Daily Times

Former President Asif Zardari has opened yet another can of words by revealing that somebody recently sought his help with a “formula,” suggesting that it had something to do with setting up a new, or different, government. Subsequent events haven’t helped clarify matters even if some of them were meant to do just that, since the sources quoted by a local journalist as denying any such contact with the former president appears just as mysterious. Surely things would have been a lot clearer if Asif Zardari had been more forthcoming about who approached him and precisely for what, and the journalist had also told everybody who exactly was behind the denial. Better yet, since the source was some sort of senior official, his organisation or department should have come out with a formal denial for everybody to see and judge for themselves.

It’s unfortunate that even in these delicate times, the state’s senior-most politicians and most serious institutions continue to play hide and seek and look for flank attacks against each other just to score points of their own. It’s very clear that people’s problems, of which there are very many at the moment, are lower on their priority lists than increasing their own political capital in some cases and nuisance value in others. Yet they forget that the Average Joe of the digital age is not only a lot more aware, but also more empowered than before. And if they are not provided with ready answers, they will just come out and demand them.

It is for the government, at the end of the day, to take note of such things and bring clarity to matters. If there are really plans afoot by some parties to install a new government, which would require bringing down the present one, then they come under the category of conspiring against the state and must be dealt with accordingly. It has become a matter of routine for politicians to garner attention for the sake of point-scoring. The establishment in the meanwhile continues to languish under the butcher’s knife. At the very least, no more time should be lost in calling for a thorough investigation into all such claims. It is high time that the spice detouring for the sake of a notch on the political belt is put an end to. The people of Pakistan have paid far too steep a price for far too long because of just such things and demand an end to all such interference in matters of the state. Anything less would imply that the government, too, was not doing its job. *