Signposts to 2021

A year that begins with a huddle of the leaders of opposition parties to redesign their strategy at a critical moment in their campaign to overthrow the government of Prime Minister Imran Khan will not promise peace and tranquility on the political front. And this deadly confrontation is sure to dominate a public discourse that is less a debate and more a partisan harangue.

Considering the agony that most of us have suffered during the year of the pandemic, that ritualistic exercise of making hopeful and ambitious resolutions for the New Year has lost its glamour and pizzazz. Besides, the spectre of Covid-19 is continuing to haunt us. Still, the sense of a new beginning, of stepping into a new space of time is conspicuous by its presence.

Speaking at an event on Friday in Islamabad, Imran Khan was mindful of the passage of time and its obvious compulsions. He said that the country was moving in the right direction and vowed that 2021 will be a year of economic growth for Pakistan. He said that Pakistan was the only nation in the subcontinent that had seen the “fastest recovery from Covid-19”.

However, on the first day of the New Year, there was an ominous hint of how the merry-go-round of governance was unaffected by any resolve for change and improvement. On Friday, the Punjab government removed Umar Sheikh from the post of Lahore Capital City Police Officer.

One has to be cognizant of the high drama that had attended the appointment of this CCPO to appreciate the significance of another high-level transfer in the police department in the PTI’s realm. Against the backdrop of frequent shuffling of the top officials in the police and administrative services in Punjab, Umar Sheikh’s arrival on the scene in early September was truly dramatic. It was marked by the departure of the then inspector general of the police, Punjab – formally the boss of the CCPO, Lahore.

Umar Sheikh is certainly a colourful police officer, worthy of being featured in an action-packed crime thriller. The horrifying and nerve-wracking gang rape on the Lahore motorway had taken place within days of Umar Sheikh taking charge, providing him with an ideal opportunity to show his mettle. But it revealed a lapse in his mindset when he blamed the victim for driving on that desolate road so late in the night, with her little children. It was shocking but the PTI leadership did not see this as sufficient reason for taking action. In any case, that gang rape will stay on the nation’s conscience as a blot of shame.

Incidentally, Imran Khan had himself praised the police officer and apparently had a specific assignment for him. I will not go into why he was removed from his post. More pertinent a question, I think, is why he was chosen. Umar Sheikh’s aggressive bearing and boastful demeanour may have been considered suitable for enforcing order in an unruly environment. He made promises that could not be kept – and this would have impressed the PTI leadership.

Retaining my reference to the beginning of 2021, I would like to bring up a news item published in this newspaper on Friday. The idea is not to interpret its significance or explore its implications but to only quote the intro: “PTM chief Manzoor Pashteen, parliamentarians Mohsin Dawar and Ali Wazir along with nine other members of the movement have been charge sheeted by police for sedition and provocation against the state in a rally in Karachi.”

One incident that took place in a small town in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Wednesday is the manifestation of the state of our society that our rulers have not really taken very seriously. At the same time that they have vigilantly pursued, in the name of national security, social activists who disseminate progressive and liberal ideas, the powers that be have generally ignored or even encouraged intolerant and extremist elements. Consequently, there are repeated popular expressions of bigotry and hate.

Yes, I am pointing towards the attack on the shrine of a Hindu saint in the Karak district. It was reported that more than 1,000 people, led by the local leaders of a religious outfit, vandalised and partially set fire to the shrine after speeches were made to demand the removal of the temple. Thankfully, the administration has been prompt in taking action and arresting a number of culprits.

Since I am using the first of January as a peg, there was this report published on that date about the chief justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, Justice Gulzar Ahmed, taking suo-motu notice of the tragic incident. He has ordered the KP chief secretary and the inspector general as well as Dr Shoaib Suddle, head of a commission on minorities’ rights, to visit the site and submit a comprehensive report by January 4 – tomorrow.

There are reasons why this violation of a place of worship demands a national response and a serious contemplation of the widespread growth of passions that are so easily aroused. This is the same temple the earlier desecration of which had been mentioned in a remarkable judgment written by the then chief justice Tassaduq Hussain Jilani in June 2014, after the Peshawar church bomb blast. Defenders of human rights had consistently invoked this judgment, calling for an effective protection of the rights of minorities.

Because the mainstream media is addicted to politics, social issues and other matters that impinge on the lives of the people are not adequately explored. That is how the entire focus is now on the opposition’s protest movement. While the opposition will take part in the upcoming by-elections, the decision about the Senate election has been deferred. The deadline for Imran Khan to resign remains January 31. But we know that this contest will go deeper into 2021, with mounting uncertainties.

The writer is a senior journalist.

Email: ghazi_salahuddin@hotmail.com