Daily Times

As the nation celebrates its 71st independence day today, politicians and generals will be seen addressing ceremonies and speaking at great length about what kind of Pakistan Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah had envisioned. Each political leader will term himself the true representative of the country’s forefathers and reiterate that the nation needs to carry forward Jinnah’s legacy. But amid the ongoing political chaos — Jinnah’s ideology which we so vehemently aspire to follow — is nowhere to be found in actuality.

Prime Minister-in-waiting Imran Khan recently told us in a tweet that the dark days are over and the dawn of a new era has begun with his party’s victory in the recently-held elections. Khan also vowed to ‘reclaim’ the vision of Jinnah and urged the public to celebrate the Independence Day with ‘full fervour’. But the fact of the matter is that we lost our way somewhere during these 70 years, because today’s Pakistan has abandoned Jinnah’s ideals.

In his first address to the civil servants of Pakistan in 1947, Jinnah had said, “Do not forget that the armed forces are the servants of the people. You do not make national policy; it is we, the civilians, who decide these issues and it is your duty to carry out these tasks with which you are entrusted.” This is one of his many statements that we ignored as a nation. Some of his speeches were deliberately kept hidden and censored by the state itself. Pakistan celebrates its 71st independence day today, but civilian supremacy still remains a distant dream. Criticism of the state can get you abducted and even killed. The issue of enforced disappearances in the country, aimed at silencing dissent, remains an under-discussed topic.

After a great deal of political engineering whereby a certain political party was backed by the powers-that-be, the elections were also manipulated to get the desired results. In the ‘national interest’, however, politicians and other stakeholders who had previously objected to the way the general elections were conducted, decided to accept the results. Most journalists who were alleging rigging have also chosen to accept the way things are and let the elected representatives of PTI form the government so the country can finally move forward. The opposition parties also chose to contest their case about alleged rigging in the Parliament and an initial suggestion about refusal to take the oath was dropped. This was a mature and responsible move on the opposition’s part, because rejection of results would have caused political instability, which the country certainly cannot afford right now. But the question now is, where do we go from here? Will the intervention of non-democratic forces in the political process and political engineering be the norm now? Will critical voices continue to be censored and snubbed in the name of national security? To keep the vision of Jinnah alive, it is the duty of every Pakistani to fight for civilian supremacy.

To keep the vision of Jinnah alive, it is the duty of every Pakistani to fight for civilian supremacy. Otherwise critical voices will continue to be censored and snubbed in the name of national security

Imran Khan has been heavily criticised by many, who believe he was backed by undemocratic forces in the elections and a level-playing field was not provided to all the political parties. But he should rest assured, the same civilian supremacy activists who are criticising him now will stand by him if his authority as Prime Minister is undermined by the establishment.

A number of voters who had never voted for Pakistan Muslim League — N (PML-N) before and had been vocal against the PML-N government, ended up voting for the party, because of the attempts made by the powers-that-be to contain it. Despite everything, the cause of civilian supremacy is gaining ground in Pakistan. However, whether or not the politicians who have complained about their mandate being stolen will stand up for civilian supremacy after formation of the next set-up remains to be seen.

When activists criticise the policies of the military, they are reminded by hyper-patriots of the sacrifices made by the armed forces for the security of the country. It needs to be made clear that criticism of the military by progressive activists (for which they are declared traitors and anti-state agents) does not entail disrespect for the soldiers who continue to risk their lives to protect the homeland from external and internal enemies. The criticism is directed at those higher-ups in the military who consider themselves above the law and design flawed policies which end up destabilising the country and making it more vulnerable to threats. The PM-in-waiting should, therefore, work out a policy where civil-military balance can be achieved. Moreover, the PTI chief should realise that Jinnah’s vision for Pakistan can only be reclaimed if civilian supremacy is established in letter and spirit.

The writer is Assistant Editor, Daily Times. She tweets @AiliaZehra and can be reached at ailiazehra2012@gmail.com

Published in Daily Times, August 14^th 2018.