Vinay Thusoo
The famous proverb ‘Old sins cast longer shadows’ aptly signifies the current disorder in Pakistan. Unfortunately, “democracy” only exists in Pakistan either through the pedigree of a Bhutto or Sharif. While the common people are increasingly fed up with the repeated choices offered to them every election year, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan AwamiTehreek (PAT) march was doubtful to bring about the changes they seek. In fact, these protests are an ill-timed distraction. Pakistan is already besieged by an internally displaced persons (IDP) crisis in Pakistanand a military that is busy conducting the Zarb-e-Azb operation in North Waziristan. There was electoral fraud along with discontent about the poor quality of life, but a call for a “Tahrir square” revolution is not the solution. Can any rational person claim that present-day Egypt is the ideal model for the future of Pakistan?.Nawaz Sharif’s government has failed to curb electricity blackouts which share a great deal of the blame for the crippled economy. Add to that the gross lack of social justice, poverty, extremism and one arrives at a toxic mix with the right ingredients for an uprising. The murder of eleven protestors this yearin junewould be unthinkable in any democratic nation. However, tempting the crowd with whimsical promises such as housing and jobs for everyone is cruel and doesn’t achieve anything. Instead, energies should be focused on becoming a formidable opposition in the parliament and coming up with a realistic plan to tackle the root causes of the issue such as the ever growing population, illiteracy and corruption.It is also important to realise that for a revolution to occur, Pakistan has to be one. The very essence of revolution is missing since Sindh, Balochistan, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab are ethnic divisions within Pakistan. For instance, the current crisis in Iraq is due to the fact that every single aspect of the Iraqi government was dismantled by the US, subsequently leading to a takeover of the country by the ISIS. Iraq is now fractured along sectarian and ethnic lines possibly even facing disintegration.While it was clear from the start that the marches were not going to bring about a revolution or the resignation of Nawaz Sharif, the last few days have still been a wake-up call for the current government which has been left weak. While the government has agreed to form a committee for electoral reform, it has clearly ruled out the resignation of the prime minister and the fresh elections. Even though Imran Khan’s cause is commendable but his methods have been irresponsible and his demands inconsistent. He should use his influence to focus on electoral reforms rather than the misconceived call for an Arab spring-style uprising, civil disobedience and resignations. Sending this farce of a democracy packing is not going to bring about a revolution in Pakistan. Instead, as many citizens have mentioned, Imran Khan should impose his revolutionary ideas in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and make that into a shining example for the rest of Pakistan to strive for. Without a proven path to pursue, rhetoric rings hollow. Pakistan can ill afford more empty promises and chaos at the moment.The Women’s Action Forum (WAF) reminds the dharna democrats that democracy is a long-term, incremental process, and not the result of a particular election. Despite a history where institutions and parties have collaborated with military dictators in the past, WAF recalls that they have also been victimised and martyred by the establishment. Sadly, by abusing these historical contributions and its leaders, these dharna democrats seem to be wrongly convinced that they are the first for democracy, of democracy or by democracy.
Imran Khan and his party need to introspect why the leaders of the Lawyers’ Movement and pro-democracy civil society activists are opposed to the dharna demands and position. Imran Khan’s beaming face told the whole story when he left to see the army chief on Thursday night – and the fact is that it was even more beaming when he returned to his air-conditioned container. Why have dozens of meetings between his party leaders and representatives of the ruling and opposition parties, frequent high-level contacts between top leadership, frantic calls here and there to calm the situation, not yielded any result so far? Why he and the other sit-in orator, TahirulQadri, kept rejecting any possibility to find a solution within a legal framework? Perhaps they are just puppets whose strings are being pulled by their masters, parroting the scrapping of the whole system in the name of revolution and ‘Naya Pakistan’. Now with the capital’s main avenues in the hands of thousands of club and slingshot-wielding supporters of Imran Khan and the Muslim sect leader TahirulQadri, both of whom have support within the military, Mr Sharif suddenly needs the army’s support.The turn of events is quite depressing, especially after the party president walked off on Imran Khan and thelife goes on with the rhythm of a soft coup.
“The author is serving as Public Relations Officer with Jammu University, the views expressed in this article are his own “.
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