Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal, in a social media post, on Monday, said some hidden hands and inertia of history were trying to take the democratic process towards the same old path.

Sharing a timeline of the country’s in-turn stints with democratic and martial law governments, Iqbal said: “Pakistan’s history has oscillated between decades of democracy and martial laws following a pattern.”

Iqbal, who also heads the planning and development ministry, said: “Will we be able to break the cycle that has kept Pakistan shackled in chequered political ping pong to undermine our development process or follow the dictate of the past?”

He hoped that the cycle would be broken this time as everyone was committed to preserving the continuity of the democratic process, except “a troika of failed politicians, disgruntled media anchors, and a few retired servicemen”.

“We cannot compromise on our future and the tide of Rising Pakistan,” he said.

The minister had made similar comments on Saturday when he said a particular lobby is hell-bent on constructing a narrative to provoke unconstitutional acts in the country “so that they get their jobs back”.

Earlier, talking to the media, Iqbal had said there is a “troika of failed politicians, retired generals, and TV talk show hosts” which makes claims everyday about political and economic stability in the country on TV.

Published in Daily Times, October 31^st 2017.