Daily Times

Hatred has risen to its peak in Pakistan politics in the last five to seven years. All credit goes to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan for fueling the fire of hatred to its extreme. The zombiac behaviour of its workers and supporters has led to many extreme and harsh incidents. Much more is in the offing with the rising irrational and illogical political debates. The blasphemous slogans are often seen in the public rallies of the PTI chief. “Our leader our prophet”, and “Imran Khan Peace Be Upon Him”, “I wish you would have been my father”, “I will vote Khan even if he rapes my mother” are some types of placards that have gone viral on the social media. Speechless to see them all. What kind of politics has the PTI trended to engage our youth?

Political sloganeering and shout outs against the opponents is a routine affair. Even we have seen harsh stances of the opposing leaders in politics, not only in Pakistan but in the developed countries too. Just to cite examples, we can quote the elections in the US, Russia, Germany, France and some others too. But, we didn’t see any zombiac trend in politics. Before the rise of Imran Khan from the dharna (sit-in) politics against the then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in 2014, Pakistan’s politics was based on mere differences in political theologies and some vested interests. Later, the harsh slogans and political shout outs were compromised and managed in the Charter of Democracy (COD), signed by the Pakistan Muslim League-N chief Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif and then Pakistan Peoples Party chairperson Benazir Bhutto on May 14, 2006, in London.

The majority of the nation never expected the brutal launch of narcissist Imran Khan as a third force in an extremely revengeful action

Despite many reservations and objections by the military establishment and opponents of the two political parties, the COD was gradually paving a path for political tolerance in Pakistan. Before the COD could strengthen the foundation of harmonized and tolerant democratic norms and civil supremacy, everything was toppled by the rise of the unholy alliance of PTI and Tahir-ul-Qadri’s politico-religious party. The lust to get into power corridors was obvious in the Khan’s speeches. His most favourite shout out, “Mian saab jaan deo, Saadi waari aan deo” [Leave it Mian sahib, let our turn of government come] will remain part of the country’s history and the unmatchable support by the “third empire”. Neither the first time nor the last time for the “third empire” to play the role of an undemocratic dictatorial vampire. One half of the century of Pakistan’s political history is overshadowed by the uniformed personnel.

Once you go through Pakistan’s political history. You will find the military establishment grooming public leaders of their choice, defaming the right ones in politics, introducing political bribery, and commercializing the ranks and personnel of the armed forces. The most controversial books, A Case of Exploding Mangoes by former BBC Urdu chief Mohammed Hanif and The Military Inc. by Ayesha Siddiqa, are very daring notes about the military establishment’s role in Pakistan politics though just a tip of the iceberg.

The most vicious card used is the religion for their dictatorial regimes against the third regime of PML-N chief Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif who was stressing civil supremacy, and financial and strategic accountability of the armed forces. There might have been very serious connotations of the conflict between the PML-N chief – the third-time prime minister and the Establishment. Perhaps, that is why they opted to launch and support a person with a limited vote bank to the stature of prime minister. The majority of the nation never expected the brutal launch of narcissist Imran Khan as a third force in an extremely revengeful action. Building him up as an alternate option in politics was amazingly daunting but worked adversely for society, the economy and the state institutions too.

Who shall be blamed for the unholy dharna politics to strategically immature and diplomatically incompetent about four years of PTI regime? Who shall take the responsibility for impolite PTI politics after the no-confidence motion in the National Assembly (lower house of Pakistan’s parliament) was launched, and the events followed by, and the language used in the PTI public rallies in Peshawar, Karachi and Lahore? What about the announced PTI march on the federal capital after eid-ul-fitr and yet another planned dharna? The residents of Islamabad suffered a lot five years back. They cannot afford another one while the PTI workers and supporters are charged with the zombiac behaviour, misguided by the blind faith of their political leadership. The bunch of lies after lies have created a harsh environment of intolerance on all sides. A severe action and reaction are in the offing by the zombies in Pakistan politics. A political volcano is likely to erupt in the coming days. Before it takes its course, the responsible individuals and institutions shall pay heed to the situation and do the needful to correct it and deescalate political tension between the parties.

The writer is a freelance journalist and broadcaster, and Director Devcom-Pakistan. He can be reached at devcom.pakistan@gmail.com and tweets @EmmayeSyed