Daily Times

Though it is not a phenomenon exclusive to Pakistan, people in this country have been suffering because of the ‘enforced disappearances’ of activists and dissidents for at least three decades. There has been a sharp rise in such cases since 2002. In 2011, the government was finally forced to set up a Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances. Since then, as many as 4,608 cases of enforced disappearances have been filed with the commission. It is likely that there are well over 600 such disappearances every year, which comes to 50 every month. Often, the ‘missing persons’ turn out to have been abducted by the state’s most powerful intelligence agencies.

If one suspends both morality and loyalty to Pakistan’s constitution momentarily, then it may be understandable that some of the ‘disappeared persons’ were a threat to the country. However, this is not the only place the state is at fault.  In its insecurity, the state has also muzzled the media and done away with the right to free speech. Just recently, we have seen both the print and electronic media under duress, forced to block certain stories, reports and articles which were critical of the Pakistani establishment. The Jang group was targeted in particular, because it presented the news in a way which was not in line with the establishment’s narrative. Take not that the word ‘establishment’ does not only refer to the military here, but also the judiciary.

While the Supreme Court (SC) of Pakistan has maintained that it has not imposed a blackout on media coverage of former Prime Minister (PM) Nawaz Sharif, it can be seen clearly that coverage of him has been surreptitiously minimized. The situation has gotten so bad in terms of civilians’ lack of control over government departments that early this week when PM Shahid Khaqan Abbasi held a presser, no TV channel covered it, because he meant to defend Nawaz Sharif’s statement on the activities of terrorists and Jihadi organisations, otherwise referred to as non-state actors. Nawaz Sharif’s statement can hardly be considered news. He only reiterated what the whole world already believes. However, it still caused so much panic within the military establishment that a special National Security Council (NSC) meeting was called the next day.

Regardless, the people were still able to hear PM Abbasi’s version of events through social media, but this was perhaps the first time in world history that a sitting PM could not even be covered by a state-owned TV channel. The limited credibility Pakistan had was chipped away further, as the incumbent government was reduced a helpless façade of bureaucracy, while a ghost who no one wants to name overrules it.

PTM members were made to run from pillar to post just to hold their peaceful rallies. Manzoor Pashteen was not even allowed to fly to Karachi, he had to get there by road. He was harassed by security and intelligence personnel throughout

Just look at the case of the young Pakhtun leader Manzoor Pashteen. Him and his workers have been hounded and harassed in Lahore and Karachi. This has made it amply clear that this country’s political parties run nothing. In Punjab and Sindh, PTM members were made to run from pillar to post just to hold their peaceful rallies. Manzoor Pashteen was not even allowed to fly to Karachi, he had to get there by road. He was harassed by security and intelligence personnel throughout.

And while the two provinces’ civilian governments were not directly involved in any of this, they remained helpless to check the forces within the security establishments who were perpetrating these violations of civilian rights. Interestingly, those at the receiving end of the state harassment, the PTM and its supporters, knew quite well who was behind it.

As the Commission on Enforced Disappearances has also noted, no FIR has ever been registered against those responsible for carrying out these abductions. Meanwhile, neither the government nor the judiciary has been able to motivate itself to find out about who has been muzzling the media, and attempting to stop the PTM from holding its rallies. As such, some of the blame for the irrelevance of the civilian government’s office falls on the civilian governments.

Now we have missing persons, missing news, and missing movements. It seems that we have a missing republic. After all, even though there has been no formal overthrow of the government or Constitution, the state has in effect, ceased to be a republic.

The writer is a sociologist with interest in history and politics. He tweets @ZulfiRao1

Published in Daily Times, May 17^th 2018.