The world has been watching Pakistan as it inadvertently closes in on its political churn that has been riling up for weeks. With Imran Khan gone, a new face is set to represent the country soon, as the Pakistan assembly will meet on Monday to elect the new Prime Minister. Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly, Shehbaz Sharif, is now waiting in the wings, according to state media reports.
The nation of more than 220 million people lies between Afghanistan to the west, China to the northeast and India to the east.
Since coming to power in 2018, Khan’s rhetoric has become more anti-American, and he expressed a desire to move closer to China and, recently, Russia — including talks with President Vladimir Putin on Feb. 24, the day the invasion of Ukraine began.
At the same time, U.S. and Asian foreign policy experts said that Pakistan’s powerful military has traditionally controlled foreign and defence policy, but Khan’s sharp public rhetoric had an impact on a number of key relationships.
What will be the effect of the series of events on India, Pakistan’s most closely watched neighbour? News18 explains:
The nuclear-armed neighbours have fought three wars since independence in 1947, two of them over Kashmir.
As with Afghanistan, it is Pakistan’s military that controls policy in the sensitive area, and tensions along the de facto border there are at their lowest level since 2021, thanks to a ceasefire.
But there have been no formal diplomatic talks between the rivals for years because of deep distrust over a range of issues, including Khan’s extreme criticism of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Karan Thapar, an Indian political commentator who has closely followed India-Pakistan ties, told Reuters the Pakistani military could put pressure on the new government in Islamabad to build on the successful ceasefire in Kashmir.
Pakistan’s powerful army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa said recently that his country was ready to move forward on Kashmir if India agrees.
The Sharif dynasty has been at the forefront of several dovish overtures towards India over the years.
Shehbaz Is Close to Pak Army
Despite his surprise praise of India’s foreign policy at the heels of his ouster, Imran Khan was considered to be more hawkish towards India, while the PM in waiting, Shehbaz Sharif, may be more constructive towards a bilateral relationship, a report by IANS said.
Sharif is little known outside his home country but has a reputation domestically as an effective administrator more than as a politician, the Reuters reported.
The younger brother of three-time prime minister Nawaz Sharif, Shehbaz, 70, enjoys amicable relations with Pakistan’s military, which traditionally controls foreign and defence policy in the nuclear-armed nation of 220 million people, analysts told Reuters.
Pakistan’s generals have directly intervened to topple civilian governments three times, and no prime minister has finished a full five-year term since independence from Britain in 1947.
Khan’s ouster was a chance to make a fresh star, Shehbaz, the joint opposition candidate to replace Khan told parliament, soon after the vote. “A new dawn has started… this alliance will rebuild Pakistan,” he said.
In terms of his relationship with the powerful military, Sharif has long played the public “good cop” to Nawaz’s “bad cop” – the latter has had several public spats with the army.
Shehbaz Goes Against Khan’s Antagonistic Relations With US
Shehbaz, part of the wealthy Sharif dynasty, is best known for his direct, “can-do” administrative style, which was on display when, as chief minister of Punjab province, he worked closely with China on Beijing-funded projects.
He also said in an interview last week that good relations with the United States were critical for Pakistan for better or for worse, in stark contrast to Khan’s recently antagonistic relationship with Washington.
Even amid the Ukraine-Russia conflict, Imran Khan invited wrath and raised eyebrows around the world for his ‘diplomatic naiveté’ by travelling to meet Putin. This did not sit well with the United States, which reportedly asked him not to travel to Moscow to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin, the report by Indian Express said.
‘Punjab Speed’
As chief minister of Punjab, Pakistan’s most populous province, Shehbaz Sharif planned and executed a number of ambitious infrastructure mega-projects, including Pakistan’s first modern mass transport system in his hometown, the eastern city of Lahore.
According to local media, the outgoing Chinese consul general wrote to Sharif last year praising his “Punjab Speed” execution of projects under the huge China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) initiative.
The diplomat also said Sharif and his party would be friends of China in government or in opposition.
On Afghanistan, Islamabad is under international pressure to prod the Taliban to meet its human rights commitments while trying to limit instability there.
With inputs from Reuters, IANS
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