It’s a bumpy road ahead and the destination is unknown. To what end are Pakistanis suffering an incompetent regime with authoritarian tendencies, no one knows. And if a faltering economy and political instability were not enough, Narendra Modi complicated things for the Pakistani government immeasurably by annexing the Indian-occupied Kashmir into the Indian union, bringing any chance of a rapprochement between India and Pakistan to halt. Fast-forward a few months, and Maulana Fazlur Rehman announced a long march to Islamabad, demanding that Imran Khan should resign and fresh elections be held.
The PTI government has been high on rhetoric but low on delivery. A prime minister who takes a helicopter to office seems detached from the reality of the Pakistani street. Yet many of Imran Khan’s supporters remain loyal to him. That PTI and its supporters are still pointing fingers at Nawaz Sharif after Khan has been in office for over a year betrays a lack of forward-looking policy or vision. Having not much to show for themselves, happily they continue to look backward at the previous governments. Whataboutism is their best defence, shirking responsibility their first choice. When a hard question is asked of them they say what about Nawaz Sharif and Asif Ali Zardari. But they stop there, they do not ask what about Musharraf. They do not demand that the dancing general be brought home to face the music of accountability and justice.
The due process of law also doesn’t seem to matter to Khan’s supporters. Pakistan must be one of the very few places where you can be presumed guilty and the burden to prove your innocence is on you. Through surreptitiously recorded videos, credible questions were raised about the judge who convicted Sharif. It seemed to be a clear case of a mistrial and Sharif should have been released by now. And then, Maryam Nawaz, who was drawing massive crowds in rallies across Punjab and other parts of the country, was arrested; banning her coverage by the media was not enough. It’s not just her infectious charisma that threatens the ruling elite but her intelligence must also be unsettling. So much of Maryam’s story is yet to be written, and she will have to prove herself more, but the qualities at display are a darn good start. In fact, the country could use those qualities in these turbulent times. Since Maryam’s arrest several other opposition leaders have met the same fate.
Pakistan must be one of the very few places where you can be presumed guilty and the burden to prove your innocence is on you
During Khan’s visit to Washington and New York, his supporters swooned over the optics of the visit, and his ability to express himself in English. Ours is an elite that is still possessed by a colonial mindset. The ability to speak English means modernity, and common Pakistanis don’t know their own good, are not to be trusted to elect their own representatives, and governing agents must be installed over them. Upon Khan’s return, lackeys lined up at the Islamabad airport, stepping over each other to congratulate the great leader for a successful trip; they were mesmerised by his UN speech. What long-term benefit would come from the speech and his trips is unclear. How long will the government delude itself and how long will the people sustain their utter incompetence?
If Maulana Fazlur Rehman is to be believed, not for long. His stance on the serious allegations of misconduct in elections is a principled one, and it needs to remain the crux of opposition’s argument against the government and their demand for fresh elections without any interference from non-political forces. The promised investigation into those allegations never took place, and the besieged opposition seemed to have forgotten about what should always have been the core of their argument against the government. But the so far scattered opposition appears to be finally rallying behind the maulana.
The PML-N seems to have stirred into action; and the PPP, having expressed their support, too should consider joining the protest. What the march or the dharma will achieve remains unclear, but one thing is obvious already, and would be highlighted during the dharma is that Khan is politically isolated, and the only thing keeping him in power is the establishment’s support. The final reckoning in Pakistan, whenever it takes place, and I suspect it will happen only gradually, will be about the involvement of non-political forces in politics. Until such infringement stops the country will remain a collection of various power centres vying for power, rather than a legitimate democratic nation state.
Pakistan is placed precariously. We have a government that doesn’t understand the basics of governance; a prime minister who is uniquely unqualified for his job; a capable opposition besieged and in jail; an impending lockdown of the capital; and a powerful part of the ruling cabal that only understands things in terms of enemy and friend.
Buckle up and hunker down, everyone!
The writer is a freelancer