AS venomous propaganda against the national institutions is crossing the red-lines, the State seems to be losing patience as is evident from several moves and developments that occurred on Sunday.
The outrageous remarks made by PTI Chairman Imran Khan during his address to a public gathering in Abbottabad forced Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who is otherwise handling things cautiously and cool-mindedly, to retort that it was a grand conspiracy against Pakistan and that legal action will be taken against him.
The frontal attack also triggered a strong reaction from the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), which lamented intensified and deliberate attempts aimed at dragging defence forces and their leadership into the ongoing political discourse in the country.
And in a related development, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) warned the Overseas Pakistanis who are allegedly involved in committing offences on the social media that their names can be put on the Exit Control List (ECL) and can be issued red notices through Interpol to arrest them.
Recent political developments and the change of the Government were not unusual as these fell within the ambit of the Constitution and the law and, therefore, should be accepted in a democratic spirit.
This is not the end of the world if rival political forces took advantage of the weakness of the PTI Government and toppled it one and a half year ahead of its constitutionally mandated period of five years as tables can be turned anytime through hard work and appropriate counter strategies.
However, all this should remain strictly in line with the constitutional scheme of things and democratic norms and traditions.
PTI is entitled to play ‘victim’s card’ as part of the strategy to bolster its image and increase its popularity but there is absolutely no justification to scandalize institutions, hurl abuses on national leadership or use violent means to promote its agenda or try to impose its demands on others not through dialogue but pressure tactics.
It is both strange and unfortunate that all institutions including Pakistan Army, Judiciary and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) were fine when they smoothened the way for the PTI Government and have suddenly become ‘villain’ only because they are determined to play their role as enshrined in the Constitution.
The leadership of Pakistan Army has repeatedly been emphasizing for the last several years that the institution is apolitical and, therefore, no attempt should be made to drag it into politics.
This is not rhetoric as the Army proved by its conduct that it has no intention of interfering in political affairs.
However, despite all this, a sustained propaganda campaign is being spearheaded against the institution and its leadership just for the sake of petty personal and party interests.
Taking strong exception to the practice of unsubstantiated, defamatory and provocative statements and remarks, the ISPR urged all to abide by the law and keep the armed forces out of political discourse in the best interest of the country.
As for the judiciary, there is universal consensus among neutral observers that it played its due role during the political and constitutional crises and it deserves full credit for restoring supremacy of the law and the Constitution.
The ECP is also performing its duties and responsibilities in a highly professional and non-partisan manner but it is being targeted just to pressurize the institution on issues like foreign funding case and disqualification of dissidents, which the ECP is bound to decide in accordance with the law.
In fact, the ECP is exercising extreme restraints in the face of provocations; otherwise what happened in Daska by-elections was enough to proceed against the PTI Government/leadership.
It is also lamentable that a segment of the overseas Pakistanis is also being manipulated to engage in negative tactics that amount to bringing bad name to the country as we witnessed in Madina Munawwara as well as repeatedly in London.
Overseas Pakistanis play a crucial role in efforts towards economic and fiscal stabilization and they must not be politicized to an extent that warrants legal action against them either by the host Government or the Government of Pakistan with serious implications for their livelihood.
PTI has announced a long march in the last days of this month and with this in view there is every probability that the party would continue with its onslaught against national institutions and personality and, therefore, warnings by relevant authorities are timely and must be heeded to seriously.
