Daily Times

If one were to remember despite elections being held and power transferred in 2008, PPPP government in its five-year tenure was made to look as a passing phase by the powers that be, the superior judiciary, media, the anchors and PMLN in cahoots with and in support of each other. More than often Opposition leader Mian Nawaz Sharif rocked the boat though he was a signatory to the Charter of Democracy-a brain child of Benazir Bhutto — for sustainable democracy and economic growth.

Credit must be given to former President Zardari for out-manoeuvring them all, safely piloting the nascent democracy to complete first time ever a constitutionally stipulated tenure. Notwithstanding many of the hurdles that he had to face, he outfoxed his adversaries at the board they had themselves laid. No doubt he moved on the right track by getting China on board on its ambitious CPEC, Gwadar Port development, he did the right thing by opening up with Russia and building bridges with Iran paving way for a stronger Pakistan in the region to withstand the American politics of uncertainties via Afghanistan and India to counter China’s economic growth. The government might not have provided much relief to the common man, it however, made succour available to the poor and starving that had been committing suicides during dictatorship. By raising the wheat procurement price, it ushered prosperity in agricultural sector. And of course one cannot ignore its most outstanding achievements in the field of Constitutional Reforms that have changed the dynamics of Pakistani politics.

To sum it up, it would not have been possible without the long and tenuous struggle by PPP leader former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and her supporters who dared to singe the beard of the dictator in his den. The price she paid was with her life and perhaps worth it since it meant culmination of her life long mission. One had hoped that the spirit of Charter of Democracy would be pursued and that the politic of reconciliation as legacy of Bibi would not be abandoned. Unfortunately as we all are witness to the torrid happenings since 2013 transfer of power, it would be nothing short of miracle if the PMLN government completes its tenure. It would have been all over for MNS in 2014 when umpire was all set to raise his finger in support of IK and PTI. It was Zardari and PPPP that stood as bulwark to save democracy from being derailed extra-constitutionally. Had not the legislators stood united, it would have been all over.

Benazir Bhutto believed that elections unleash dynamics of change and one should make best of the opportunity to put one’s house in order by seeking democratic and developmental priorities instead of opting for collective failures

Pakistan could have avoided its ongoing predicaments if MNS had listened to saner voices advising him to strengthen the Parliament, show respect to it and seek solutions to national problems on the floor of the house rather than give space to other players. Instead he listened to buffoons surrounding him and was coaxed into following politics of confrontation. He believes that taking on his opponents and institutions in full steam could make him win without realising that previously he confronted a prime minister from Sindh with the backing of an overly Punjabi establishment. Now he has forced the situation to be Punjabi versus Punjabi in which apex judiciary that always supported him, has taken on him as if it is fighting forces as bad as Al Capone and Sicilian Mafia.

Without being candid of what it is about, the fact is that the judicial disqualification of Nawaz Sahib has laid bare the fight. I would have loved to call it the final round in the ongoing battle for the supremacy of the ballot versus the military, civil and judicial troika — the fact that the other side is being led by MNS with the sort of reputation that he has rolled up and that nobody would be envy him, that his victory could possibly end up with very serious consequences for the democratic polity.

Just few months short of general elections and country’s major political parties already plunged in the heat of campaigning; it is time there is a collective thinking for resolving the very vital issues facing the country. The fundamental issue that needs resolution and same page solution is regarding our national identity and need for going back to our original ideological moorings as manifested by Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah as candidly expressed by him in his August 11, 1947 Legislative Assembly speech.

Urgency is there to incorporate it as inviolable preamble to the Constitution since one feels that retrogressive forces are gaining strength to eliminate its existence as raisin d’etre of Quaid’s Pakistan. One had felt encouraged last year when Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa had made it clear forcefully that in Pakistan religion was essentially a personal affair and it had nothing to do with politics. Regretfully, there has been no follow up. Rather, the cleric brigade with truckloads of their abusive and divisive sermons seems to be in a driving seat. Once it is decided that Pakistan is a secular state, religious extremists would seek safer havens elsewhere.

Instead of high sounding rhetoric political leaders must get down to framing doable and deliverable election manifestos instead of piling each other with filthy palliatives symbolising their collective failures. Issues such as population explosion, unemployment, lack of healthcare, water scarcity, worsening of environment, lawlessness, child and gender abuse lately exposing the steep fall in eddy of moral decadence — we shall have to recast ourselves in a liberal and progressive mode.

Leaders now and in future must understand that the only way forward is through education even if we have to sacrifice some of our other important needs. We spend billions on our police and other law enforcing agencies and yet the results are dismal. Law-enforcers fail to completely eradicate the terrorists who strike at will and with impunity such as latest attack in Swat. Police cannot track down its encounter specialist, except for little Zainab’s murder — hundreds of other such cases that have been piling up, remain undetected. Notwithstanding the on-going judicial charade measuring length of skirts — it seems everything is moving to a calculated cover up and all about Zainabs and other murders would soon be footnotes.

One hopes that the next elections would serve as a catalyst. Martyred Benazir Bhutto believed that elections unleash dynamics of change and one should make best of the opportunity to put one’s house in order by seeking democratic and developmental priorities instead of opting for collective failures.

The writer is the former High Commissioner of Pakistan to UK and a veteran journalist

Published in Daily Times, February 7^th 2018.