The Chief of Army Staff’s appearance before the Senate Committee of the Whole has been much debated and much analysed. In the process, the critical gist of what he stated has been generally overlooked. This part, to me, is the one where he urged the government not to leave a policy vacuum. But, then, most of our vociferous pundits may not be familiar with the meaning of this term. Let me also express my utter disappointment at the exasperatingly mundane questions asked as well as the loaded insinuations laced with each during the four-and-a-half hours’ session. While the Chief had little option but to respond, he let one slip in from his side — this being the advice to the government to do what it is there to do: govern. The twist that one newspaper gave to this sane advice in its banner headline the next morning bespeaks a heavens-may-fall conspiracy-laden mindset: “Politicians must not tempt army with chances”. Was getting the Chief in the ‘dock’ the ultimate objective for satiating the bloated egos of a few? If that were the case, the government ended up ceding more space, power and legitimacy to the military through this ill-advised move. What we are battling in the country are two distinct components of a policy paradigm. On the one hand, the space for intellectual debate is being systematically reduced under religious, legal and strategic constraints and, on the other hand, there are gaping policy holes which create and accentuate the maladies that the state is suffering from. The disappearance of some activists is one manifestation of the syndrome of diminishing space for debate in the country. Some of these acts may be to gag adversarial opinion, while others may be self-inflicted to build the case for seeking relief among safer habitats. The ominous capitulation of the state before forces representing religiosity-laden bands of thugs and marauders is another reflection of the eventual theocracy mantle that we may all be forced to wear if we continue treading the line that we currently are. In that instance, it is not the depleting space that we would be moaning about. It will be the imposition of a writ that would not allow any space for divergence at all. Access to information and intellectual freedom are integral components leading to human emancipation. A part of the famous Woodward Report reads: “The history of intellectual growth and discovery clearly demonstrates the need for unfettered freedom, the right to think the unthinkable, discuss the unmentionable and challenge the unchallengeable. To curtail free expression strikes twice at intellectual freedom, for whoever deprives another of the right to state unpopular views necessarily also deprives others of the right to listen to those views.” For the cause of discovering the truth, and for the cause of delving deep into the vast reservoirs of knowledge beckoning the kiss of our hunger and quest, the parameters of space available to those who seek need to be expanded. They desire more to satiate their hunger for touching the limits of the fathomable and discover the contours of the edifice of a liberal and egalitarian polity that we had once dreamt of raising This freedom does not necessarily spell rebellion. It is an effort to comprehend the surrounding reality and craft a meaningful way towards the goal of composite development and progress. It is the empowerment to use human faculties to the optimum to improve on the quality of life of self and others. It is the path to contentment and salvation. It sharpens one’s inherent faculties for getting a measure of others’ sensitivities and how best to coexist in an increasingly divisive and polarised world. It is one’s contact with a collective paradigm that articulates the spirit of giving and sharing. It shows the path to knowledge. It gives you strength to divorce the myopic and the painfully personalised narrative of righteousness. It is one’s passage to freedom to flourish and be at peace amidst a milieu of conflicting stakes. It is one’s trail to learning to grow beyond the narrow confines of dogma. Happiness and tolerance can be reaped by walking the path of knowledge. The converse would plunge us deeper into the confines of theocracy, regression and degeneration. By denying this freedom, the rulers of the country are guilty twice over. They are guilty for not provisioning appropriate opportunities and environment that would be conducive for learning and growth. But, they are also guilty for raising tall barriers restricting individuals’ pursuit of avenues which they may have garnered of their own effort and initiative. This, in turn, emanates from a sequence of gross policy vacuums which exist because of a bunch of egocentric oligarchs who have been sequentially hoisted on the seats of power through a deeply-flawed process. It not only facilitates the ascent of inadequate and below-par leaders with frost-bitten skulls, it even provides methods and mechanisms for them to pass on the mantle of leadership from generation to generation. This is how a flawed system operates — and would continue to unless drastically remedied. The combination of depleting space for dialogue and gross policy vacuums is disastrous. Not only does this combination eliminate the possibilities for a nation to grow out of its own harrowing shadows, it also amplifies the paucity of options to deal with a situation that is getting only worse with the passage of time. So, how does one break the logjam? Under the sub-theme on the “value of intellectual diversity and debate, and of its contribution to the overall advancement of learning” as part of his Areopagitica published as an appeal to the Parliament of England, John Milton wrote: “And if the men be erroneous who appear to be the leading schismatics, what withholds us but our sloth, our self-will, and distrust in the right cause, that we do not give them gentle meetings and gentle dismissions, that we debate not and examine not the matter thoroughly with liberal and frequent audience, if not for their sakes, yet for our own?…And were they but as the dust and cinders of our feet, so long as in that notion they may yet serve to polish and brighten the armoury of Truth, even for that respect, they were not utterly to be cast away.” For the cause of discovering the truth, and for the cause of delving deep into the vast reservoirs of knowledge beckoning the kiss of our hunger and quest, the parameters of space available to those who seek need to be expanded. They desire more to satiate their hunger for touching the limits of the fathomable and discover the contours of the edifice of a liberal and egalitarian polity that we had once dreamt of raising. But, dreams don’t die. They recede into the background. These dreams need to be brought forth to help us untangle from an excess of indolence and sloth that we are dripping with. The polity that we had once envisioned could still be salvaged — this by fearlessly countering the demons of depleting space and policy vacuum. The writer is a political and security strategist, and heads the Regional Peace Institute — an Islamabad-based think tank. Email: raoofhasan@hotmail.com. Twitter: @RaoofHasan Published in Daily Times, December 26th 2017.