It is due to the undemocratic actions of both the coalition government of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s PML(N) and the PPP, and by former Prime Minister Imran Khan, Chairman of the PTI, that instead of shrinking, political turmoil in Pakistan is rapidly accelerating.
Ex-PM Khan started a long march he called “Haqeeqi Azadi March” (Real Freedom March) to get rid of the US-led ‘imported government’ and other internal entities, as he claimed. It reached Islamabad on May 25, this year.
Addressing the massive crowd a few yards away from the Red Zone and instead of holding a sit-in, without getting a date for the next general elections from the government, he returned after giving an ultimatum of six days, and if the government did not announce the date of elections by hen, he would return with another long march.
PM Shehbaz Sharif stated in the National Assembly on May 26, that it would decide the date of the next elections and also said: “The doors for talks are open; I can form a committee”.
PTI general secretary Asad Umar welcomed this offer for dialogue.
Media disclosed that PTI had decided to resume contacts with the federation. These talks will be behind-the-scenes.
Former foreign minister and PTI Vice Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi also claimed that his party and the PML(N) were holding backchannel talks, and that all PML(N) leaders including party supremo Nawaz Sharif were ready to announce elections in June, 2022, for October 5. He added that later, the PML(N)’s coalition partners did not agree, with the PPP a major obstacle. Then PML(N) Vice-President Maryam Nawaz said the current regime would complete its tenure up to August 2023.
Surprisingly, without taking other stakeholders on board, under the supervision of the coalition government, the National Assembly on May 26 approved a bill to bar overseas Pakistanis from voting and stop the use of Electronic Voting Machines in the forthcoming elections. The PTI leaders pointed out that the government’s real aim was to deprive overseas Pakistanis from the vote and also to open the doors for rigging.
Besides, under the pretext of draconian powers given to NAB, the regime also amended the law in its favour.
At this critical hour, armed forces are coping with internal and external challenges—politicians must not tarnish the Army’s image as an institute, while the government and the opposition leaders, and all other segments of society, must show selfless national unity to pull the country out of the ongoing serious crises.
Meanwhile, hearing a suo motu case, a five-judge Supreme Court bench headed by the Chief Justice of Pakistan, Mr Justice Umar Ata Bandial, restrained the executive authorities from transfers, postings and removal of officials of FIA and NAB involved in the investigation or prosecution of high-profile corruption cases against top government functionaries ordering that there be no government interference in the affairs of prosecution as well as investigation branches. The court ordered that no prosecution case would be withdrawn. The CJP also advised the Attorney-General to carefully evaluate the choice of the new NAB chairman.
It is notable that at a public gathering in Fateh Jang, Maryam Nawaz allegedly remarked that former Premier Imran Khan only lasted in office for over three years as he had the support of an ex- intelligence officer [Chief of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Lt. Gen. Faiz Hamid].
In a statement, the ISPR called it unlawful practice of dragging the armed forces into politics, warning that such unsubstantiated statements were extremely damaging for the country. The statement did not specifically mention any politician or party, but explained that the military leadership was perturbed over remarks given by both the government and opposition parties.
It is mentionable that the Supreme Court on May 17, this year in its decision on a presidential reference seeking interpretation of Article 63-A of the Constitution clarified that the votes of defecting lawmakers will not be counted. Their disqualification period has been left to Parliament. Thus, the apex court has eliminated horse-trading permanently.
In this respect, the Election Commission of Pakistan de-seated 25 PTI dissident MPAs who had voted for the PML(N)’s Hamza Shehbaz in the Punjab chief minister’s election.
Notably, regarding the May 25 long march, several undemocratic moves by both the government and PTI led to a brutal crackdown against the PTI protesters— arrests, deployment of containers, acute teargas-shelling and stone-throwing on the police by the PTI activists in various regions, particularly Islamabad, resulted in the martyrdom of 5 persons and 3 policemen, and the injuring of more than 200 people, including policemen.
It is noteworthy that ex-PM Nawaz Sharif-head of the PML-N and his daughter Maryam had, continuously, been criticising the Supreme Court and the Army since 28 July 2017 when the apex court disqualified Sharif on corruption charges. Thus, they had been misguiding the people and were provoking them against the key institutions.
Similarly, after his ouster through no-confidence motion, ex-Premier Khan who was earlier targeting the Supreme Court, and afterwards started appreciating it when several verdicts came in PTI’s fvaour.
Khan who earlier appreciated the Army, but criticised it indirectly, stating: “I knew the match was fixed”—without evidence has been blaming the Army for his removal.
In this context, in an interview with a private TV channel, he stated on June 1: “If the establishment doesn’t make the right decisions then…the Army will be destroyed because…if it[Country] goes bankrupt…Pakistan would break into three parts. After it [Army] is hit, what concession will be taken from us? Denuclearisation”.
He added that he had clearly told the “neutrals [a veiled reference to the establishment or Army] if this foreign conspiracy to remove my government is successful then our economy will go down…the current defining moment is a trial for the establishment”.
Next day, various mainstream party leaders such as PPP Chairman Asif Zardari, PM Shehbaz Sharif, and those of other ruling coalition parties unleashed a tempest of criticism against the PTI chairman, explaining that in retaliation to his ouster, Khan had crossed the red line, as his anti-Pakistan and anti-Army remarks show. He was creating panic in the country.
In Sindh province, PPP staged ‘Pakistan Khappay (We want Pakistan) protest rallies in response to Khan’s statement. The National Assembly on June 6 adopted a resolution condemning the statement against the armed forces as well as Pakistan’s security and safety of nuclear weapons.
In fact, Pakistan’s politicians have always claimed that they nourish democratic ideals, but, we could not establish this system on a strong footing, as under the cover of democracy, they prefer their selfish personal interests over the national interest.
Alliances are formed to win the elections or topple the rival regime. Political leaders also misguide the general masses by forming extreme opinions among them against their opponents.
At present, PTI workers have been distorting the Army’s image in such a way that general masses should forget the sacrifices and services of the armed forces such as the resettlement of the Internally Displaced Persons during the Swat and Malakand military operations, counter-insurgency operations and restoration of law and order on many occasions—during catastrophic periods—floods, earthquakes, coronavirus pandemic, locusts’ attacks and others.—also matching response to Indian forces at the Line of Control and to stop infiltration of terrorists inside Pakistan from Afghanistan.
Regrettably, changing their political differences into political enmity, some irresponsible entities of the PTI and the PDM are moving the country towards anarchy or civil war.
Even, PML(N) parliamentarian and Federal Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif recently admitted that the coalition partners in the government should move for seeking fresh mandate from masses to avert a civil war.
At this crucial hour, Pakistan is facing grave crises and problems like corruption, soaring prices of commodities, energy-shortage, load-shedding, unemployment etc., and dependence upon the US-led developed countries-IMF and World Bank for financial aid. Particularly, within some days, the federal government twice increased the prices of petroleum products and electricity for the release of $1 billion tranche loan from the IMF.
Taking note of the present multiple crises, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif emphasised the need for a grand dialogue, involving all stakeholders—for developing a consensus over the national economy. But, it is misfortune of the nation that the PTI has rejected the offer.
So, instead of launching a second long march, Imran Khan should accept Shahbaz’s offer of grand dialogue, and the ruling alliance must also announce early elections after settling various issues with the PTI, such as the caretaker setup.
At this critical hour, armed forces are coping with internal and external challenges—politicians must not tarnish the Army’s image as an institute, while the government and the opposition leaders, and all other segments of society, must show selfless national unity to pull the country out of the ongoing serious crises.
