| Mian M. Nawaz Sharif is the right man for Pakistan. The pity is that he is in the wrong job. His personable charm, his qualities of warmth, gregariousness, his instinct for conciliation, his willingness to accommodate everyone from President Clinton downwards - the IMF, The World Bank, the Paris Club, Indian Prime Ministers Gujral and Vajpayee, the Army Chief General Musharraf, the ISI, widows and orphans, in fact everyone with the exception of the implacable Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto - make him qualified not so much for the post of Chief Executive as for Chairman. He is in reality a President trapped in a Prime Minister’s clothing. |
| There is a large number of his loyalists, including himself, who have found his handling of explosive situations like the Gulf War and the Kargil near-war masterly and mature. There are many who applaud his knack of slamming fours and sixes off every ball during the cricket matches he plays on his weekends in Lahore, although there are some who wonder why he always prefers to be the batsman, never the harried bowler or the defending outfielder. [EXTRACT] |
Unpublished. Printed in THE BARK OF A PEN ( 2001). |
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