Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan is busy these days on many fronts. One vital task he is leading is perhaps to erase the influence of Pakistan Muslim League (N) and its leader Nawaz Sharif, a popular mass leader in his own right.
It is being largely argued that Imran Khan's 'accountability' drive in Pakistan that started with the ouster of prime minister Nawaz Sharif was always a 'farce', and time has proved that its only purpose was to remove Sharif and his Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) from power, reports 'Asia Times'.
But without going into details of Pakistan's internal politics, it is relevant to look at Nawaz Sharif's politics and career graph especially in the context of his 'assertive' approach more than once against Pak army and judiciary and 'boldness' in pursuing an India-friendly foreign policy.
In the 1997 general elections, it was revealed by analysts that Benazir Bhutto-led PPP's 'weak policy' towards India had helped Sharif manage a convincing victory.
Nawaz Sharif is somewhat 'popular' in India too as was demonstrated on May 26, 2014 the day Narendra Modi took charge of affairs in India. As soon as Nawaz Sharif's name was announced for his entry into the lawns of Rashtrapati Bhavan, there was a huge applause.
Nawaz Sharif has experienced brickbats and immense challenges politically back home. One such major tussle was with the judiciary in 1997. Sharif fought with Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah but he managed to handle the crisis well.
This saga and also resignation of the then President Farooq Leghari ultimately consolidated Sharif's grip. A year later, in 1998, Sharif's popularity in Pakistan had increased manifold after he ordered nuclear tests in May in response to multiple tests by India under Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
In 1999, both the leaders took plunge to formal dialogues to end all disputes and issues including Kashmir. Just on the eve of Vajpayee's Bus trip to Lahore and the Lahore Declaration following dialogues between two Prime Ministers, international observers did not hesitate to designate Sharif as Pakistan's "most powerfulPrime Minister".
However, the euphoria was short lived as his handpicked army chief Gen Pervez Musharraf did not quite approve of the draft of the Lahore Declaration itself and also the hype about friendship with India.
Musharraf had 'infamously' declined to salute the visiting Indian Prime Minister and a year later told Indian newspaper 'The Hindu' in an interview that : "May I say the reference to Kashmir in that (Lahore) Declaration is apologetic. The word 'Kashmir' is mentioned once in the number of page documents - where all disputes are to be resolved".
(Jan 17, 2000, The Hindu)
Of course, history is witness that Lahore bus sojourn was badly derailed in the form of Kargil conflict when armies from both sides lost many lives.
In October 1999, a day before Atal Bihari Vajpayee was sworn in again after the general elections, Gen Musharraf staged a coup and had unseated Nawaz Sharif.
However, Sharif did not give up and yet again returned to power in 2013 after 'prison and exile' for more than a decade.
Apparently, if Indian agencies and other stakeholders were to be believed, Sharif was taking proactive steps to improve relations with its rival-large neighbour India.
Things appeared moving in a good direction when PM Modi had landed in Lahore to wish Sharif on his birthday on December 25, 2015.
But the Pakistan army had different plans. There were terror strikes in Indian Air Force base at Pathankot in January 216 and later dastardly Uri attack in September.
But there was no end to Sharif's woes and challenges. He was ousted from office by the Supreme Court of Pakistan following revelations from the Panama Papers case.
In 2018, the Pakistani Supreme Court disqualified Nawaz Sharif from holding public office and he was also sentenced to ten years in prison by a court.
There have also been recent 'revelations' that a retired director general of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), Bashir Memon, was allegedly under pressure from Prime Minister Imran Khan to implicate Sharif's daughter Maryam Nawaz and Justice Qazi Faez Isa.
Nawaz Sharif, who first had become Prime Minister in 1990 at the age of 40, had handled all such challenges earlier also. He even lodged a treason case against Pervez Musharraf for 'abrogating the constitution'.
According to Pakistani columnist Imad Zafar, "....so Sharif may again show some spine and bring the real culprits of the accountability drama before a court of law. This time, however, the courts should hold every single individual responsible who was involved in the manufactured propaganda, accountability witch-hunt, and rigging political discourse".
In retrospect, it may be mentioned here that Nawaz Sharif is actually the 'creation' of the Late Gen. Zia-ul-Haq's martial law regime.
Actually, a prominent business family, the Sharifs had moved to Dubai during Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto's drive to nationalise industry.
But they returned during Zia's days and Nawaz joined politics. First he became Punjab Finance Minister in 1981. He became Chief Minister in 1985. Ultimately he became the first industrialist in Pakistan to hold the prime minister's office in November 1990 after Benazir Bhutto's tenure was cut short by the then President Ghulam Ishaq Khan.
Now, to answer what is stored in the future for Sharif, his politics and India-Pak relations, one would safely say all of it remains in the womb of time.
ends 
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