The suppression of the PTI protests on November 26 in Islamabad has further deepened political antagonism in the country. Notwithstanding the differing claims about the causalities by the PTI and the government, the ruthlessness displayed by the security forces demonstrate the depth of the brutality.
The violence was not followed by soothing actions to calm the situation but the cabinet Minister indulged in a string of provocative statements to fuel political polarization. The talk of ban on one of the largest political parties and the imposition of Governor’s rule in the KP was forcefully renewed and PTI workers’ retreat ridiculed in a callous way.
The folly does not end here. Resolutions to declare PTI as a terrorist organization were moved in the Punjab and Balochistan Assemblies and new criminal cases registered against the PTI leaders and workers. The Balochistan Assembly actually passed the resolution in the face of the boycott of the opposition. However, the Punjab Assembly was prevented from passing such a resolution by the PPP opposition.
The government may gloat over the temporary reprieve. The rulers forget the more the political confrontations are allowed to fester, the more challenging it becomes to avert the highly complex and damaging consequences that emerge from such political deadlocks. We are caught in a political feud between the two Punjab-based political parties since 2014.
This shows the utter failure of the Punjabi leadership to overcome their inflated egos, political ambitions and greed for power and to sit across the table to seek political reconciliation and a modus vivendi for the sake of the country. This long political confrontation has strengthened the undemocratic forces increasing their visibility in the political manipulation and electoral gerrymandering in arrogant disregard of the public mandate.
We are caught in a political feud between the two Punjab-based political parties since 2014.
The country throughout its history has rarely witnessed political stability. It has precariously passed from autocracy to weak political governments and hybrid administrations with an economy chronically prone to boom and bust and dependent on foreign aid and debts.
Despite the abysmal performance of the politicians, the people of Pakistan have willingly given enormous sacrifices for the restoration of democracy, constitutional rule and the consolidation of the federal bonds. This past decade has been characterized by an exceptionally despairing political phenomenon. The political leaders have played as pawns in extra constitutional games to gain power.
In the course, the police force have been transformed into a brutal state instrument to coerce political workers without fear of accountability for their illegal and unlawful actions reviving the tradition of arresting and jailing political opponents on fake cases; the privileges of the courts to deal with the criminal cases in accordance with the law of the country particularly those registered against political opponents drastically circumvented and the judgments of the superior courts flagrantly defied; the public mandate in electoral exercises has been gerrymandered to deny power to genuine public representatives triggering rounds of political unrest. The country will go a long way to secure redemption from the ugly consequences of all these political, judicial and administrative new normal.
The political deadlock of the past one decade has badly damaged the federal bonds and the institutional structures that bind the country together. The judiciary is in disarray; the parliament has turned into a rubber stamp to pass amendments to the constitution and enact legislation without serious thought; the prestige of the security establishment as a neutral force is at stake; the centrifugal forces have gained strength openly challenging the writ of the state; insurgencies and militant attacks on the security forces have scaled up; the sane and moderate political leaders have been rendered helpless with the political dynamics shifting to the young generation as is the case in Balochistan and the erstwhile tribal agencies.
The emergence of the PTM, BYC, and Gwadar Haq Do Movement was certainly prompted by the common factor of the state’s callous approach to the grievances of the marginalized regions.
The people of Sindh were shocked recently by the extra judicial killing of Dr. Shahnawaz in a police encounter under the pressure from the religious fanatics. This showed that the religious extremism was raising its ugly head in this otherwise secular land.
The Pakistan Green Initiative and the new irrigation schemes of new canals from the River Indus notwithstanding the chronic shortage of water has created a new wave of protests in the province. These protests are so vociferous that the ruling PPP has been forced to distance itself from the decision which apparently had a go-ahead signal from President Asif Zardari.
These protests will grow into a full-fledged movement unless the federal government renounces the new irrigation schemes. The brutal treatment of public protests by the state has crept into Sindh also. The Sindh police’s brutality has been quite evident in the violent dispersal of public protests.
It appears that the administration is hell bent on suppressing the PTI by brutal force, banning it or declaring it a proscribed organization and keeping its founder leader incarcerated. Would this end the decade-long political polarization that has gripped the country?
A big no is the only conceivable answer. Without political stability, the rehabilitation of the economy or having foreign investments is impossible. The rich and economically stable countries were not born with this level of prosperity. The secret of their economic stability lies in their leaders’ wisdom, commitment and loyalty to their country.
It is doubtful our leaders would learn a lesson. They have sacrificed their wisdom, conscience and patriotism at the altar of power.
The author was a member of the Foreign Service of Pakistan and he has authored two books.