Dangerously polarised Pakistani society
PAKISTANI society has always suffered the curse of ethnic, sectarian and social prejudices and faced many challenges such as war, natural disaster and political upheaval but our society has never been as polarized as it is today.
The ground reality today is that our economy is virtually in intensive care, external debts mounting, possibility of default, rising prices, energy crisis, terrorism raising its ugly head again, increasing poverty levels and a population on the verge of social collapse.
People of Pakistan are angry, bitter and frustrated and in desperate need of some relief and hope for the future.
The nation is waiting for the messiah our knight in shining armour to lift the curtain of doom and gloom, to reduce the despondency, grief and frustration in the common man of the country.
Our political leaders on the contrary are hell bent on adding fuel to the raging fires of political chaos and economic despondency.
Political statements and frequent outbursts by the leading lights of our political elite is doing nothing but deepening the divisions and fissures in an already divided society.
The daily diatribes in various talk shows and social media and the outbursts of our political stalwarts is increasing the bitterness and toxicity between the ruling coalition and the newly created opposition party led by Imran Khan.
This dangerous standoff between the government and opposition party is a dangerous and risky approach to coming to grips with the multitude of political and economic problems faced by the country. Imran Khan in his latest outburst enlightened the nation with some new pearls of wisdom.
In a widely circulated statement on the 1st of June he opined “If the Establishment does not act now to stem the rot, the institution of the military will face destruction” according to him Pakistan will break up into three pieces if the present government is allowed to continue in office.
Such dire warnings and such a scenario of doom and gloom was not predicted even in the dark and dismal days of 1971 when the country was split in to two.
For the first time in our history, a political leader has asked the Supreme Court for a safe passage to launch his grand long march or an onslaught on the federal capital and this is the only example of a political party seeking a permit or asking for the intervention of the superior judiciary in a political process.
The Chairman of the PTI has also expressed his concern that nuclear assets of the country are also in danger of being taken over by our enemies.
Such melodramatic outbursts and warnings by a new politician who has led the country for almost four years are nothing short of dangerous political gimmicks.
The PTI government was ousted through a democratic, legal and constitutional method and now the PTI chairman is trying to create doubts about the ability and the future of the Army this ugly gimmick is a grave error of judgment and a highly dangerous and unwarranted miscalculation based on the Chairman’s lack of experience at governance.
The Pakistan Army survived the catastrophe of 1971 and today it is very capable to defend the borders of the country and to act as the guarantor of the unity and stability of the country.
Such irresponsible statements by a leading politician and ex-Prime Minister creates serious doubts about the ability and viability of the national army that has always guarded the sovereignty and freedom of the country even in very difficult circumstances.
The preposterous statement predicting the collapse and splintering of the country amounts to sowing the seeds of mistrust and doubts in the minds of the nation.
Are we again facing a situation as we did back in 1971?Is Pakistan on the verge of breaking up? Is the present coalition government a danger to the nation?
The PTI followers believe that only the PTI led by Imran Khan can save us from political and social collapse.
The attitude and angry outbursts coming from the leaders of the PTI just shows that they just cannot accept defeat from the no confidence motion that ousted them from power.
Let us not forget that the PTI ruled the country for almost four years. It is a known fact that the 2018 elections were manipulated and Imran Khan’s regime was not a clear winner and could not have formed his government without the political engineering managed by the powers that matter.
The PTI tenure was one of political vendettas and victimization of political rivals. Issues like poverty, employment, illiteracy, climate change, debt reduction, pollution, exports, terrorism and sectarian violence were never seriously addressed at all.
The entire focus of the PTI government remained on filing cases and arresting those in the Sharif and Zardari families and to punish them for whatever they may or may not have done.
The PTI Czar of Accountability Shehzad Akbar spent almost four years of intensive investigation and mobilized all national resources and yet could not achieve a single conviction of any member from the targeted families.
The PTI leaders should now realize that dividing the nation is no service to the country and they should now endeavour to unite the nation for the greater good of the country.
—The writer is Professor of History, based in Islamabad.
