Daily Times

The top court has rightly redirected the former PM to the parliament for the settlement of political matters. Honourable jurists were justified in asking why every political issue is being brought to the courts. This has happened at a time when the former ruling party is striving hard to perpetuate chaos with toxic social media campaigning.

The party’s stance is highly irresponsible about the objectionable content posted from the ‘X’ account of the imprisoned party founder. While foreign-based keyboard exploiters have used this post as a cannon against the state institutions; party leadership in Pakistan is confused and divided.

After reluctantly defending the obnoxious post in the initial stages, now, party spokespersons are now crafting evasive arguments to reduce the severity of the toxic social media campaign. This confrontational devilish strategy has largely failed the already fragile political system of Pakistan and shaken the foundations of PTI as well.

Political stability is a much-needed commodity to bring Pakistan back on track of progress. Unresolved political differences are a major hurdle in reviving the economic activities stalled for a long. The economic downslide of Pakistan in PTI tenure is more than a tale of incompetence. Instead of adopting a professional approach, the selection of key appointments like finance ministers and governor of state bank were left to the dubious superstitious practices taking place at the highest state residence.

It seems absurd why major political parties have not yet debated the economic revival plans. The only obvious reason which comes to mind is that they don’t have a plan. PTI, which claims to be the largest party, is allocating all energies to the election rigging mantra, political victimization rhetoric and glorification of the founding chairman.

We have not heard a single statement from top party leaders pointing out follies committed in past tenure. So is the case with PMLN and PPP who are mostly busy in blame game and fiery pressers against political rivals. The fractured political landscape is nothing but a reflection of undemocratic tendencies prevailing in major parties.

This impression is largely factual that political parties usually try to befool their followers with attractive slogans, exploitative religious manoeuvres and out-of-proportion glorification of respective leaders. One may dislike it on moral grounds but artful befooling or charming is an essential part of a popular leader’s exploitative tool kit in Pakistan. Shrewd campaign managers apply multiple exploitative tricks to build the hero image of the party leader to mesmerize the blind followers. How can we forget the infamous ‘Religious Touch’ whisper of an aide to his leader right in the middle of a political protest speech? Exploitation of religious sentiments was the essence of this meaningful whisper.

There are multiple stories about the superstitious practices of famous leaders. These stories were divulged by none other than the close confidants of past rulers. Exploitation of audience or followers by politicians is neither an overstatement nor it is restricted to sentimental religious issues. Spirituality and weird superstitious practices persist side by side in our power corridors.

We have seen rulers in the past using the appearances in the Holy Kaaba and Masjid-e-Nabvi to improve their political profile with a touch of spirituality. In the first place why do the popular leaders, who are acclaimed to be democrat, opt for superstitious tweaks in their political communication with the masses?

It is probably the fear of losing public support and a lack of grip on real political issues. Bertrand Russel rightly pointed out ‘Fear is the main source of superstition and one of the main sources of cruelty. To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom.

It was the PTI, which started the systematic projection of the religious and spiritual inclination of the first family to influence the political landscape. Leaving aside the typical political blame game, which revolves around financial corruption and bad governance, the frequent disclosures specifying the tight grip of the former first lady on the decision-making process unmask the true face of so-called revolutionaries.

The stability of Pakistan is a collective and shared responsibility. Political stakeholders should realize that economic vulnerabilities are increasing with every passing day. Lack of political consensus on national issues and deviation of elected representatives from parliament to the streets is no more affordable for Pakistan. Momentary upper edge gained on social media platforms with toxic fake content cannot resolve the worsening public issues on the ground.

The fact of the matter is that youth gathered under the banner of Naya Pakistan have been thrown into the digital battleground to fight the unholy war with the weapons of fake news, rumours and character assassination. Thanks to the devilish politics of self-style revolutionaries.