. I'm no PTI fanboy, yet just the fact that those in-charge at least have real degrees and are respected in their fields puts them above the rest of the parties. Besides, any damage they might do due to their inexperience would be temporary.
Even the damage done by PPP's debauchery doesn't last. Their aim is to amass as much wealth as they can within the usually little time they have in power and then disappear for a while.
The Sharif brothers, on the other hand, have a tendency to do lasting damage. Whether it's by costly (over the long term) projects such as the Metro Bus or by letting militancy and extremism take hold in a once peaceful Punjab. They have also proven to be more dictatorial and nepotistic than even our dictators.
Read the article. It was a school boy argument against the motion. I donot buy your idea. Nawaz Sharif is too dum to run a country. If with "HEAVY MANDATE", he couldnot run the State, he will be a complete failure as before with split mandate.
My best argument against Nawaz Sharif is "I DONOT TRUST YOU".
A little overpriced? No corruption in the Sasti roti scheme? wow, how cute
Also, does the author not realize that PMLN could have installed power generation in Punjab and chose not to?
I am not a PML-N supporter, but provinces do not have the authority without Federal's approval on power related projects. They were systematically f-ed over by PPP of whom PML-N called themselves "ittehaadis"
So in case of bringing metro bus service which cost around 28 million rupees or billion they don't need fed approval.
Actually after the 18th ammendment Power generation is a solely Provincial sphere from 2010 onward. Provinces only have the power to authorise IPPs and even hydel projects on rivers and streams which encompass only their territory.
In fact the Punjab govt. defaulted on electricity payments twice after the 18th ammendment, after which the evil PPP govt. had to bail them out
Umer kindly consult Article 157 of Constitution of Pakistan, That might clear the picture. Sir there is an amendment named as 18th amendment !!!
You Sir, are wrong. Provincial governments were allowed to work on power projects. Get your facts straight.
Wrong... After the 18th amendment, all provinces have the authority "without federal government's approval" to launch any power project.
Sharif are where they are with the tax payers and laundered money. What experience did Obama and David Cameron have before running for office.
I will be voting for PTI this time.
Having said that, I think this article gives the best reasons I have seen till now by any PML(N) supporter on why they are going for PML(N); though I don't agree with quite a few points.