The Friday Column: Falling from grace

A vast world of pain and emotion is encapsulated in the time between two of Faiz’s classics: ‘Subh-e-Azadi’ (Morning of freedom) and ‘Dhaka say wapsi per’ (On return from Dhaka). The former is a tortuous expression of death and destruction that accompanied Partition and the creation of Pakistan as an independent country, and the latter is a lucid narration of the agonizing experience of having visited Dhaka after its fall and the creation of Bangladesh.

Both have lessons for us which we have ever so consistently and ever so obdurately refused to learn from. As life goes on transiting from one disaster to the next, we remain sanguine in our jaundiced belief that we cannot do any wrong. The fault is always with others. The experience contained in the two poems would have at least made a sane person think – but no, the faculty has been lost on us and we remain disdainfully oblivious to it.

We consistently take shelter behind one excuse or the other only to hide a plethora of naked lies and verbose proclamations: the former being an expression of our heartless duality and the latter reflecting an insatiable hunger for accomplishing rabid fictional achievements. With the passage of time, both these ailments are accentuating at an alarming pace, thus drowning us in a world of make-believe which is getting increasingly farther from the domain of reason. This is a stellar achievement indeed in perfecting the art of deceit and deception.

By all objective calculations, we have technically defaulted and are fast headed toward the age of darkness as, according to a sitting minister, we don’t have the money to import oil. The international organizations, and some friendly countries on whom we are traditionally in a habit of banking for reprieve, have refused to come to our rescue. But the government and its cohorts are adamant in projecting an optimistic picture which they know it is not. So, what is the objective of this game plan? Who are we catering to and who would be the possible beneficiaries of a defaulting Pakistan? And how would we be able to deal with the catastrophe that would follow?

The spree of putting national assets up for sale has been ongoing for some time now. I don’t know if there is any substantive property remaining to be bartered for some more cash to last a few more days. When we have reached the end, which we are likely to very soon, what options will we have to address the situation? Or will we just let the country sink as the criminal band of leaders decamp to their palatial mansions abroad which they have raised on the foundations of pelf they accumulated over time, and which they are unwilling to forfeit even if it were to rescue the state?

Every madness has a method, but this strategy, if it be one, is completely devoid of any rationale aimed at saving the state from crumbling under mounting pressure, from external lenders which would be demanding repayment of their loans and internal constraints because of mass political unrest. Where is the state in all this turmoil?

Back in April 2022, when Imran Khan’s government was liquidated owing to factors relating to his efforts to pursue an independent foreign policy that would be to Pakistan’s advantage and the benefit of its people, one could not imagine that the fall would be so profound and so steep. In fact, the orchestrators of the conspiracy culminating in the induction of a group of convicts, under-trial criminals, and absconders in the annals of power had delivered a sermon that the economic outlook had improved within a span of twenty-four hours. One did not know then where the claim had emanated from as one does not know now how this plunge is going to be arrested to save the country.

Khan has been demanding early elections to be held in a free, fair and transparent manner to replace the incumbent concoction with a government that would be empowered with genuine mandate of the people and a conviction to exercise that for their benefit. To ensure this, he had recommended the use of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) during the elections, but this idea has been killed in collusion with the ECP.

To further facilitate the holding of these elections to bring the country out of a deepening quagmire, Khan has dissolved his own governments in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, thus putting his irrevocable faith in the judgement of the people. Such a move would not even occur to his opponents who remain forever infatuated with the lust of occupying the corridors of power to wash themselves clean of their grime.

With two provinces heading for elections, and PTI members having already resigned from the National Assembly, what is the legitimacy of the federal government to continue feigning like nothing has happened, more so at a time when the country is fast edging towards default? It appears that they are adamant to continue this charade which does not carry even a miniscule authority to charter a strategy to move forward. This has been lost owing to the criminal way whereby they have had the proceedings in their cases reversed by incorporating self-serving amendments in the relevant laws. That makes them guilty twice over which may come back to haunt them.

This attitude is going to further complicate the crisis that the country is gripped with. Holding elections throughout Pakistan is the only sensible way out, but the incumbent governments at the centre and in Sindh and Balochistan will not do so because they know that they will not win at the hustings. They are woefully handicapped in the face of the ever-growing popularity of Khan and the transparent manner he has tried to address the existent and ensuing crises. He has played it in a non-traditional manner like no one has ever done before.

The question is: how long can the inevitable be delayed? How long can they hang onto their artificial power base? Their popularity is not increasing. By all accounts, they and the country are hurtling down the precipice at an alarming pace. Their political capital has been erased as they sit at the mercy of their mentors who are piecing together further fabrications to complicate the disaster. Let’s not forget that once one has fallen from grace, there is no reclaiming it.

Faiz’s inspiring words nudge the right tone:

The night is still oppressive,/ And the heart and mind remain in chains,/ Keep moving, my friends, because the coveted destination/ Has not come yet.

The writer is a political and security strategist, former special assistant to former PM Imran Khan, and currently a fellow at King’s College London. He tweets @RaoofHasan