Last week, Headline News on a leading private television channel revealed that “a family reunion of Sharif in Murree has approved the expansion of the provincial government of Punjab”. The report simply reflects how government issues in the largest and powerful province in the country have practically become a family business.
There is nothing new about the dynastic domain over Pakistani politics. But the type of family rule that prevails in Punjab tells the story of an increasingly regressive power structure. Apparently, they are not only decisions on important policies matters taken during family gatherings, but there is also a movement sponsored by the Government to build a personality cult in the former prime minister and head of the Sharif Nawaz Sharif family and his daughter Maryam Nawaz, Prime Minister of Punjab.
It seems that most of the main government development projects in the province are named after either. There has also been a movement to change the name of some of the old projects administered by the Government after the Prime Minister. Meanwhile, the provincial government has carried out massive advertising campaigns by praising its own performance in several spheres, with real -size images of the prime minister. Many also carry their father’s image.
Apparently, this advertising campaign is being carried out at the expense of the government. Recently, the posters that refer to the prime minister as ‘Mad-i-Millat’ (mother of the nation) appeared in the province. This campaign cannot be sponsored by the provincial government, but it has certainly been orchestrated by the ruling party. Even with dynastic policy as the name of the game in Pakistan, the country has rarely witnessed this personal glorification scale. These campaigns are only seen in authoritarian regimes that lack legitimacy. But these advertising measures are of short duration and cannot meet the objective. Legitimacy and popularity cannot be gained in the back of the advertising units sponsored by the State. This type of custom advertising campaign, paid for the money of people’s taxes, is beyond narcissism and has clear political objectives. In fact, placing personal photographs in advertisements sponsored by the Government and names of names that use state funds after a acting chief of government is considered illegal in many countries.
The personalized advertising of the sharifs observed in Punjab has clear political objectives.
Even in Pakistan, a ruling of the Supreme Court in 2022, cited by Naeem Sadiq in these pages, declared: “Pagated servers of the State, the holders of constitutional positions and politicians in government should not use their positions to obtain personal, partisan or pecuniary profits.” In addition, he pointed out: “Pakistan is not a kingdom, principles or feuds in which people must be indebted to their rulers.”
It seems that the country has become a fief in which there is no respect for moral rules or values. The self-gloss of the ruling family, which returned to power with a questionable mandate, mocks the democratic process. The power is concentrated in the hands of the Prime Minister and the Prime Minister of the largest province, both belong to the Sharif family.
Could this have happened without the support of the establishment? This self-rise campaign is not limited to civilians and extends to military leadership. It seems that all image construction effort for civil and military leadership is part of a concerted plan to strengthen the existing hybrid power structure. Behind the civil facade, the spectrum of those who wield real power is coming. The Sharif family seems to be content to reproduce the second violin. After all, the family owed their return to power to the back of the powers that will be.
More than anyone, the Sharif family should know the slippery slope of the power policy. They have been in the past many times and were dragged by the rapid change sands of Pakistani policy. However, the attractiveness of power is so strong that they tend to forget their own example. They have easily become an instrument in motion to undermine democracy. His own return to power is the result of a manipulated electoral process, which also explains the fragility of a manufactured power structure that lacks a popular mandate.
It was a notable turn of the events that allowed the family once unfortunate to return to the halls of power. The three -time Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was eliminated without ceremonies by the Supreme Court in 2017 and prohibited him from occupying a public office through a controversial verdict the following year. He, together with his daughter and other family members, was convicted of multiple graft positions.
After being expelled from power, he and his party tried to mobilize public support in the back of the slogan “give respect to the vote.” But all the prodemocratic rhetoric and anti-establishment was set aside once an agreement was reached. In less than four years after his departure, the PML-N was again in power, with Nawaz Sharif’s younger brother, becoming prime minister in the new configuration formed after the elimination of Imran Khan through a vote of without confidence in the parliament made possible by elements behind the scene.
But the old Sharif waited for the announcement of the elections before returning to the country. In a short time, their convictions were annulled by the courts and their disqualification was raised. He was sure that his party swept the surveys, so it must have been a rude surprise when the count began. He lost in Mansehra and his victory in Lahore was questionable. His dream of becoming prime minister vanished. But the support of the establishment for his party was ensured regardless of what the real results were.
The majority of the members of the Sharif family who were previously convicted and suffered a prison are now part of the power structure, although Nawaz Sharif has chosen to remain in the background and lead the party. It seems happy that her daughter becomes the first woman in Punjab Prime Minister and with himself glorified as a great leader and helmsman. The great champion of democracy does not seem to have any problem now when the holiness of the vote is being crushed.
The writer is author and journalist.
zhussain100@yahoo.com
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Posted in Dawn, July 23, 2025
