Daily Times

The all-encompassing presser of DGISPR on April 29, by and large, seems to be the ex post facto declaration by the security establishment of a soft coup. Either out of sheer desperation or overconfidence, ‘they’ no longer feel the need to maintain the thin veneer which was providing the benefit of the doubt to the present dispensation of being elected.

This purportedly elected government could not recover fully from the lethal jolt of cabinet reshuffle which was revealed through the media when the news was broken by a private TV channel. The government’s unawareness about the development was obvious from the notice served by it on the channel for airing baseless news regarding cabinet reshuffle. It became even more apparent who held the power to manoeuvre when the authenticity of the news materialised in the same week, providing it with little choice other than endorsement. Similarly, the April 29 presser that covered a range of issues from policy to governance was also endorsed a day later by the government through its advisor (unelected) for information and broadcasting.

The current dispensation was bereft of whatever doubt remained about the functionality of the Constitution and its status. But the question is, why was the entire wrath conveyed through the presser reserved for the Pakhtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM), a civil rights movement?

The real devil lies in details!

The PTM is not the first movement or organisation campaigning for the enforcement and rule of the Constitution, as every political party apparently speaks on it. But the exception is that the PTM minces no words by not employing the abstract language practiced by the mainstream political parties or other so called civil society organisations.

The youth of the movement not only openly speak on the effects but also unequivocally elaborate the causes by pointing out the perpetrators who run a state within a state extra constitutionally.

The leadership as well as PTM’s base is convinced that their fundamental rights, enshrined in the Constitution, were trampled by the power who never abided by it. No state or its institutions that function within the ambit of the Constitution can formulate and continue the policies that turn the citizens of a specific region into gunpowder for the sake of vested interests of a certain section to facilitate its non-constitutional hold on state power.

It is a text book truth that every hostile agency invests its resources to create mayhem through violence and sabotage to cause political and economic instability to create an uncertain and abnormal situation

The PTM is not struggling for the supremacy of the Constitution merely out of fashion or for tangible privileges but due to personal experiences of devastation brought through the policies formulated and imposed by the unaccountable, above the Constitution state within a state.

For the first time in the history of this state, the PTM challenged the steel frame of militarised status quo not for seeking power or share in power bounty but for enforcing the social contract in letter and spirit.

The problem with the state within a state is how to cope with this extra ordinary political phenomenon that, so far, has no Achilles heel. The leadership of the movement carries no bag of the past except the heart wrenching narratives of widespread destruction and humiliation they faced. They could not intimidate them with the usual carrot and stick policy. Their high moral ground flowing from their legitimate cause has across the board acceptability. Even the installed civilian government is carefully choosing its words while speaking about the PTM.

Therefore spurious prefixes such as enemy of the state and foreign funding were extracted from the infamous black toolkit. Yet there is a complete lack of innovation in this regard. One is at a loss at the absurdity of how any hostile agency can invest in a movement that struggles for peace, enforcement of fundamental rights and supremacy of the Constitution?

It is a text book truth that every hostile agency invests its resources to create mayhem through violence and sabotage to cause political and economic instability to create an uncertain and abnormal situation.

But surprisingly, the PTM struggles for peace, normalcy and rule of law, because it knows that the destruction and sufferings its members have gone through were due to lack of civilian supremacy, no parliamentary control over policy and malfunctioning of the state resulting from non adherence to the Constitution.

Instead of using the allegation as fodder for media trial, if they have solid proof against the PTM of receiving funding from foreign states it should be brought to a proper forum to give PTM the right to defend itself. But here the boot is on the other leg: guilty until proven innocent! Ironically, no media house approached the PTM to take their point of view.

The underpinnings of a modern state are a social contract in the form of the Constitution to be followed in letter and spirit; acknowledgement of historical cultural roots of citizens and sound economic base not capitalising on rents and aid but thriving on productivity. Unfortunately, the security establishment is hell bent for the last six decades to run the state without these essential elements. In the name of running they have dragged and defaced the state by turning it into a fiefdom.

In a state of paranoia they are calling anyone an enemy who is selling them a mirror. And the PTM is not only selling the mirror but also showing it which reflects those faces who have dragged this state for more than six decades. The problem for those faces is that their time is up, so states the mirror!

The writer is a freelance journalist