Daily Times

If only sensationalism-mongers knew better, Pakistani media could have easily averted the latest in a neverending series of political controversies surrounding none other than the former chief of armed forces General Qamar Bajwa. As the media frenzy rages on and news organisations fall like rolling pins, desperate for their share of ratings, just one voice of sanity could have been enough to break the toxic cycle.

First things first, airing the contents of an off-the-record, primarily personal conversation outside the television studio on national television did not sit well with the presumable beacons of responsible journalism. However, since no one’s interested in starting the crazy pursuit of objective news and the overanalysis is here to stay, one may stick to the norm and cautiously side with the public version of the events. Because General Bajwa was not standing in the court of law, the act of swearing on the Quran should have been enough to spell an end to the ongoing tos and fros.

Of course, this does not rule out the onus on the country’s judiciary to hold the military establishment accountable but as long as the likes of Defence Minister Khwaja Asif and Muhammad Zubair do not find their way to the bench, they are in no position whatsoever to further their own political machinations at the expense of national stability.

Do such politicians forget the skeletons hanging in their own closets before they turn back to bite the very hands they once dreamt to feed them? For every political figure bemoaning the fragility of democracy in Pakistan, a straightforward question about the number of times they have knocked on the doorstep to seal their rise to power becomes the ultimate knockout punch.

Those who have been no strangers to seeking help only to later critique and challenge the institutions illustrate a concerning trend. For now, these bickerings have not only muddled the truth but have also exacerbated existing tensions within the political sphere. As the public grapples with deciphering fact from fiction, General Bajwa’s credibility and the reality of political games have come under scrutiny; further complicating an already intricate web of power dynamics. *