Daily Times

It has been over two decades since the last martial law administrator decided enough was enough and jumped in to “save” the country’s politics. Democracy was said to have gone down the rabbit hole then. Snap back to reality and our fragile constitution is once again miserably trying to balance itself on a tight rope.

That Pakistan is out on a constitutional hardball amid ruckus caused by a very comfortable dismantling of the status quo is clear to any and all. But while the higher judiciary is tasked with a phenomenal responsibility to take the frenzied bull by its horns and pave the way for normalcy to head home, the onus clearly lies on all of us to make the best of a terrible bargain. Since Pakistan is not a toddler’s sandbox and only the courts have the authority to validate what can or cannot govern a sovereign state, the political parties should consider the dire consequences of trying to replicate mohalla-level games at the national arena.

What went down in Islamabad has sent shockwaves in all directions because trying to replace the sovereignty of a parliament on petty whims sounds more like an in-your-face comedy sketch than the proceedings of a functional democracy. Amid theatrics of holding shadow sessions and the tit-for-tat stunt of switching off lights, the national assembly could be called anything but the seat of Pakistan’s sovereign power on Sunday. Just as disappointing was Punjab Assembly, which has practically been sent home.

Locked press galleries, distasteful exchanges between treasury and opposition benches while women MPAs traded punches, pulled hair and rolled around the floor: we are not on our way to becoming a banana republic but have unfortunately bid adieu to everything democratic or decent.

The stakes are higher than ever before and given the latest attack on former prime minister Nawaz Sharif sitting thousands of miles away, there’s no telling what havoc would follow next. For now, we, at Daily Times, can only request all parties to let the cooler heads take charge. We better start acting like we are in the midst of a defining moment. Law and order have to remain supreme no matter how triggering the circumstances may be. The economy is already in grip of phenomenal instability and a single glance at the stock exchange would speak volumes about how the wind has been knocked out of the homeland so dear to us. If not for basic civility and mature politics, please hold your tongues (and punches, for that matter) for the money matters. *