Developments of the last few months constantly raise the question of whether Pakistan’s establishment seeks a change in the status quo.
The current system, with the ‘selected’ Prime Minister, was “midwifed” by Pakistan’s security establishment but it appears that in the words of former editor of Dawn, “whether it is regional peace, foreign policy and security challenges or the economy or the vitiated political environment within the country, the establishment made its own bed, but it seems reluctant to lie in it by itself.”
According to Nasir, the establishment “seems to have reached the conclusion that the hit the economy is taking because of PTI’s ineptitude and the Covid crisis, is exacerbated by political confrontation in the country as no stability is in sight.”
However, the establishment’s “hybrid partner does not appear capable of shouldering or even sharing the burden. So, the establishment seems to be desperately reaching out to secure wider support.”
While the PPP leadership and PML-N’s Shehbaz Sharif are on board with “extending a hand of reciprocity” but Nawaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz Sharif “have not been won over and have been adamantly sticking to their narrative. They will inevitably raise the issue of civilian supremacy in such critical decision-making and also raise the question of legitimacy of the stewards in charge of the process.”
