Needless to emphasise that what happened at Masjid-e-Nabvi last Thursday must have sent a wave of shudder through the nerves of the entire Muslim Ummah for whom love of the prophet, unqualified respect for him and sanctity of his shrine constitute basic pillars of their faith. There could not have been a greater act of blasphemy than this desecration of Rouza-e-Rasool by some misled Muslims of Pakistani origin, who without doubt were the followers of PTI. What makes this tragic incident even more painful is that the stalwarts of PTI including Imran Khan endorsed this heinous crime by saying that it was a reaction of those people against the corruption of the present rulers and their involvement in a conspiracy woven by the US to oust him from power.
One wonders at their shameful contention to defend the violation of the sanctity of one of the holiest shrines notwithstanding the existence of solid evidence that it was not a spontaneous reaction by those individuals as Imran Khan and his cohorts are trying to portray but a deliberately planned happening. Sheikh Rasheed in a press conference one day before had hinted at what was going to happen to the ministers and Prime Minister during their visit to the holy shrine. A video has gone viral and is also shown by a private channel in which Sheikh Rasheed is discussing how to go about humiliating the visiting Pakistani delegation. The possibility of Sheikh Rasheed acting as an agent-provocateur to push Imran to the corner by suggesting this line of action cannot be ruled out. The ultimate responsibility for it, however, lies squarely on him.
This incident indicates to what extent our politicians can go to heap scorn and humiliation on their political opponents and in this case their proclaimed enemies. People from all segments of the society have rightly condemned this dastardly act as they feel extremely hurt by it. It is a clear-cut case of blasphemy and must be dealt with accordingly. The Saudi government has made some arrests and is in the process of identification of all those who participated in violating the sanctity of Rouza-e-Rasool. A few FIRs have also been registered by private citizens in Pakistan praying for actions against PTI leaders including Imran Khan for sponsoring this blasphemous act. I also feel hurt as a Muslim and would like to endorse the sentiments of the people for taking action against them under Blasphemy law. What they have done is neither acceptable nor pardonable.
Politics needs to be played according to internationally-accepted democratic norms, laws and the constitution of the land.
Politics needs to be played according to internationally accepted democratic norms, laws and the constitution of the land. But it is regrettable to note that politics in Pakistan has fallen to the lowest ebb of morality in defiance of the law and constitution of the land. Violence has become its hallmark and even the judiciary is not safe from its wrath. That is the ultimate tragedy that can happen to a nation.
The nation saw the violation of the constitution during the no-confidence motion against Imran Khan forcing the judiciary to intervene and unanimously declare the entire episode unconstitutional. Consequently, it became the target of trolling by Imran Khan and other leaders of PTI, more so by the social media operators of the party. Again a rare happening which no civilized society can even think and tolerate.
Judiciary is the most sanctimonious institution of the country on which the edifice of the state is built. Ridiculing it or scandalizing its decisions can have disastrous consequences for the country. Justice Jackson of the US Supreme Court explained that the apex court is not final because it is infallible but it is infallible because it is final. What it means is that the decisions of the SC are to be accepted without any grudge and venom because it is the ultimate form of justice.
People have not only witnessed flak being heaped on the judiciary for the decisions given by it but its decisions have also been daringly defied. The case in point is the rulings of the Lahore High Court regarding the election of news CM of Punjab and his swearing-in. Governor Punjab refused to administer the oath of CM to Hamza Shahbaz in spite of two orders of the court to this effect and ultimately it had to nominate the speaker of the national assembly to administer the oath to him, thus giving legitimacy to his election and the swearing-in ceremony.
I think the court has exercised utmost restraint in this case. The failure to implement the verdicts of the court by Governor Punjab without an iota of doubt fell in the domain of contempt of court.
The President also failed to perform his constitutional obligation to administer the oath of office to the newly elected Prime Minister and now is deliberately delaying implementation of the advice of the President in regards to the removal of Governor Punjab who even after the swearing-in of the new Chief Minister remains defiant and is refusing to accept the legitimacy of the oath taken by him in conformity with the orders of the LHC. All this is happening at the instance of none other than Imran Khan who has not only encouraged a culture of violence in politics leading to divisions within the society but has also shown an irresistible propensity to rule the roost to the exclusion of all other political forces and to achieve that objective by hook and crook. His actions during his three and half years of rule strongly reinforce that impression. That is not the way a democratic dispensation works.
He is better advised to refrain from building false narratives fraught with debilitating impact on Pakistani polity internally and also likely to have far-reaching negative consequences for the country at the global level. He needs to recognize the ground realities. Whether he likes it or not PML (N) and PPP, his major rivals, are an irrefutable reality.
The country cannot come out of the current crisis unless all the political parties cooperate with each other to reform the system of governance and other contentious issues.
Holding immediate elections that Imran is campaigning for without bringing reforms in the system and enjoying the consensus of all political parties is not the solution to wriggle out of the perennial instability. Who can guarantee that elections held under the current Chief Election Commissioner on whom PTI does not trust would be acceptable to it? Therefore Imran must re-evaluate the permeating situation and make rational decisions instead of channelizing his popularity to generate centrifugal forces to undermine the political future of the country.
The writer is a former diplomat and freelance columnist.