SUCCESS IS A LOUSY TEACH- QUOTE ER. IT SEDUCES SMART OF THE PEOPLE INTO THINKING THEY DAY CAN’T LOSE. Thursday, July 12, 2018 BILL GATES

Johnson JENNI RUSSELL

or the second time in three years, Boris Johnson, a politician whose ambition and Fsuperficial charm far outstrip his ability, judgment or principles, is destabilising the British has government and threatening the country’s future. On July 9, Johnson, in protest against Prime Minister Theresa May’s plans for Brexit, resigned from his post as foreign secretary. Now May’s authority, longevity and ability to deliver a Brexit without causing an economic crisis are in question. But further political paralysis seems certain. ruined Britain is in this mess principally because the Brexiteers — led largely by Johnson — sold the country a series of lies in the lead up to the June 2016 referendum on leaving the European Union. They did so because neither Johnson nor his fel- low leader of the “leave” campaign, Michael Gove, intended, wanted or expected to win. Britain At the start of 2016, Johnson was perhaps the most popular politician in Britain. Supporters and fans mobbed him at train stations and traffic lights; pollsters and pundits thought he could reach the parts of the country that other Conservatives could never touch. But he was also driven and insecure, ‘He knows that the verdict of so desperate to guarantee he would be the next prime minister that he cynically abandoned his history is about to come down on own previous positions on the European Union him - and bury him’ in order to try to secure support from his party’s Euroskeptic right wing. Because Johnson and Gove were confident that the “leave” campaign was a hopeless cause, they Jenni Russel were free to make ridiculous claims that they had no expectation of ever having to fulfil. They said that Brexit would make Britain both richer The danger is that Johnson might tip the balance in the wrong direction once again ’s fight for survival Greater turmoil is expected in as former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif faces imminent arrest two weeks before general elections

National Assembly, the largest share being 183 seats from the populous Punjab province. Sharif’s PMLN won 188 seats in the 2013 elections. The Pakistan People’s Party was a distant second with 46 seats, and Khan’s PTI won a mere 34 seats. Khan was dogged as he pushed for the judicial proceedings against Sharif and his family. He and his party celebrated the ABBAS NASIR verdict as a first in the country’s history where the superrich and powerful have been held to account. Opinion polls show Sharif’s party marginally ahead of Khan’s party. wo weeks before its general elections on July 25, Paki- To investigate the allegations against Sharif and his family stan is bracing for another political storm. On July 13, an arising from the Panama Papers, the Supreme Court set up a Tanti-corruption court sentenced former Prime Minister team in April 2017, which curiously included officials from Nawaz Sharif to 10 years in prison in a case arising after the Pakistan’s powerful intelligence agencies, Inter-Services In- Panama Papers leaks revealed that Sharif’s family owned four telligence and Military Intelligence. undeclared apartments in London. The court also sentenced Last July, the Supreme Court disqualified Sharif from holding Sharif, his daughter and political heir, to seven public office because of a misdeclaration. He was found not to years in prison. have declared a salary he could receive but never actually did The conviction and impending arrest of Sharif and his from a job in a firm owned by his son in Dubai. daughter is expected to turn the electoral season fraught The Sharifs believe that the Supreme Court judgment and and potentially impact the results, if Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim the convictions last week were driven by pressure from the League-Nawaz, also known as PMLN, goes to the polls without military and that the judges were helpless. its star campaigners. Sharif and his daughter appeared dozens of times before The court acquitted Sharif of the charges that he had ac- the anticorruption court, which made their presence at every quired the apartments by corrupt, dishonest or illegal means hearing mandatory. They sought exemption from appearing but convicted him for his failure to explain how he came to own in person several times as Sharif’s wife, , was the properties, as he and his family have been living in them found to have cancer last year and was being treated at a hospi- since the early 1990s. Sharif was in London with his wife, who tal in London. She had a heart attack last month and has been is battling cancer, when he was convicted. on life support since. Sharif and his daughter have announced their decision to Pakistan’s political polarisation is so intense and the decline return to Pakistan on July 13. They would face immediate arrest of civility so acute that supporters of Khan’s PTI described Kul- and imprisonment. The former prime minister and his daughter soom Nawaz’s medical condition as a “political drama” to avoid have repeatedly claimed their innocence and attributed their accountability and generate sympathy before the elections. travails to a falling out with the military over his attempts to Sharif and his daughter intend to appeal their convictions in assert civilian supremacy. higher courts and seek bail. The interim law minister has said The electoral campaign has been fraught, with the media that they will be arrested at the airport on arrival in . Sharif and his daughter have announced their decision to return to Pakistan on July 13 denouncing moves by the military to dictate coverage. The mil- It isn’t clear whether the military will permit supporters to itary is also seen to be working with the judiciary to undermine assemble in any significant numbers at the airport and risk Sharif and his party, and promote the cricketer-turned-poli- clashes. The main road from the city to the airport passes Sharif, who was the chief minister of Punjab, has been running primarily on the record of his party’s governance. He has a tician Imran Khan and his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf Party, through a huge military base. the PMLN’s electoral campaign. reputation as an able administrator who delivered developmen- known as the PTI. Sharif and his daughter also need to manage the power strug- He has always advocated avoiding confrontation with the tal projects on time. But he lacks the charisma and the mass The electoral battle is being fought for 342 seats in Pakistan’s gles within their party. Shahbaz Sharif, the younger brother of military establishment and the judiciary, and is campaigning support that Nawaz and Maryam Sharif have.

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