Back to politics of container
IF we look at the last week’s proceedings in Pakistan, it seems decades of efforts were trashed at the whim of a megalomaniac whose moral high grounds seem panacea for the emotional, chauvinist and fanatic youth.
What happened on 3rd April botched the whole democratic enterprise — thanks to a letter which is technically not a letter but a usual cable, which seems to have been fixed to vitiate a simple democratic process.
What ensues after could even surprise those who have a scintilla of conscience, to put it mildly, but nevertheless, in Pakistan religion, politics and patriotism hinge upon pure emotion, anti-America or anti-India.
Conspiracy theories festoon about everything and anything. One can hear any preposterous claim about seemingly straightforward topics in any café.
Mr. Imran Khan has cemented such regressive, childish and reductive thinking by putting the whole political saga on a conspiracy theory—than too is unfounded.
Populists have shown their profane incompetence across the globe. From Trump in the USA to Orban in Hungary, Modi in India, and Bolsonaro in Brazil, all have a particular animosity for the democratic dispensation, rule of law, political institutions, consensus and in short everything that defines democracy.
While Mr. Khan shows the worst kind of populism because our institutions are fragile and brittle, what makes him a dangerous demagogue is his personality cult.
The ocean of uneducated youths seems to brush aside all kinds of issues with the captain to the extent that one doesn’t find words to express such a hapless situation.
Rationality, critical thinking of and logics are the first casualty of the prevalence of Khan’s conspiracy theories.
Worse so, he neither seems to have been learning from his predecessors nor does bother to disabuse his regressive self-aggrandizements.
Even after getting the title of being removed via parliament, he seems bent on finding pretexts of unimaginable lunacy.
As regards the “threat letter” the given issue seems far from reality. One, it was a routine cable, not a letter.
Two, the US has all reasons to be unhappy with a person who overtly mocked America for its failure in Afghanistan by eulogizing the terrorist group by calling them that they have ‘broken the shackles of slavery’.
Worse, becoming the mouthpiece of the Taliban didn’t do any good to our fragile relations with the US.
Add to these the heedless visit of Russia when it attacked Ukraine. In this context, one official said that the US was not happy with the government in Pakistan, which was later exaggerated to the extent that the National Security Council had to show cold shoulders and later the ISPR had to debunk the whole government narrative.
Even though things have gone to normalcy, the opposition–the PTI–doesn’t seem to play it fair. The government despite their numbers and patent victory will face a stonewalling in the way.
Of course, such things will put Pakistan on a precarious trajectory as a result of a personality cult on full display.
The best way for the PTI is to wait and arrange its losing tide through righting its wrongs. For years, the politics of container hasn’t bode well for not only the country, but for the political parties as well.
The politics of agitation has always divided the already Balkanized nation. Further going down the road would be suicidal given our economic crunch which seems uncontrollable.
If the PTI resigns from the Assembly, it will have detrimental consequences for everyone. It can further divide the disgruntled MNAs who want an opportunity to break away with Mr Khan.
It has already been demonstrated a few weeks ago, how 24 MNAs went to the Sindh House after alleged threats of intimidation.
Street protests have been the only achievement of Mr. Khan to be honest. Devoid of any policy, planning and agenda, he has taken all significant and complex matters to the street.
His solutions are honey to the ears for those who are semi-literate or all-out ignorant. Add to this the all-powerful conspiracy that too against the US, the rowdy youth will take all propaganda of their leader literally.
Indeed, such stunts are purely for vested interest whether they are coming from the ruling party or the opposition, but the extent to which Khan energises the youth is unprecedented, thanks to his charisma.
For PM Shehbaz Sharif, there will be encumbrances on end, however, he has to tread vigilantly because 1) he would be facing a person who can go to any extent for his ego and self-esteem, 2) due to social media army of the PTI where the youth spew venom against any person or institution showing the mirror the party, things have gone bonkers and 3) conspiracy theories resonate among not only illiterates, but educated as well.
All these factors can make the life of the PM as difficult as one can imagine. One can only hope that given the illustrious experience of the PM, he can stave off all the calls of doom as soon as possible.
We as a poor country don’t need divisive, emotional and binary politics which has been championed by the PTI camp.
We can’t afford the 03 April incident, let alone the 10 April incident again and again, and the recent gimmicky of Mr Khan does exactly that.
It is, of course, a pity that we’ve breathed a sigh of relief after the two dynastic and one religious party came to power, partly the way Mr Khan ruled for almost four years.
Mr Khan needs retrospections, not politics of agitation. If he had done an incredible job, there wouldn’t have been any issue.
Many experts including Atif Mian say that Pakistan was well off before 2018 as compared to now economically as well as politically.
It is high time Mr.Khan put his house in order and come up with better preparation and homework for the next general election.
—The writer is contributing columnist, based in Islamabad.
