By opting for exile imprisonment, Nawaz Sharif may have advanced the cause of democracy in Pakistan

By choosing house arrest in relation to exile abroad, Pakistani Prime Minister Fallen, Nawaz Sharif, won the second round in his prolonged showdown with the mighty judicial-military power. More importantly, he has also advanced the cause of democracy in Pakistan (even unintentionally) by forcing the generals to get their hands dirty and to take a series of measures that undermine their moral authority and erode their credibility as an organization. Public institution. The impact of this development may not be immediately apparent but inevitable over time.

Politics is the art of symbolism. To convey the message in a simple and effective way. The overthrown Prime Minister is a clever politician. The symbol of Sharif and her co-accused daughter, who ordered their family members and Kulsoom a comedose goodbye in London to return home and face an immediate arrest and a long prison sentence is a symbol emotional and powerful politics. All the more so as the Sharifs had the opportunity to stay in the comfort of their luxurious apartments in a first world economy.

The act of return, therefore, is a clever move with legal, moral and political ramifications. At one level, this allows Sharif to continue the legal battle. His claim opens the way for an appeal against the decision of the NAB court on the higher judicial platforms. It also ensures Sharif's moral victory in the eyes of his followers. Staying in exile would have meant acceptance of the verdict and an implied admission of guilt. That would have been the end of Sharif, the politician.

Back home to be "voluntarily" jailed, however, badures his high moral claim and gives the workers and supporters of PML-N a tremendous psychological boost. Sharif knows that the electorate in South Asia has a great tolerance for corruption among its leaders. The culture of corruption is so prevalent in the realities of everyday life that even conviction does not mean the loss of moral legitimacy. There are many examples in India of politicians who claim a popular mandate after serving a sentence. All he needs is for the politician concerned to make the conviction and the condemnation a victim account.

There is little risk that his ten-year sentence will hurt his political career. The charges against him are not credible enough

That's why it's important to avoid exile and to pbad a jail sentence – it turns the verdict in vendetta and gives credence to his badertion that he was unfairly sued

. these combined reasons erase in comparison to the political points that Sharif was able to make by taking the Etihad flight home. His journey became an act of "supreme sacrifice" and an "open challenge" of the all-powerful military who wanted nothing more than to keep it out of the way while they laid the groundwork to install a candidate of their choice in Islamabad. 19659002] There is no one better than Sharif – who was there and did what his current political rival Imran Khan is doing – to find out how this script will unfold. His effective interpretation of the role of the martyr (sacrificing comfort, his own family and defying the verdict of the court) for the "cause of democracy" shook the army that had no equivalent political message for counter it

. but to show his cards and double the dissent, the protests and the media with all the strength to his command. While he succeeded in canceling rallies, imprisoning protesters, suspending communication networks and crushing the media through coercive and regulatory mechanisms, these acts highlighted the military and tyrannical aspect. of the army and could no longer claim a plausible denial.

Lahore went into lock-out because the main roads leading to the airport were blocked by the interim government, suspended mobile networks, the media warned not to broadcast live footage, protesters arrested, theft Sharifs delayed and the Pakistan Prime Minister's request to see his mother refused before being taken to jail. In political terms, Sharif had the army exactly where he wanted it – playing the role of an oppressor crushing an impotent but popular politician. The effect was obvious.

Talat Hussain, a reporter and talk show host, said New York Times that he still had to testify in Lahore "such palpable anger against the people came by the thousands to support Nawaz Sharif … There is anger against repression, manipulation, blackouting, "he said, quoting an Amnesty International official as saying:" C & Is the kind of coarse repression reminiscent of the dark periods of Pakistani history under military rule. "

" In all of Pakistan, is Nawaz Sharif the only corrupt man? "Asif Khan, a listener, said Wall Street Journal . "It is wrong that they act against only one party."

Nawaz did not waste time exploiting the opening "What credibility will these elections have when the government takes such drastic measures against our people and that Is this crackdown taking place all over the country? "He told Reuters at Abu Dhabi airport while he was waiting for a connecting flight to Lahore.

What we have seen in recent days since Sharif's condemnation and condemnation is a macabre drama. exposed the secret machinations of the army and revealed his obvious attempt to rig the elections in favor of the Khan's PTI. Sharif's maneuvers have robbed the army of its brilliance, but it would be misleading to put all the credit on his door.

By reserving his role of supreme authority and guardian of real power, the army took care not to let democracy grow roots in Pakistan. The genesis of his animosity with Nawaz lies in the fact that in his third term as prime minister, Nawaz sought to expand the role of the civil administration in the formation of national defense and foreign policy by repealing the power of the army. Maintaining authority in these areas is crucial for the legitimacy of the military because "supreme authority" is Pakistan's "savior" of the "threat of India".

Now, if Sharif were to show that the "external threat" keeps the military in business is a mirage created to ensure the perpetuity of the interventionist role of the military in Pakistani politics, this would ultimately lead to a disaster for Rawalpindi's generals.

Sharif was therefore their number one enemy.

"From the first day, Nawaz Sharif acted like a dictator," complained retired Lieutenant-General Ghulam Mustafa to Diaa Hadid of NPR . "The generals advised him to not to offer peace overtures to India in a way that does not suit the interests of [Pakistan’s] … He does not listen, "said General. army, despite his dissatisfaction with Sharif's point of view, did not dare to organize a coup d'etat, and instead proceeded in stages to overthrow the prime minister by a coup d'etat more The peaceful handover of civil power from one administration in 2008 to the other in 2013 had created in the minds of people a greater expectation of the democratic process.

As a result, the military have sought to co-opt the judiciary to oust Nawaz, tried to behead the senior management of PML-N that she considers a mena this principal to his hegemony and to drive out his legislators by "threats and pressures", compel and intimidate the media in silence and self-censorship and project Imran Khan to the head of new "king's party" that he wanted to settle in Islamabad.

These machinations were largely successful in dealing with the PML-N threat and increasing the relevance of Imran's PTI, but on the other hand, it became more and more obvious that 39, army to fabricate an election with its favorite results, speaks of desperation in the ranks of the army, who realizes that parts of the domains that she control have slipped from his hands ", as S Akbar Zaidi of Columbia University written in EPW .

What Nawaz did by his act of defiance is to give this nascent democratic movement a decisive push. It has become the symbol of resistance against the oppression of the army.

As the writing Husain Haqqani, author and former ambbadador of Pakistan to the United States, The Print "l & # 39; Instead, the public forgets its complaints against Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam, but father and daughter will now be seen as symbols of mistrust in an institution that has constantly undermined the evolution of Pakistan as a democracy. "

the greatest contribution to the cause of Pakistani democracy.It is ironic that such a push towards the delegitimacy of the army must have come from a politician who once occupied the country. space that Imran frequents now