In keeping with the political history of the country, another former prime minister has been convicted by the courts — this time on the charge of violating the official secret law. It now seems an established law of the country that elected leaders occupying the Office of the Prime Minister are condemned to end up in jail after their fall from power under one pretext or another. One of them was even hanged in a shamefully concocted murder case brought by the military regime of Gen Zia-ul Haq.
It has been a sad fact that like all other civilian institutions in the country, judiciary has also failed to play its constitutionally defined role to dispense justice to the citizens against both societal and state highhandedness. There has been a long list of past precedents where the superior judiciary has been influenced from behind the scenes.
The May 9 events in the country were unfortunate in every sense and the PTI leadership is rightly in the dock. Having misjudged the situation, they subsequently failure to come up clean in the matter. The lack of political insight on the part of the top PTI leadership has turned the tide against the party which has lost political space and accommodation. However, the resultant state action against the party and its leadership in the wake of the May 9 events is not proportionate either.
Whether one likes it or not, the fact remains that PTI is still the most popular political party in the country and enjoys support across all sections of society. If that had not been the reason, the party would not have been denied its traditional election symbol for the upcoming general elections. Our political history testifies the fact that no efforts aimed at sidelining the political leadership have ever worked. There is every possibility that the current efforts aimed at discrediting PTI and its leadership will also end up in the same manner.
The national interest calls for the security establishment and PTI sitting together to sort out the issues in an amicable manner. The ongoing confrontation will only make things worse both in short and long terms. The establishment’s interference in political matters has over the years proved counter-productive. Political leadership of the country also needs to act in a responsible manner and learn to resolve political differences through debate and dialogue rather than be part of conspiracies to destabilise their political opponents.
The coming days and weeks after elections are likely to be full of uncertainty. Given the prevailing political polarisation in the country and lack of level-playing field for a major political party, the credibility of the Feb 8 elections will be in doubt both within the country and internationally. The incoming government, whether led by a single party or a coalition of parties, is unlikely to be stable enough to confront the multi-dimensional crisis the country is confronted with.
It goes without saying that political uncertainty in any country hampers social-economic progress and well-being. The persistent political instability in Pakistan and inherent mistrust between the establishment and the political class has been a major cause for all our social, economic and governance problems. Addressing the mountain of problems facing the nation in every walk of our national life requires all stakeholders in the governance system to work together while being in their respective domains to resolve our political, social, administrative and economic problems.
It should be clear by now that the way we have handled our national affairs thus far falls way short of what is actually required to be done. Our hybrid governance structure has failed to deliver, giving rise to uncertainty and instability. It is naive to expect things to fall in place overnight. We have a long way to go to clear the mess we have created over the 76 years of our existence as a nation. The time for experimentation is now over and we all need to get our act together before it is too late to mend. The choices we make now will determine our present and future.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 6th, 2024.
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