A ‘dharna’ state of mind

Look at what has happened this week. Malik Ishaq, who personified sectarian terrorism in Pakistan, was killed in a police encounter with a number of his close associates. Mullah Omar, the enigmatic leader of the Taliban, was finally confirmed dead. The death of Jalaluddin Haqqani, another iconic figure in the Afghan flank of the Taliban, was also reportedly announced. A katchi abadi in the I-11 sector of Islamabad was bulldozed, highlighting the state of social justice in this country with particular reference to issues that relate to land and housing. The floods, literally, are rising.
These and some other events of major importance stand out in the context of the ongoing campaign against militants, the security situation in Karachi and the overall national sense of direction in our economic and social sectors. But in the midst of all these flaming concerns, what is the major distraction for the popular media?
If you make an analysis of the prime-time talk shows of the week, it would emerge that affairs that involve Imran Khan and his party in the aftermath of the verdict of the Judicial Commission have made more noise. Politics remains the staple of our media coverage even in these times when it is crucial to make a sense of momentous developments that are shaping in the country and in the region.
For instance, an exclusive focus on the travels of Army Chief General Raheel Sharif and his statements would be highly instructive. On Friday, he attended the celebration of the Chinese Army’s 88th anniversary in Islamabad and said that both countries were facing the same enemy. Pakistan’s alliance with China for regional stability is now manifested in the building of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
At the Chinese embassy reception, General Sharif reiterated his firm resolve that any attempt to obstruct or impede the corridor would be thwarted at all costs. Does this suggest a decisive action against the Baloch insurgents? And how painlessly can this goal be achieved? Also on Friday, Sartaj Aziz, adviser to the PM on National Security and Foreign Affairs, told the National Assembly that the government was considering to raise the issue of Indian agency RAW’s involvement in, mainly, Balochistan with the United Nations.
Then, the highly dramatic elimination of Malik Ishaq has deep implications for, at long last, a concerted assault on sectarian terrorists. It would appear that the Punjab government is getting serious about the relevant dictates of the National Action Plan. It is a pity that it has taken them so long to initiate this action. A reminder of what the nation has suffered vis-à-vis sectarian terrorism in recent years would be hard to bear.
Remember that soul-destroying sight of the Hazara community’s sit-in in Quetta, with the bodies of their relatives who were killed in bomb blasts in January and later in February of 2013? The list of similar atrocities is long and the outlawed Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, led by Malik Ishaq, had brazenly accepted responsibility for these attacks.
Now, the task is not just to go after the militants and to demolish their networks. The real challenge is to counter the narrative that the religious extremists have fielded in this battle for the minds of the ordinary people. This, to be sure, is not an easy assignment. In the first place, mass education of the kind that liberates the mind of the child will be necessary. Ultimately, the entire society will have to be mobilised to create and protect values that are identified with enlightenment and progress.
Alas, our society is unable to play this role because our politicians, who should be responsible for defining and then leading the movement for meaningful social change, seem incapable of understanding what may be termed as the crisis of Pakistan. They are too busy in their mad scramble for power. And the media, unwilling to do the hard work that serious reporting would entail, is happy to make a spectacle of this free for all.
That is how Imran Khan’s political gimmicks and his penchant for protest have become a national tragedy. He is forever in campaign mode. What seems hard to bear is that Imran Khan initially could be seen as God’s gift to Pakistan’s politics. He appeared on the scene with a halo of charisma that no other Pakistani leader except Zulfikar Ali Bhutto had possessed.
It is the nation’s loss that Imran Khan is lacking in ZAB’s intellectual capacity and political dexterity. He has failed to realise that a conservative credo, even when draped in a revolutionary idiom, will never liberate Pakistan in the modern world. Perhaps he has no clue what he is doing in an ideological sense. Look at the motley crowd he has gathered and all of them were attracted by his potential for power rather than any political philosophy or ideological conviction.
Be that as it may, Pakistan’s politics has to exorcise the ‘dharna’ experience from its system to be able to resume its hazardous journey towards a viable democratic dispensation. This is not going to be easy. Some new controversies such as the issue of seating or de-seating the PTI members of the National Assembly have risen. Dissent within the PTI could have been forecast in the wake of the verdict of the Judicial Commission but it is becoming more serious.
One would have expected Imran Khan to accept the verdict with some humility and a resolve to pursue his goals with a different strategy. It is when you lose your battle that your mettle is tested. After all, Imran Khan fancies himself a fighter. He has a great advantage in the debacle that the PPP has suffered and a retired chief justice is not likely to pose any great challenge.
In playing his games, Imran Khan has often been lucky. But he failed to grasp the opportunity that was provided by the unimaginable atrocity committed by the terrorists on December 14. It provided him with an exit from a campaign that was not going anywhere. He could have joined the war against militancy in a statesman-like manner. Besides, he had time to look back at his ‘dharna’ and see for what it actually had been.
Does he have the moral courage to do that now – to review his entire protest in the light of what he had promised and what he actually achieved? In fact, this is what the media that had been so consumed by the ‘dharna’ has not done in earnest. An elegy for a year lost is yet to be composed. Do we have more time to waste?
The writer is a staff member.
Email: ghazi_salahuddin@hotmail.com