Head of PPP Media Cell
Security Establishment is grooming favoured politicians (such as Imran Khan) for the leadership role, wrote Stephen Cohen in his article (P.7) in the book titled, ‘The Future of Pakistan’ published in 2011 under the auspices of Brookings Institution, a US based Think Tank.
Is the alluded grooming complete as PTI chief has declared to ‘lay siege on Islamabad after Muharram’ to take on Nawaz Sharif by jugular? I will prefer to leave it to the imagination of the readers in the context of his earlier onslaught on Islamabad in 2014 and now on the 30th of this month. I am willing to give him the benefit of doubt with an iota of apprehension based on the following reasons.
The covert support by the Khakis is unlikely in the wake of the looming dangers emanating from the eastern borders posing a serious and imminent threat to national security. The prevailing tension hardly subscribes to such conjecture. Even a man of ordinary prudence will not oblige the problematic elements to create disunity in the country at this point of time because of its pitfalls for the national security, accruing huge strategic edge in favour of the enemy. The security apparatus of the country ordinarily cannot think so even in its wildest imagination.
Is the PTI leadership has clandestinely stood up against the continuity of democracy to appease the anti-Pakistan elements as a quid pro quo of paving the way leading to the corridors of power?. Its improbability is likely because PTI carries a formidable popular support and would not like to witness the denouement of Imran Khan like of MQM Chief Altaf Hussain exemplifying from sublime to the ridiculous. His invective against Pakistan darkened his political future, not other than by his own workers and supporters.
Is it his impetuousness to enter into the corridors of power -- giving damn to the propriety to the means and ends -- so long as it is destined to grab power? His juggernaut of 2014 against the democratic dispensation in the country gives credence to this view because he was heavily pre-occupied then to delegitimise the civilian institutions in favour of non-representative institutions as maintained by Senator Farhatullah Babar in the House. His appetite for power has been growing since then, unfortunately.
His disreputable proclivity was also echoed by Chairman Bilawal Bhutto while talking to the media after attending the All Parties Conference of the prime minister. He said, ‘Imran Khan cannot become prime minister by just hitting a six’ implying politics was not cricket. This tendency of him might lead him to fall the victim of his self-righteousness ending up with appalling political consequences like total isolation and political redundancy.
He may be cognizant of the political culture of the country’s political parties that is quintessentially mired in fixations and adjustments serving as dynamics. His solo flight may be a preferred strategy where the number of political parties is limited doing fiercely competitive politics based on best democratic practices. As such, his passion for solo flight in the prevailing political environment is incoherent that carries greater risk of crash landing, invoking the sentiments of apathy than empathy draped in the Greek tragedy at the end of the day.
PTI chief may seriously reconsider the modus operandi in unison with the ground political realities in the country to achieve the shared political objectives. If he does so, it will be deemed as his substantive contribution for the cause of democracy. In the absence of such approach, he may be indicted again as contemplating to asphyxiating the civilian/democratic institutions like in 2014 at the behest of widely held view on behest of the invisible forces.
His boycott of the joint session of Parliament was capricious in nature by any measure. The making of the volte-face by the PTI chief gave room to all sorts of speculations as he categorically stated earlier to attend the joint session of the Parliament to express solidarity with the Kashmiri people. His decision to boycott the joint session of the Parliament and also to remain away in the future had stunned the people and the Opposition parties alike. The nation was hoping the politicians of all spectrums would be on the same page in the face of the heating up of the hostilities between India and Pakistan. His decision had struck like a bolt from the skies with the permeation of dark clouds on the political horizon of the country. Who would endorse the political cleavage in the country when India had been thundering on Pakistan with vengeance?
His obsession for solo flight had earned him opprobrium of the politicians of the Opposition parties and it was mentioned so no less than PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto while talking to media after his attendance of the APC at the PM House. He said his back and forth veers were problematic as these had inflicted setbacks to the political moves of the united Opposition against the government. ‘He is providing the political space to Nawaz Sharif that the PPP and other are denying to him.’
His misplaced perception of rest of the opposition parties’ wish for piggybacking is a prelude to self-infliction. Senators Aitzaz Ahsan, while addressing the joint session of the Parliament, expressed his dismay over PTI chief’s criticism of the top PPP leadership including the Opposition leader. He had hit the root of the unity of the Opposition and indeed the cause of Panamagate investigations. His credibility as a dependable political partner had suffered a huge blow undoubtedly. His parting of the ways so suddenly and without compunction suggested that he could ditch others in the middle of stream swollen with flash flood. He had proved his inability of getting along with others -- an essential trait of a democratic leader who preferred vision over vendetta.
But, Chairman Bilawal Bhutto’s unequivocal commitment to living up to the legacy of Bhuttos and PPP ideology of not compromising on democracy was very reassuring to the people of the country who were apprehensive of the derailment of the democracy. His declaration explicitly implied that the threats to the political system emanating from any side would not only be opposed but also resisted tooth and nail. The message was loud and clear that the PPP was unwaveringly steadfast in defending democracy and its continuity. Its drive against the prime minister and his family urging its members to get themselves clear from the allegations of Panama Papers must not be construed in any way as its incompatibility with democracy or accountability. PPP is committed to democracy and accountability at the same time because of their indispensability for the evolution of matured political system in Pakistan.
Panamagate investigations and the continuity of democracy will be pursued by the PPP in tandem considering both supplement the cause of each other. Pursuit of investigations of Panamagate and the continuity of the functioning democracy is the policy of the PPP. Those who are on the other side of the equation are not aware of the dangers to democracy and indeed to the process of accountability as such. The infighting of political parties may create void for the Bonaparte to take the plunge to fill the vacuum. That ugly sight should not revisit Pakistan because people had enough of that and could not afford to chew more.
Regrettably, it seems PTI chief is in the mood of now or never. This political extremism is against the democratic cherished practices because in democracy developments take place at their own pace and imposition proves both counter-productive and dangerous. Democracy’s redeeming feature of automatic system of adjustments and corrections is acknowledged all over the world. Successive dictators in the country sapped the democratic order in the country that plunged it into an open-ended political and economic mess embroiling the country in the vicious circle of problems. There was no substitute for democracy and PPP knew it very well. It had struggled for it through thick and thin and committed so for all times to come.
It may be better if the PTI leadership remains as one of the important components of the Opposition fold that is united to face the external imminent challenges and also to bring the PML-N leadership to justice on the Panamagate scandal. PTI’s parting of the ways or galloping in different direction will hurt the drive it has been pursuing so profusely. It will be a better placed if it has taken the other parties into confidence before announcing his plan to take Sharifs head on. His unilateralism may cause him dearly like the earlier sit-in. PTI chief’s impetuousness and imperiousness are deemed as unforgiving by the leaders of other parties.
The army is deeply engaged to defeat the curse of extremism and terrorism for which the support of the nation is critical to subdue the faceless and callous enemy.
Without the support of the people no war can be won, and political parties play leading role in forging unity. Imran Khan’s role at this critical juncture standing all alone on the other side of the equation raises many questions about the propriety and the proportionality of the decision that may create chaos and destabilisation in the country. The resultant destabilisation in Pakistan will prove as a windfall for the Modi government to intensify its efforts to further isolate Pakistan in the world, and also to undermine the Kashmiri cause. The question is whose cause he is serving anyway?
muhammadshaheedi@yahoo.com
