Dungeon of depravity

The debate regarding what kind of government would best suit humankind is as old as life itself. Having evaluated countless appraisals, critics have now reached a point of unanimity that signs of a good government would necessarily include preservation and enhancement of human dignity and ensuring value of life. But is that what we experience in our daily life, or are there still means and methods that are employed to sabotage the ultimate purpose of the government? Are there unseen forces that remain operative to leave their imprint on how to conduct the affairs of the state and how to deal with people irrespective of their will and who they may have mandated as their legitimate representatives?

Unfortunately, through times, human dignity and value of life have been treated as the most dispensable commodities. Mostly perceived as rabid aberrations of human mind, these have been mauled and mutilated in a brazen manner, even by the relatively more compassionate potentates as well as the democratically elected czars of modern times. The principal stress of rulers has always been pinned on self-advancement and the consolidation of their right to always stay in power. Everything else pales into insignificance when weighed against an infatuation of hoisting family dynasties upon unsuspecting people who continue to suffer its deadly consequences through generations.

From the olden times of being thrown before hungry beasts in the Roman arenas for the pleasure of the emperors, to being kept in personal jails of modern-day tribal chieftains and powerful elite, human life has been a consistent target for establishing the dominance of a few over millions of the suffering multitudes who barely survive on the fringes of life. Their dignity has no value, and their life hangs by the most tenuous thread through prolonged inhuman ordeals. Rape and plunder are used as pleasurable weapons to subdue them before the carnal and lustful whims of a miniscule, but corrupt and powerful ruling elite.

In modern-day governments, functions of institutions are key to establishing the rule of law so that the weak and the impoverished communities may continue to nurture hope – no matter how meagre to protect their dignity and enhance the value of their life – features that are provisioned in the statute book. For the rule of law to prevail, the conduct of the parliament and the institution of the judiciary is of paramount importance. Unfortunately, in Pakistan and some other countries of the developing world, rather than prevailing through the exercise of justice, logic and reason, law flows from the barrel of the gun. The one who holds it is beholden to using it to his personal advantage and the advantage of those he serves.

Such a condition has been long prevalent in the affairs of Pakistan with the country already having tasted the consequences of four martial laws. Consequently, instead of the government exercising authority, it is entrusted with as per multiple provisions of the constitution to run the affairs of the state; this prerogative has been usurped by a combination of those who wield the power of the gun and those who have accumulated mounds of pelf. These forces believe that they are not answerable before any law or any institution that is vested with the power to hold transgressors to account. This concept of constituting and running a government beyond the legally established government, which takes shape as a legitimate manifestation of people’s mandate, has remained a harrowing feature in Pakistani politics and has gravely impacted the trajectory of its growth and tampered with its unity and cohesion.

Even when such a government has not been in full view of the people, it has operated from behind the smokescreen of democracy with its levers wielded through a distasteful display of power and pelf. These signs have been most notable in the last year when, first, a democratic government was removed, and then a reign of terror unleashed upon members of the party who were subjected to the most inhuman treatment while in custody of state institutions. Even the former prime minister was not spared this treatment. There was an attempt to assassinate him, resulting in three bullets piercing his leg. He is still recuperating from the potentially fatal wounds. Additionally, scores of fake cases have been registered against him with an intent to disqualify him from leading his party and participating in politics. No one institution could have done it alone. The stratagem has been executed in collusion with the entire state apparatus.

Centuries of debate has brought us to this disgraceful pass. It is a poor platter that is presented to the people to choose from: a martial law regime, or a regime comprising a conglomerate of convicts and crooks, with the strings pulled by omnipresent, but unseen forces to generate a toxic level of fear to deter the prospect of protest. But that has not weakened the struggle to secure freedom. In fact, it has gained further strength and momentum because people know that until they are free to choose their leaders and the leaders have the freedom to exercise their powers to invest in the welfare of the state and its citizens, the deplorable conditions that the disempowered multitudes have endured through decades will not change.

Underneath the shadows of a falsely categorised ‘democratic’ government, people have suffered the worst of a fascist regime with their home and hearth no longer safe from being vandalised in the middle of the night and their families subjected to the worst of mental, emotional and physical agony. The proliferation of audio and video leaks, mostly false and fabricated, has dismantled the moral edifice of the state. The victims rightly feel that they have been stripped naked among throngs of lustful eyes and diseased brains who wait gleefully for their chance to pounce upon them.

Sufferance from the grave ailments of greed and lust has no limits. We are currently witnessing a crude and crass manifestation of that state. It is time to take a step back and ponder why we are turning this country into a dungeon of depravity from where there will be no coming out. This dungeon will suck everyone in – including the shadows lurking in the dark. There will be no escape for anyone.

The writer is a political and security strategist and founder of Regional Peace Institute. He is a former SAPM and currently a senior fellow at the King’s College London