Pak’s toxic political culture

 Ishtiaq Ahmed

I have returned to my beloved country after a short absence just over three weeks ago. Although I am not totally new to the political vagaries of Pakistani politics, I must admit that the recent turn of events have shocked and dismayed me enormously.

The way political events have developed in the recent months and handled are not short of a comedy of errors.

Pakistan is being presented to the world as a dysfunctional state with inept political leadership. This should not be the case.

The political leadership of all shades must come to their senses and rise to the challenge. Their ineptness is doing enormous damage to the internal unity of the country whilst providing opportunities to the competitors and the detractors of Pakistan to inflict further damage to the standing of the country in the international circles.

Imran Khan’s long march is finally reaching Islamabad despite attempts by the government forces to stop its progress. The country is at a standstill with almost complete shutdown.

The government’s handling of the PTI-led long march has been totally misguided and overreacted.

The long march should have been allowed, in fact, facilitated with robust security and safety arrangements in place to prevent risks to life and property or any instigation and escalation of violence. Instead, the government is seen to be overreacting with malice by assuming the inevitability of violence.

The current political impasse is a result of the toxic political culture which currently grips the nation. Both parties are unwilling to back down in this political tug of war. For someone like me, with non-partisan to party political affiliations, there are a number of extremely worrying aspects to the toxic political culture that now prevails in the country:

1. The language being employed is extremely vulgar, rude, and accusatory in total disregard of human dignity and political integrity. If this had happened in any other country, these self-styled political leaders would have been held for political contempt and declared unfit for public office of any kind.
2. The use of law and order authorities to circumvent political agitation is a gross abuse. Peaceful political agitation is central to and an integral part of any democracy. To circumvent this essential democratic tenet is a fundamental flaw in political thinking of the leadership.
3. The use of force to disperse public gatherings and to prevent peaceful protests, marches and rallies in anticipation of rather than actual risks to the peace and security is a gross misjudgment.
4. In all of this, the aspect that is of particular concern is the politicians’ disregard for the public. They take public support for their self-constructed scenarios and blatant manipulation of the truth for granted. The public is treated as being gullible and with disdain. This is extremely objectionable.
5. The entire country is in the grip of a toxic political culture which is being deliberately fuelled,  directed and manipulated to win the political tug of war. There will be no winner but everyone will be the loser, most importantly, the nation.

The way forward out of this impasse has to be through political discourse which should ultimately lead to proper elections allowing the Pakistani electorate to deliver the final verdict.

The Pakistani electorate are the final authority, not the courts, political chambers or law and order agencies. Therefore, it is imperative that all sides should come together to put democracy back on track.

Thus far the political leadership, old and new, has behaved irresponsibly with intense immaturity. They are directly responsible for the current toxic and damming political environment prevalent in the country. Their intransigent has already caused loss of precious lives and huge damage to the reputation of the country whilst fuelling political factionalism.

In any mature democracy, it is the role of the opposition to question, agitate and protest. It is the role of the government to facilitate this with prudence and dignity whilst taking necessary steps to prevent and minimise risks to the public and property. At the same time, the opposition must also pursue their cause peacefully with full regard to public and property safety and law.

The above essentials are being thrown to the wind in the present politics of ‘tic for tack..

Thus we are hearing two contradictory accounts of the current events. The government is claiming success in preventing the long march and congratulating themselves. The media reports are indicating a very different picture of large gatherings on route to Islamabad and the heavy-handedness of the police to prevent and disperse protesters. Lahore is being described as a ‘ war zone’ . A similar turn of events are also being reported from other areas. The country is on the verge of a civil war. Very worrying and stressful.

Both sides are entrenched in their respective positions. There is no apparent move towards any dialogue.

The public is eagerly awaiting for any response from the army which in Pakistan is seen as the ultimate ‘ arbitrator’. Thus far the army has refused to be drawn into the present crisis. For me this is a positive omen. However, this position may change if the politicians fail to resolve the current impasse.

Pakistan’s Supreme Court has correctly directed the government to facilitate political gatherings in Islamabad and to release the political workers of PTI arrested within the last 48 hours. This a positive move on the part of the highest court in the land to diffuse the situation. Finally, the use of force against the protesters, if they are not breaking law, breaking law should not be condoned.