May 25 Long March: What Next?

There are no two opinions about the wrong timing of the removal of Khan’s government. The performance was dismal, the people were largely against him for bringing inflation woes upon them. Had his government been allowed to continue, till it presented the Finance Bill, it would have dug its own grave. The Opposition miscalculated, badly. Khan went but after erecting a narrative that the ill-informed, uneducated and those wanting an alternative to PPP and PML N were eager to accept as gospel truth. That’s however, a lot of water under the bridge.

Fast forward to the announcement of the long march. On the face of it, it seemed an ill-advised move. Without giving much thought to the time needed for preparations and other logistical support, Khan announced the date. Interestingly, PML-N already was supporting early elections, therefore, this rush to converge upon the D-Chowk, to force the government to agree to a demand they already did agree with was baffling, Unless, Khan felt, the establishment was dawdling their thumbs so far as early elections were concerned.

Khan has supporters, what he lacked this time, was an out and out support of the establishment. His supporters faced hurdles in getting onto the motorway, hurdles were placed, and petrol was made unavailable. This was a lot of tit for tat. Cannot be condoned. But Pakistan politics is known to ignore the rules of cricket. Khan’s first year in power was a “political witch-hunt aimed at silencing the opposition.” [ Al-Jazeera 26 Jul 2019: Opinion piece by Taha Siddiqi]

There were all kinds of rumours floating. This is disregarded here. A source, however, gave this writer an interesting piece of info in the early evening. It was said that an understanding is underway and to be concluded [names of those involved were not disclosed] that is based on three points:

1] Doing away with EVM for elections. Disposing of the Electronic Voting Machine takes away the advantages of accurate counting, total secrecy of voting data and no margin of invalid voting. It does require IT experts and necessary equipment all over the country besides necessary monitoring.

2] Overseas nationals not to cast votes. This writer has supported the denial of such a step always.  “The very idea of dual nationality seems antithetical to the traditional conception of the state and its relationship to individuals, a conception dominated by notions of indivisible allegiance, which leave little room for multiple attachments.” (Carnegie Endowment for Peace-January 1999) Manipulation can be one outcome. Even without dual nationality, the very idea of living in one country and voting in another is self-contradictory. Khan’s demand to his supporters within and outside the country (including the US) for funds to defeat an “imported govt,” is ludicrous.

3] The third was curtailing of NAB powers a) to arrest ad-hoc and b) duration of the arrest.

Denials were handed out that the above is blatant propaganda.

Yet, here we are.

PLM-N is facing another dilemma. The indictment of Shahbaz Sharif and Hamza Sharif. It would have been a better idea to have handled issues from backstage, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and others may have taken the edge off Khan’s rhetoric of ‘looters’ in power. Zardari played his card very cleverly. He did not assume any position. Instead, he launched Bilawal as Foreign Minister. His trips abroad, great speeches, confidence and prioritizing issues have made him shine.

The decision by Khan is seen as a disappointing U-turn by many, of an early morning speech announcing dispersing and [thankfully avoiding going to D-chowk, which would have been contempt of court] coupled with a hasty return to Bani Gala, can be seen as game slipping out of his hands.

There seem to be two options on the table. First are early elections. Are elections themselves the answer to issues? The answer is no. In a dynastic structure, and/or a party whose face is one person only, all hiding in the garb of “democratic free and fair elections” is a farce with no genuine elections within a party structure first that can bring a change nationally. Those who cumulatively have been part of the problem cannot be part of the solution.

The second option is a technocrat set-up that tries to handle the multidimensional issues faced. This government completes the tenure of the present setup. Can it work? Maybe or maybe not, it will depend upon the individuals chosen. A choice based on provinces, religious affinities, and ethnic affiliations is a non-starter.

Chances of the current set-up to indefinitely continue seem slim, but in Pakistan, things tend to change overnight.

“The major problem-one of the major problems, for there are several-one of the many major problems with governing people is that of whom you get to do it; or rather of who manages to get people to let them do it to them.

To summarize: it is a well-known fact that those people who must want to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it.

To summarize the summary: anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job.”

? Douglas Adams [The  Restaurant at  the end of the Universe]