History would bifurcate May 9 into two parts. First, on May 9, people (mostly the youth) exercised their right to raise a voice for their rights and staged demonstrations, whether in civilian areas or military cantonments. Second, on May 9, people (mostly the youth) resorted to acts of violence and arson especially in military cantonments.
After May 9, the state has been using the pretext of the second half to silence the first half of May 9. This deed of the state is both erroneous and unjustifiable. That is, in the name of retribution for acts of violence and arson on May 9, clampdown is continuing with the sole objective of decimating the Pakistan Tehrik Insaf (PTI). The state, whether it is the incumbent government or it is the Army, has no right to exterminate the PTI.
Gaffes and wrong turns of the PTI are known. In all the negativity, the embedded positivity of the PTI has been disseminating the message of the awareness of one’s rights. To elaborate, the main positive with the PTI has been to mobilize the youth into giving them a voice and making them realize their presence on the earth. The mobility of the youth, both boys and girls, paid dividends for society in two ways: first, it invited politicians (even electables) from other parties to join the PTI and ensure their electoral win; and second, it compelled rival political parties to divert their attention towards assuaging the youth– both during political rallies and afterwards.
Another point of positivity has been that the PTI remained successful in introducing modern politics (with all its refrains and gadgets) into otherwise entrenched traditional politics. The PTI made politics uncharted waters for traditional politicians. Even the electables who joined the PTI to ensure their electoral victory remained worried about their compatibility with rising voter expectations, especially in the youth. Precisely, the PTI threatened the existence of the Kammi culture propping up traditional politics. That is, the youth refused to be low-caste Dalits ever ready to fawn over the master, political or administrative. This is one of the reasons the pro-traditionalists have decided to cash in on May 9 events to annihilate the pro-modernists.
The PTI is not just paying the cost of violence and arson of May 9, the PTI has also been paying the price for challenging the status quo of traditional politics. The PTI is being punished for exercising its constitutional right to raise a voice and stage demonstrations. Though it was the blunder of the PTI to resign from the National Assembly, it is unfortunate to see the Assembly passing a resolution on June 12 demanding a speedy action against the May 9 rioters under the Pakistan Army Act of 1952. Unfortunately, just for the sake of devastating the PTI, the Assembly decided to submit to the Army. This is precisely why democracy remains subservient to the will of a military dictator.
Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, who tabled the resolution, was unaware that it was not the PTI but a bench of the Supreme Court which had decided on the Panama case to exclude Nawaz Sharif from politics years ago. The decision was unfair and unjust. The PTI celebrated the decision for which it is being punished. What about the judges who delivered the decision? What about the Army men who were part of the joint investigation team?
The point is simple: there was no problem with the first part of May 9. The spirit of holding an authority, civil or military, accountable to people is the essence of modern-day democracy. Submitting the PTI workers, who are mostly the youth, to any kind of military courts is not an effort to channelize the youth’s energy to the construction of society and wellness of democracy.
Khawaja Asif’s party, the PML(N), has not held them accountable for their misdeeds. The PML-N is so scared of the judges that it shied away from holding even a retired Supreme Court judge and Chairman NAB, Justice Javed Iqbal, accountable for sexually harassing a lady, Tayyaba Farooq Gul. The understandable reason for discounting the reprehensible act of Mr Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal was to keep the SC pleased with the PML(N). The condemnable crime of the judge is still unpunished. As if that were not enough, to appease the Chief Justice of Pakistan, Mr Justice Umar Ata Bandial, the PML(N) even permitted him violating merit and elevating three junior judges to the Supreme Court.
The PML(N) played traditional politics: not to displease the authority. The grave mistake of the PML(N) put the whole country in trouble. May 9 was one of those troubles.
Unfortunate is the stance of the PPP represented by Bilawal Bhutto Zardari. For whole life, his mother, the late Benazir Bhutto, decried military courts (or submitting civilians to any Army Act). Her concept of Kangaroo courts was any court which was handicapped in dispensing justice.
Now, by supporting the resolution in the Assembly, Bilawal assumes that the Kangaroo courts have disappeared. He is still naïve to understand that the vagaries of life entail all potential to offer his head to some Kangaroo court. If the Pakistan Army Act of 1952 is still relevant to the modern democracy of 2023, the Kangaroo courts are also waiting in the wings.
Not change, but the status quo, suits the Army, which dislikes being challenged by the sanctity of human rights. Some army officers might have obtained law degrees but these documents cannot make them judges equivalent to civil judges. The civil system is highly competitive, bringing forward best legal minds to pass the exam of a civil judge, rendering consequently any kind of military courts deficient and ingenuous in quality. It would be like doctors of Army Medical Corps (mistakenly) thinking of competing with doctors of Services Hospital Lahore. Civil doctors are far ahead in their expertise, exposure, experience and knowledge.
After subduing the PTI, the voice for changing the status quo would be over or the voice may be hijacked by other political parties which may be keen to showcase a semblance of change but without any substance. Stillness may please the traditionalists, but it heralds the demise of society.
The point is simple: there was no problem with the first part of May 9. The spirit of holding an authority, civil or military, accountable to people is the essence of modern-day democracy. Submitting the PTI workers, who are mostly the youth, to any kind of military courts is not an effort to channelize the youth’s energy to the construction of society and wellness of democracy.
It is apparent that the second part of May 9 is being overemphasized and overplayed to undermine the prospects of change which could challenge the status quo in society. This is unfair to the PTI and society at large.
