Islamabad | Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif cut a tamer figure and opted for the role of elder statesman by emphasising several times that he was not back to take revenge, but to unite the cash-strapped country as he addressed his supporters on homecoming, Pakistani media said on Sunday.
Sharif, 73, the three-time prime minister and supremo of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), returned to Pakistan on Saturday after spending four years in self-imposed exile in London.
The Dawn newspaper in its editorial on Sharif's return titled 'Cometh the hour' said that it was as good a welcome event as his Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) could have hoped for as a sizable crowd of supporters had gathered for Sharif at Lahore’s Greater Iqbal Park.
The energy and excitement were palpable as he made a return to the limelight, even if Sharif initially seemed impassive the nation only got a glimpse of the emotion that must have been roiling within as he was embraced by his daughter, Maryam, both were overwhelmed, making it a particularly poignant moment.
“In his speech, however, Mr Sharif made no secret of the fact that he was controlling himself with great difficulty. He shared a verse suggesting that his tears would flood the world if he were to start dwelling on the trials and tribulations he had endured,” the paper said.
The former premier was keen to remind the crowd that he had been made to pay an immense personal cost.
“There are some wounds that never heal,” he said. He had lost his wife while in jail and could not even say a last goodbye. He was unable to bury his mother.
“The two used to greet me at my doorstep whenever I returned home from abroad,” he reminisced. “I lost them to politics.” He also recalled his daughter’s arrest, even though she had not been involved in his politics.
“Yet, where his speech was heavy on pathos, it seemed devoid of force. Gone was the Nawaz Sharif of the ‘vote ko izzat do’ days — this version cut a much tamer figure,” according to the editorial.
“In fact, he consciously avoided speaking about the judiciary and military’s transgressions in the political domain. All his supporters got was an oblique reference for the need to not let the past be repeated,” the paper wrote.
It was clear that Sharif sought a narrative reset and his speech was heavy on nostalgia for 2017; on motorways, the rupee-dollar exchange rate, the price of bread, the price of petrol and electricity, poverty and unemployment.
“But instead of there being any acknowledgement of his own bad policies, some of which have greatly augmented Pakistan’s present crisis, he still seemed keen to sell populist pipe dreams,” it stated.
The paper concluded by saying that perhaps Sharif ought to be forgiven because this was his first speech upon his return as more speeches will follow. The News in its editorial 'The return of Nawaz Sharif' said emotion trumped politics as Sharif made his first live speech at a rally in Pakistan after four years in exile.
"Saturday evening was for Nawaz (Sharif) to make a grand re-entry into politics, and try and revive his party’s dwindling popularity in a time of crippling inflation. The PML-N managed to put together an acceptable enough power show at Minar-e-Pakistan," it said.
"A visibly emotional Nawaz reaching the stage set the tone for the evening’s messaging: heavy on nostalgia, justifiable emotional references to his deceased wife Kulsoom Nawaz and his deceased mother, and visible reservations regarding his ouster from power," it added.
There had been a lot of wonder at what Sharif’s ‘narrative’ would be on his return. Anyone expecting a speech of resistance or vengeance would have been disappointed on both counts, the paper said, Nawaz opted for the role of elder statesman, emphasising several times that he was not back to take revenge but to unite the country and lead it towards prosperity, it said.
Sharif has now set the tone for what will probably be the PML-N’s narrative going forward into the elections: a party that has been around, knows the business of the state, knows people’s economic misery, and also knows what it’s like to be persecuted – but is still willing to work for the people, it said.
A politics of compromise and unity as opposed to a politics of defiance, it added.
On the economic front, Sharif made much of the inflation rate, electricity prices and prices of other commodities when he was in power and how things have drastically changed over the years because someone somewhere decided to throw him out.
Despite the high emotions, and the visible grief over what his family went through, Sharif made it a point to say that he will not bring himself to speak of Imran Khan in a way that lowers his ‘political training’ – no dirty politicking at least in speech, the News said.
"That is something all mainstream parties in Pakistan should keep in mind: there need to be some lines that they should all promise not to cross," it said.
The Express Tribune newspaper in its editorial, 'End of Another Exile' said Sharif is back home to the surprise of his own supporters, and a traumatised nation that is in a fix.
The PML-N supremo adopting a conciliatory tone with the powerful civil-military establishment after condemning them from the pulpit for years has raised many eyebrows, the paper said.
The three-time prime minister’s return, however, is soothing from the point that politics is picking momentum. Sharif’s Minar-e-Pakistan rally will go a long way in establishing his party’s withering popularity, as his brother Shahbaz Sharif’s 16-month governance was nothing but a disaster, it added.
