Daily Times

A country is called politically stable if its government is functioning as per the expectations of its people, their essential needs are being met, their critical issues are being resolved and their basic rights are being protected. Political stability also means conducive working environment exists for the industries and other working class free of crime and violence. Also, the economy is well managed by the government, people can earn their lively hood and prices of the services, energy and daily use items are in the reach of the people. It is also important to address the socioeconomic issues of the aggrieved and estranged groups of the society through a dialogue to bring them in the mainstream politics.

It is also necessary that the government and the opposition parties have a good working relationship and the parliament is legislating. It is essential that general elections are held on time, in a fair and transparent manner, and the concerned political parties trust the institutions responsible to hold the elections, and accept the election results. However, the election complaints, if any, should be addressed through the prevailing electoral and legal procedures.

It is also a responsibility of the election commission and other related institutions to make sure that no party can rig the elections in any way. Also, that a good political culture prevails in the country and after the formation of the government as a consequence of the elections, both the government (the ruling party or coalition) and the opposition parties play their constructive role in the parliament and otherwise to serve the interest of the country and its people.

This instability will further diminish the country’s economic growth and development as it will disrupt continuation of the economic policies, will discourage foreign investment, and further disturb the working in the industries and businesses

Although peaceful protests are allowed in a democracy for the political parties and the people to express their sentiments and the issues, it is necessary that the working environment in the country and the functioning of the government are not disturbed due to lengthy peaceful protest campaigns or violent protests. Preferably the issues should be resolved in the parliament or through a dialogue. Thus, a country is called politically unstable if its governments or executives are changed before completing their tenures because of conflicts or rampant competition between various political parties, and the elections are held frequently.

As for as Pakistan is concerned, its political history shows that its opposition parties have mostly violated the above discussed norms of political stability and have looked for opportunities to destabilize the sitting governments by exploiting people’s sentiments on various issues, on the pretext of declaring elections as rigged or by exploiting the weaknesses of the governments, to get people’s support to launch lengthy and violent protests, long march and Dhranas. Through such self driven and power hungry political wrangling, Pakistan’s political parties in the opposition have quite often caused instability either by falling the governments, changing its executives or by disrupting the functioning of the governments, the industries and the businesses of the country. Hence, except some spells of political stability in Pakistan, its political stability, since long has been kept disturbing and uncertain.

The ongoing politics of the 11 united opposition parties (PDM) in Pakistan has brought another wave of political instability due to its long protest campaign being conducted through public rallies, meetings, and gatherings in all major cities, and the long march and Dharna, which are planned to be done in February and March 2021. Whereas analysts are of the view that the opposition leaders of the major political parties in the PDM have started this political campaign to seek relief for their corruption cases, the PDM is exploiting people’s sentiments due to the PTI government’s failure to control the ever rising prices of the items of the daily use, due to which the poor masses have been hit very hard.

As the political stability and the economic growth are interconnected, the prevalence of the above stated political instability is not good for Pakistan, because it will badly hit the economy already ridden with a heavy foreign debt burden and slowed down economic activity due to the COVID-19 related smart lock downs. This instability will further diminish the country’s economic growth and development as it will disrupt continuation of the economic policies, will discourage foreign investment, and further disturb the working in the industries and businesses.

While this state will add to the existing inflation, already very high prices will further rise, thus adding to the sufferings of the people.

In view of the above discussion, it looks more prudent for the PDM leadership to trust the integrity of the country’s higher judiciary that it will ensure justice to them, they should leave their corruption cases to be decided by the judicial system, and accept the dialogue offer of the government and resolve other issues by holding discussions. Moreover, during the dialogue, the top leaders of all the political parties should aim to also agree that from now on, for the sake of country’s political stability, economic progress, social cohesion, and to present a united front to face foreign sponsored terrorism and security threats, they will all follow the above discussed parameters of ensuring political stability in the country.

They should also agree that in future, the opposition parties will perform their duties, but will not try to dislodge any sitting government before completion of its tenure. All the political parties should also vow that continuity will be maintained in the economic policies by every government.

[The writer is a former Research Fellow of Islamabad Policy Research Institute (IPRI), and Ex Senior Research Fellow of Strategic Vision Institute (SVI), Islamabad].