For blind are such people

The treacherous manner the incumbent criminal conglomerate is trying to handle the issue of the elections to the now-dissolved provincial assemblies in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is not only worrisome as a moral and administrative default; it poses a threat to the very continuation of a fledgeling democracy in the country.

Understandably, the government has refused to release requisite funds to the ECP, the security personnel have refused to ensure security, the military has refused to release personnel for election-time duty and the ECP has cited its lack of preparedness for holding the elections. It is the same ECP which, only a few months ago, had stated before the Supreme Court of Pakistan that it was ever ready to hold elections throughout the country, which is also its fundamental constitutional responsibility.

Even in the chequered history of Pakistan, such absolute conspiratorial unanimity has never been witnessed among so many institutions regarding their combined refusal to undertake an assignment which they are obligated to perform as per the laws of the land. It appears that the state and its institutions are determined not to hold the elections to the two provincial assemblies which, according to relevant legal provisions, are due to be held in the next little over two months. What are the constituents to merit such unanimous refusal?

It is not just the elections to the provincial assemblies which are being rendered controversial for one reason or the other. A similar treatment is being meted out to the general elections which should be held by September/October later this year. Numerous reasons are being cited that allegedly make the environment inclement for holding elections in the country at this juncture encompassing the economic meltdown, the deteriorating security situation and the government’s inability to provide funds to the ECP for the purpose. Notwithstanding these reasons, the real instruments behind this refusal are hidden elsewhere.

The notorious regime change operation was never meant to give sustenance to democracy. On the contrary, it was meant to provide illegal reprieve to a host of crooks, convicts, under-trial criminals and absconders. After being hoisted in seats of power, they moved quickly to annul and amend the applicable accountability laws so that their grievous crimes would no longer fall within their ambit. Consequently, their cases were routinely returned by various courts to NAB for being outside their operational domain. The entire process of incorporating amendments in the accountability laws was exclusively self-serving to benefit those who had been inducted in the annals of power. The flawed process was pursued vigorously despite the fact that, because of resignations tendered by the PTI legislators from the House, it was an incomplete National Assembly that was assigned the responsibility of approving these amendments. To expedite the process, all rules and procedures were also grievously violated.

It is excruciatingly painful to write on such matters as these are conducted in blatant violation of all applicable laws which should remain paramount in the conduct of individuals and institutions of the state. Unfortunately, the actual practice is to the contrary. The individuals these matters concern are ensconced in seats of power, thus loaded with authority to push things in whatever direction they may desire, and the institutions which are responsible for piloting such changes become complicit in the criminal occupations of the mighty and the powerful. Unfortunately, this blatant practice of misuse of power and complicity of institutions has penetrated the entire societal fabric, thus rendering people immune to protesting the grave travesties which are committed as a matter of routine. They stay quiet because they either feel helpless, or they also hope to get their pound of flesh.

Thus, it is that, through having corrupted the society, these habitual criminals have been able to help their family dynasties assume a position of ascendance in super-session of all applicable laws, rules, procedures and such other requirements. In the process, they have repeatedly rubbished them, thus making all progress dependent on the whims and fancies of individuals who have stacks of power and pelf which they use with gay abundance, without any fear of being held to account for their grave crimes.

Things have deteriorated to such an extent that people have forfeited the ability to separate wrong from right, usurper from benefactor, liar from the truthful, guilty from the innocent and corrupt from the righteous. They have also lost the ability to see through the crass antics of their leaders and the dramas they enact to prove their innocence and their indispensability for the country and the people. Day after day, year after year, they are smitten by the poisonous doses these leaders administer them as potions for their cure. Even worse, they take it with a smile and abundant gratitude.

The vilest form of this aberration is the intellectual corruption that the educated are not only afflicted with; they practise with consummate skill. They know the reality, they know the truth, they can sift right from wrong and the licit from the illicit, yet they are not only unwilling to speak and demonstrate the truth. They consciously and wilfully indulge in parroting the opposite simply because winning their seats in the assembly or the senate, or making illegal profits in their businesses, or pursuing any venture for self-advancement is dependent on their continued indulgence in falsehood and hypocrisy. In fact, they are the real criminals – and there are some very “noble” names included in the long and gory list. Lest one forgets, they do so with absolute lack of shame. It is like this sickening malady is a generational inheritance which they are perfecting further for the use of their progeny.

For blind are the people, and blind they shall remain if they commit themselves to fending for each day they are allowed to live by the mighty and the powerful who, they are made to believe, commands their fate. It is against them that they will have to rise if they are to see better days for themselves, and for their coming generations. Otherwise, perdition shall be their permanent abode and deprivation their eternal punishment.

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