Maryam has the ability, grit, determination, intelligence, political savvy, and charisma to connect with people more than any other PML(N) leader except Nawaz Sharif. Her charismatic personality motivates people to support her political party. She is an exceptional, impressive, well-organized, and skilled orator who can effectively communicate with the masses – a crucial ability for any political leader. As the daughter of a former prime minister, she was exposed to politics at an early age, providing her with a solid political foundation.
She has emerged as Nawaz Sharif’s heir apparent. She has been a vocal advocate for democracy and civilian supremacy in Pakistan, opposing military intervention in politics and supporting the consolidation of democratic institutions. Despite facing obstacles and pressure from the military establishment, she has remained resilient and has continued to speak out against what she perceives to be injustices and power abuses.
She played a crucial role in bringing about the regime change orchestrated by Bajwa, by successfully uniting 13 parties under a single agenda to oust Imran and share power. As the only crowd-puller among the entire PDM leadership, she remained the best spokesperson for both the PML(N) and the PDM when it came to selling their narrative to the people. She vehemently defied the supreme court’s decision to hold elections in Punjab and KP province and challenged the court to do whatever it could and vowed that the elections of Punjab and KP provinces and the rest of the country will not be held until the end of the normal tenure in October or even later if all parties are not given a level playing field.
She successfully created such a pressure and raised stakes so high that the supreme court was not left with any other way out but to soften its stand and allowed the government and opposition to negotiate amicable settlement regarding date for Punjab assembly elections or to hold the election for all assemblies on the same date. Maryam’s vow even seemed winning against both the combined might of the superior judiciary and the PTI.
Surprisingly, the supreme court, which everyone believed would initiate contempt of court proceedings against the entire chain of command found defying the supreme court’s order of 27th April, 2023, instead chose to step into uncharted waters and the uncontrolled and chaotic arena of politics by calling on the political parties to negotiate to settle the impugned matter of fixing the date of election(s), knowing very well that the result of such negotiation will likely be in thrall to the political parties.
This unprecedented flexibility displayed by the Supreme Court is viewed as a defiance of its own decision to hold punjab assembly elections on 15 May 2023, thereby weakening the constitutional mandate that requires elections to be held within ninety days of the date of dissolution of the assembly(s), which has already been exceeded. This unprecedented flexibility prompted veteran politician and prominent attorney Ch. Aitizaz Ehsan to state that the election will be held on May 15, 2022, even if the supreme court orders otherwise, in order to comply with the provisions of the constitution.
This is viewed as a clear victory for Maryam Nawaz’s vow to not accept any controversial decision of the court and the success of her threat that no elections would be held in the country until the court reversed its ruling on Nawaz Sharif’s disqualification, exonerated him honorably from the charges, and allowed him to return to the country, which according to her will provide a level playing field for all political parties to contest the general election fairly and equally on the prescribed date(s). But, although a formidable leader, she has her downsides.
Like any other leader, she has flaws despite her impressive and demonstrated focus on social justice, crisis management skills, innovative policymaking, and collaborative approach. She has been accused of being extravagant and supporting an elite lifestyle due to her designer clothing, luxury vehicles, lavish events, and amassing wealth that is allegedly, disproportionate to her known sources of income, and her visible efforts and urge to maintain a luxury and elite lifestyle are out of touch with the realities of ordinary Pakistanis. Her clinically precise makeup, glittering manicured hands, silky and designer clothes, expensive bag, and elegant shoes clearly set her apart from the entire audience(s) with whom she interacts day in and day out.
Her most recent interview with Mansoor Ahmad Khan revealed a massive media mismanagement and portrayed her as a model who was more concerned with her appearance, her movement of the hands and face expression, choice of expensive dress, accessories, and the uniqueness of posing with an ugly looking steel glass in her hand. She was completely uneasy while responding to Toosha Khan’s illegal allocation of expensive and luxurious vehicles to her by relaxing rules person to her, which made her allegations of corruption against Imran Khan for stealing a watch from Toosha Khana and selling it in the open market highly unethical and unjust, while ignoring her own skeletons in the closet.
Her inability and failure to explain ownership of unexplained and undisclosed offshore properties, her involvement in a sugar subsidy scam, illegal money laundering, and even a lack of knowledge about her declared assets in her wealth tax return that were far beyond and her husband’s known sources of income eroded her entire narrative and claim of uprightness. It also dealt a heavy blow to her hurling of corruption allegations against her political rivals.
This attitude disregards the needs and interests of her constituents in favor of her own desires for an elegant and lavish lifestyle. She should be cognizant of her reputation and be viewed as a steward of public resources. She should disclose her sources of income and avoid conflicts of interest that could compromise their ability to make objective decisions in the public interest. As a great leader, she should be more concerned with serving the people she represents and working to improve their lives than with promoting her own comfort or standing.
Her alleged quest for power, arrogance, stubbornness, and self-righteousness have irritated many PML(N) stalwarts who have stood by the party in good and bad times, to the point where they have either stopped participating in party decision-making or have resigned from party membership. Khaqan Abbasi and Mufta Isamel were among those who refused to defect from the PML(N) despite being interrogated by the NAB, the establishment, and the police. They willingly endured the hardships of prison, grilling, and abuse but refused to yield to their pressure and remained steadfastly loyal to the party and its leaders. Both of them appeared to have been discarded like used tissue papers in order to allow Maryam Nawaz to sail unopposed and unchallenged to higher echelons of the party.
The PML(N)’s entire senior leadership appeared to be irrelevant. We are not seeing much of senior leaders like Pervez Rashid, who was undeniably an upright, honest, and wise man who was first sacrificed on the altar of the Dawn leak and has now become completely relevant. We only see him in press conferences, muted and accommodated unwillingly and unwantingly at the far end of the head table.
Diehard Nawaz Sharif supporter Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, who served as Pakistan’s Interior Minister during Sharif’s third term as Prime Minister and refused to accept a subordinate position to Maryam Nawaz, calling her “just a kid,” was gradually sidelined by Sharif and eventually left the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) in 2018.
She runs the entire show from her own kitchen cabinet. This includes Marium Orangzeb, Tallat Choudhary, Atta Tarir, and Uzma Zahid Bukhari, while during her father’s previous tenure, Anoosha Rehaman, Marium Orangzeb,Tallal Choudhary, Daniyal Aziz, and Mr. Zubair were in her kitchen cabinet. Her uncles and senior leadership included Ishaq Dar and Sardar Yaqoob Nasir, Pir Sabir Shah, Sartaj Aziz, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, Khawaja Saad Raque, Khurram Dastgir Khan, Mohammad Zubair, and Mian Javed Latif, Rana Tanvieer Hussain and Sardar Mehtab Ahmad Khan have been made junior to her in party hierarchy and are reduced to the status of uncles with no or little say in party affairs while she a far junior to them enjoy the veto power in each and every matter of the party with unequivocal support and blessing of the Quaid, Nawaz Sharif, her father.
She has developed an easily sellable narrative to criticize the establishment, the judiciary, and Imran Khan, while conveniently distancing herself from the government’s failures and setbacks, leaving Shahbaz Sharif to shoulder the brunt of media, opposition, and public criticism for hyperinflation and unprecedented price hikes, higher unemployment, and rising poverty. She is pressuring and coercing the Punjab and KP caretaker governments to take or not take decisions and to defend and promote particular narratives.
While government and opposition are ordered by the Supreme Court to negotiate an amicable solution to the acute constitutional and political crisis in order to reach an agreement on holding early elections, she has vowed and challenged the courts and political parties, including her own, that no election will be held before October 8, 2023, rendering the entire negotiation process pointless and making a fool of everyone involved.
We have witnessed the plight of the People’s Party, whose philosophical and ideological foundations were compromised when its senior leadership was removed, silenced, or rendered irrelevant, limiting the party to the province of Sindh and eroding its standing in the rest of the nation. PTI has replaced PML(N) in Punjab, which was its only stronghold and a promised fiefdom. If the current state of affairs continues and PML(N) keeps on losing or muting its senior leadership, which had provided the party with their wisdom, sagacity, ideological and philosophical basis, the party will be reduced to a dynasty in which an entire generation builds a strong fiefdom, but one heir can destroy it in a single day.
We need leaders like Maryam Nawaz. We cannot afford to lose her to the annals of history, as leaders of her caliber are uncommon. She has utilized both her sweetness and her blood in her political career. She can become a great leader with a little fine-tuning, but to reach that level she must be able to make quick and effective decisions, even in difficult or uncertain situations, and she must further develop her understanding of the needs and emotions of others and her ability to connect with people on a personal level. She is an excellent communicator, but needs to strive to continually improve her communication skills, articulation to convey her ideas and vision to others, as well as to improve her ability to listen to others.
She should strengthen her moral and ethical principles and always act in accordance with them, despite the fact that it may not be the simplest or most popular option. She may want to consider recognizing the significance of collaborating with others to achieve her goals, construct strong, willing, and effective teams and should not be afraid to take calculated risks in order to improve her adaptability to changing circumstances and environments.
She is resilient, inspiring, and a lifelong learner, but she must consciously refine her ability to recover from setbacks and failures, remain focused and determined in the face of adversity, inspire and motivate her followers to achieve great things, and lead by example. Above all, she remains open to new ideas and perspectives that can help her to further improve her leadership skills. (Edited by Khadijah Kamili)
Opinions in this piece are based on personal observations of the writer.
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