Daily Times

The American author John Maxwell has nicely advised leaders, “You must be big enough to admit your mistakes, smart enough to learn from them, and strong enough to correct them”. We have no leader of this calibre. Six years after the humiliating defeat of 1971, the military brass upset the applecart of the democracy; banned politics; charged the elected Prime Minister with a dubious murder crime and executed him. We groped in darkness for eleven years governed by absolutism. We fought the Western world’s war in Afghanistan and were afflicted by drug and Kalashnikov cultures and political, religious and sectarian militancy.

Dear Quaid, at the end of this dark period, we had a herd of 85000 trained militants settled in our tribal agencies and 1.5 million drug addicts. The subsequent decade saw weak and powerless governments brought to power by the establishment. The elections were managed and the votes of the people were engineered to favour the compromising politicians. One politician aptly described the situation “He has two paths – one leads to power and the second to Jail”. These regimes were dismissed no longer than any chief executive tried to govern stopped dancing to the tune of the string pullers.

Even this weak and flawed democracy was once again derailed by the Generals in October 1999. The Prime Minister was tried for hijacking the PIA plane in the air and sentenced to life imprisonment. Through a deal brokered by a friendly country, he was allowed to go into exile along with his entire family for ten years. The new military regime and its shameless political allies ruled the roost for a decade. The military leaders, succumbing to US pressure, plunged the country into a counterterrorism war. We saw an unprecedented wave of terrorist attacks and suicide bombings and lost over 75000 precious lives.

Dear Quaid, when the foreign patrons (President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair) felt the Musharraf regime was unsustainable, they brokered a deal with the Pakistan People’s Party to pave the way for general elections. As a quid pro quo, the General withdrew the corruption cases against the PPP leaders from the Swiss Courts in which adverse verdicts were imminent. This facilitated their robust return and participation in the general elections scheduled for January 2008.

Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, the most popular leader, was assassinated soon after her address to a mammoth election rally in Liaquat Garden. This is the place, dear Quaid, where our first Prime Minister was also murdered in October 1951. His assassin was shot dead while the scene of the murder of Benazir Bhutto was hosed clean to destroy all the evidence. Elections were won by the PPP and we transitioned from military autocracy to democracy. But our politicians have never been ‘strong enough to correct their mistakes or smart enough to learn from them’. The opposition gleefully became a party to the disqualification of Prime Minister Gilani in the third year of his term.

The Pakistan Muslim League under the leadership of the senior Sharif won the RO general elections of 2013 and formed the federal and Punjab governments. The politicians, instigated by the establishment, continued undermining each other. The political instability suits the supremacy of the establishment in the governance. This time, a new political party with an overwhelming appeal for the educated youth from the middle class held the capital hostage from August to December 2014. Prime Minister Sharif publicly blamed his army chief and the deep state for conspiracy against his regime.

The Panama scandal involving senior Sharif triggered a long process of judicial process. The Apex Court almost unanimously disqualified him from any public office. He was sentenced to imprisonment by the Accountability Court. He handed over power to Shahid Khaqan Abbassi. This gentleman has publicly stated that he was allowed to work only as an employee and not the chief executive of the country.

Dear Quaid, amidst these circumstances, the nation went into the general elections of 2018. The Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf emerged victorious but with no clear majority. The crafty hands had carefully engineered the electoral outcome to give the party barely enough seats to form the government in coalition. This military-politicians equation for hybrid governance lasted only for three years or so.

The PDM, abetted by the establishment, moved a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan forgetting the intensifying political polarisation and the acute economic crisis. Given the skyrocketing popularity of Imran Khan, we could see this unwise move aggravating further the multiple crises that were crippling the country. The fallen Imran Khan emerged more powerful than the Imran Khan erect. The PDM and its patrons, having exhausted all political options, resorted to the state’s coercive power. All efforts were made to break the PTI and banish another popular leader.

Amid this oppressive atmosphere, shame elections were held. There was at all no level playing field. The pre-election rigging was endemic to keep PTI out of the electoral arena. Its election symbol was snatched. Its candidates went through a hell to file their nominations as independents. They were denied any opportunity for electioneering. Last but not least, its winning candidates were shown defeated in the final electoral count – Form 47.

The country is seeking the 24th IMF bailout surrendering its sovereign policymaking. The obnoxious nexus among military and civil bureaucrats, dynastic politicians and the elite formed soon after your passing away continues untouched devouring over $17 billion a year in privileges and subsidies. The poverty is endemic estimated at 45%. Our national indexes in education, healthcare, gender equality and economic and social justice are very poor.
This is how, dear Quaid, your dreamland has travelled from 1947 to Form 47.