Altering political dynamics

In politics and war, unfair is fair. They say democracy is all about people’s will through free and fair elections. Unbiased and non-discriminatory institutions. True and genuine news breakers. This is what a great system of politics professes to be. Unfortunately for Pakistan it remains a writing in the book of constitution. For this to turn into the writing on the wall, there is a great deal of distance to be travelled.

Pakistani politics is somewhere along this tricky and tumultuous journey. Elections are managed in Pakistan. This reality has been stated after every elections, post 1970. The dictators manoeuvre a farce of elections the way Musharraf did in 2002 and the democrats collude with the powerful to win an elections that is fairly unfair.

Unfair politics starts with the people in power. That does not necessarily mean the Prime Minister and the President of the country. Power politics is the management, hoarding, use and abuse of position power to achieve personal rather than national agendas. Governments come and governments go. The establishment, of course, have a hand in deciding when, who and where the politicians will be placed and displaced. They do it through various means of engineering and collusion. The collusion is with the chosen parties. The collusion is with noted media houses. This all went on smoothly for half a century, till the impossibility of “one man standing” became a reality. Let us look at the factors that have and may further lead to create the biggest upset of almost three quarters of a century:

1. The non-compliant one man – Political leaders are always mired in controversy. Their lives and deaths are objects of study. From Kennedy to Benazir Bhutto, their assassination has been written about numerous times. Somewhere the theme of “them” not falling in with either state or non-state powers always figures in it. Benazir was supposedly shot by terrorists, but many claim it was a family job. In Pakistan’s 75 years old history, it is alleged that the establishment puts in place the leaders and removes them at will. The present curious case of the Imran Khan ouster has been rejected and there is a fight back by PTI. PMLN, with all the backing in the world, is practically out of Punjab and is now province less. This till date is history.

2. The outraged public – The real advantage that the previous regime change facilitators enjoyed was an unaware and unmoved public. Bhutto’s hanging and Nawaz Sharif’s ouster could not muster even token protests. Imran Khan’s ouster has triggered an unprecedented public response that is unending. Ramazan, Eid, heat, humidity, Moharram come and go and the people move with the movement on every political upset they perceive. From the No confidence vote, to the Punjab speaker’s ruling, to the Supreme Court judgement, crowds gather before the party gives a call for them. Add to the fact that fear of speaking has just disappeared.

3. The pathetic ruling choice – Arrogance short circuits intelligence. The fact that the game planners thought that the public would accept a rotten combination of 13 parties to rule them and blame their follies on previous governments is nothing short of insulting. These are overly tested and proven alleged and actual criminals who have with the help of establishment got multiple turns to rule. Seeing them all sit in cabinet is a sight that most people find difficult to accept. If they had imported a technocrat, that would have still had more hope of public acceptance. The likes of Shaukat Aziz etc would still be given a chance by some. But, to get these seasoned corrupt group all in one government was just so low that even the most indifferent became active.

Most political thrillers on Netflix like House of Cards show the ruthless system of establishment steam rolling everybody in the same direction. Those daring to go the other way are taken care of. In Pakistan we are witnessing a live political thriller. People in Pakistan and all over the world were glued to the TV with thumping hearts when the Supreme Court decision on Punjab Assembly Speaker ruling was to be announced. Many cynics predict that this will soon also be “taken care of”. The taking care part was to be rolled out in the 20 by elections of Punjab. That did not happen. Now the desperate attempt to technically knock out the “uncontrollable” party. That may happen. But that happening may not result in the “uncontrollable” being taken care of, but the uncontrollable multiplying to a degree where Sri Lankan scenes may just look insipid to what may happen in Pakistan.

Let us hope and pray that on its 75th birthday Pakistan and its rulers grow up and grow out of this constant power struggle to provide true freedom, peace and prosperity to the citizens of Pakistan.

The writer is a columnist, consultant, coach, and an analyst