Dirty politics

Things keep getting uglier and uglier in the political realm, even as the country grapples with a devastating disaster and a crippling economic crisis looms large. The oft-used ‘religion card’ has once again come to the fore: now being used by the ruling PML-N against the PTI – which ironically has over the years displayed mastery over using religion to gun for its political opponents. Going much beyond political rhetoric, the PML-N’s Javed Latif’s recent diatribe against Imran by using a dangerous religious narrative shows that the PML-N is ready to get down and dirty just like Imran Khan and his PTI have done over the years. The PTI has used the ‘religion card’ against its opponents throughout the 2018 election campaign – and even before during its dharna. In fact, the former ruling party and its leader have consistently and to date invoked religious imagery while castigating their opponents.

That the same tools the PTI had used – and is quite open to using even now – with much abandon are now being weaponized against them is a tale of caution that had been urged by progressives and observers but which had been ignored by the party. Nor was the PTI the first to discover this potent weaponization; our history is a sorry tale of very cynical use of invoking religious sentiments for political ends. However, the way the political discourse has chosen the most dangerous and potentially violent narratives the past few years goes much beyond ‘politics’. There can be no justification for this brand of politicking, which needs to be condemned because it sows the seeds of religious intolerance and extremist mindset in an already politically polarized society. Maryam Nawaz may have condemned the use of the religion card yesterday but the fact that PTV ran this anti-Imran campaign with dangerous religious connotations shows that the government knows full well what it’s doing. Whether the PML-N does it now or the PTI did it then, with this sort of discourse political parties are really just playing with fire. It is unfortunate that despite all that has transpired over the past few years, with one of its own having suffered hate crime, the PML-N finds it fine to use such blatantly dangerous propaganda.

Politics is already a veritable circus in the country: from Imran’s interview hinting at an extension/deferment of the COAS term to Shahbaz Gill’s arrest and now bail to Imran’s unsavoury comments regarding Judge Zeba Chaudhry to Imran appearing at the JIT probing a terrorism case against him all the while calling it a ‘joke’ to Rana Sanullah categorically saying the government would not hesitate to take action against Imran were he to descend on Islamabad with yet another protest. As things stand, Imran is continuing his attacks on the government, while backtracing a bit on the ‘neutrals’. The government seems to have decided to take all gloves off to the extent of using weapons they themselves had been targeted with when in opposition. And the political elite seems hell-bent on showing just how little it thinks of the regular citizen who is reeling from inflation, flood misery and a general lack of trust in the system. As is usual, all sorts of rumours are doing the rounds in the power corridors regarding deals, secret meetings and conspiracies. Whether any of it materializes into something concrete remains to be seen but at the moment we can only see more economic and political instability – and the worst politics has to offer.