THERE is an ongoing social media campaign against the national institutions of Pakistan since the past few months. Two highly prestigious institutions: the Judiciary and the Military are the main focus of this social media campaigning. This is an extreme act by some political and non-political forces against the national institutions since the outcome of such ill-conceived social media campaigning would damage the state apparatus and the institutions. There is a sudden rise in the campaign of politicization of the Pakistani Military at the level of various political forces, several non-state actors and religious and ethnic communities. These groups make use of social media for their disinformation campaigns to defame and politicize the Military and premium intelligence agency of Pakistan. It appears that this politicization of the Pakistani Military is part of a larger agenda which may prove very dangerous against this most organized, highly professional and most popular and loved institution of Pakistan. This campaign of Politicization of the Pakistani Military has two dimensions; the domestic and external dimensions.
Domestically, the politicization of the Military aims at defamation of this institution, since it is the most popular institution of Pakistan, loved by masses. In fact, Pak Army draws its strength from the masses of Pakistan. This intimate bond and devoted connection is the real area of concern for the rival power(s) of Pakistan. The foes of Pakistan have, therefore, chosen to target this intimate relationship in phase one of their larger anti-Pakistan agenda. During this phase, the planners would like to create differences between masses and Military through an indirect strategy of defamation while negatively agitating the sentiments of masses.
Indeed, no external power can succeed in overpowering Pakistan in the presence of a very strong and highly professional military which enjoys the unswerving, resilient and dedicated support from the people of Pakistan. The enemies of Pakistan had tried it many a time, last being the global war against terrorism. The intimacy and strong association between Pak Army and the masses enabled the former (Army) to combat, defeat and dig-out the roots of this internationally sponsored terrorism against the state and society of Pakistan. Seeing the intensity of this internationally sponsored terrorism against Pakistan, it was assumed that Pakistan would meet the fate of Iraq, Libya and Syria. Nevertheless, the brave defence forces of Pakistan crushed these terrorists and their backers and abettors. This annoyed the planners and compelled them to diversify their strategies against Pakistan.
While debating the external dimension of targeting Pakistan and its military, it appears that after having failed in their strategies and efforts of weakening the Pakistani Military through direct approach, the international spying network has adopted an indirect strategy to weaken the Pakistani military. They assume that, after weakening the Military, there will be no force to resist the international and regional forces to ruin Pakistan, the way it happened with Iraq and Libya. Defamation and politicization of Pakistani Military is an indirect approach to devastate Pakistan in a future scenario.The enemies of Pakistan are formulating strategies to defeat us from within. This means: creating fault lines, causing split, defamation and humiliation, hatching plots and conspiracies, politicization of key institutions and causing hatred against institutions of national security. There is a need to create a sense of awareness against the global and regional plots which aim to weaken Pakistan through an indirect approach of targeting its national institutions.
While handling serious issues of the judiciary and military on social media or mainstream electronic and print media, let’s maintain civility through respectful and constructive dialogue and conversation without resorting to personal attacks or harassment. People must understand that, judiciary operates independently from political influence and judges are bound by the law and the Constitution, not public opinion. Besides, those using social media, including the common people, must educate themselves about the legal system, including the principles of justice, due process, and judicial decision-making. There is a need that, at a social level, there should be open dialogue and question and answer sessions with judges, legal experts and representatives from the courts.
Besides, there has to be transparency in the communication through sharing of information about the judge’s reasoning and the legal principles that guided the decision. People must have a fair understanding of media literacy and the potential for misinformation or biased reporting. People should critically evaluate news sources and seek multiple perspectives to form well-informed opinions. Rather, adopting violence as a tool, people must engage in peaceful protests, write letters to elected officials, or support legislative initiatives that align with their views. This all has to be done while remaining within the legal framework and constitutional bounds. Leaders of the political parties should lead by example and promote respectful discourse by promoting dialogue and peaceful conversation.
Let’s promote tendencies of respecting each other on social media with special emphasis on respecting the judiciary and institutions of national security. It is not possible to change the mind-set of everyone nevertheless, through social media a more respectable and responsible behaviour can promote a sense of tolerance and peaceful dialogue among the masses in Pakistan. Indeed, it is hard to imagine the challenges and hardships the military men face while confronting the enemies of various categories; conventional and unconventional, kinetic and non-kinetic and above all the threats of hybrid warfare. Let’s be united and harmonized at the national level so that the rival forces dare not to exploit the vulnerabilities of Pakistan.
— The writer is Professor of Politics and IR at International Islamic University, Islamabad.
Email: [email protected]
views expressed are writer’s own.
