What’s in the wind?

Do you know which way the wind is blowing? Every day during this momentous week, there was a separate straw in the wind, meaning that there are many little signs of what might happen in the near future. You hear whispers and every analyst is giving a knowing wink. So much so that if nothing happens, that would also be a revelation.

Given the clues that have been delivered, the entire scenario is likely to change. It was Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s ‘Azadi March’ that set the stage for this game of speculation. But it was Nawaz Sharif’s impenetrable illness that shifted the focus. And the circumstances in which he finally arrived in London have generated a lot of partisan wrangling. Once again, the PTI leadership spoke in multiple voices.

However, it was the leader himself who visibly lost his cool. Not entirely unexpectedly, Imran Khan’s address at the inaugural ceremony of Havelian-Mansehra section of the Hazara motorway on Monday had its consequences. In some ways it became another straw in the wind.

In his speech, marked by a confrontational, aggressive posture that is unbecoming of a prime minister, Imran Khan asked Chief Justice of Pakistan Asif Saeed Khosa and his successor Justice Gulzar Ahmed to restore public confidence in the judiciary in the context of the perception that the powerful get preferential treatment in the dispensation of justice.

This has been the main plank of the PTI protest against the conditions in which Nawaz Sharif was finally able to travel to London. This slogan that the rich and the poor should be equal before law certainly rings true to the people who bear the burden of massive inequalities in our society. But it is the entire system and not just the dispensation of justice that is unjust.

For that matter, PTI leaders should find time to read the new edition of a book written by someone who sits on the table of authority with them. I am referring to Dr Ishrat Husain’s ‘Pakistan: The Economy of an Elitist State’. The gist of it is that the roles of the state and the market are such that the benefits are reaped by the elite class only. The judgment in this case is that this situation is socially and economically not sustainable.

In any case, Chief Justice Khosa responded to Imran Khan’s comments in a speech on Wednesday. “Do not hurl taunts at us for favouring the powerful, because everybody is equal before us”, he was quoted as saying. He recalled that the courts had convicted a prime minister and disqualified another. In a gesture that spoke a thousand words, the chief justice raised his fists the way former president, retired Gen Pervez Musharraf had done on May 12, 2007, and said that a decision in a case against a former army chief was about to come.

Imran Khan had invoked disparity in the judicial system. He did so in the style of a political campaign, while also mimicking Bilawal. There is another perception that the chief justice had recently highlighted in a more considered and formal manner. Incidentally, I will have more to say about it in a moment.

Well, it was the solemn occasion of the opening ceremony of the new judicial year 2019-20 in September this year when Justice Khosa said that the talk of lopsided accountability is dangerous.

Let me quote some words from that speech: “We, as a relevant organ of the state, also feel that growing perception that the process of accountability being pursued in the country at present is lopsided and is part of political engineering is a dangerous perception and some remedial steps need to be taken urgently so that the process does not lose credibility”.

Fast forward to this week and we find Chairman of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Justice (r) Javed Iqbal, speaking at a function in Islamabad on Tuesday, telling the nation that “the winds are changing direction”. What a formidable choice of phrase this is and it comes not from a panelist in a TV talk show but someone who wields awesome powers as the head of NAB.

In essence, Justice (r) Javed Iqbal said that no one should think that the present rulers are exempt from accountability. He said that NAB was heading towards another front to dilute the false impression of one-sided accountability. He asserted: “The NAB will take action against corruption and there will be no compromise on it, as the threats of powerful and influential end outside the gates of NAB”.

So, we have to wait for action that NAB will now take. As far as the talk of the winds changing direction is concerned, you have more windows opening up on a chaotic scene. The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has decided to hold the hearing of the five-year-old foreign funding case against PTI on a daily basis from November 26. It is an issue on which the ruling party and the opposition are levelling allegations against each other.

In the midst of all this confusion, there is some clarification in the appointment of Lt -Gen Nadeem Raza as the next cJoint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCSC). A brief statement issued by the Prime Minister Office on Thursday also clarified that the second tenure for Chief of the Army Staff Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa was a settled matter.

Irrespective of all this, there is a sense of new stirrings in the political domain. Songs of protest and of hope are circulating on social media and young activists are getting together for their Student Solidarity March on November 29 in major cities of the country.

Here is another reference to understanding the direction in which the wind is blowing. There was this line in a Bob Dylan song which became very popular in the sixties: “You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows”. A radical organisation of students was also formed that called itself Weather Underground. Its mission was to promote social change – and that is what we desperately need in Pakistan.

The writer is a senior journalist.

Email: ghazi_salahuddin@hotmail.com