The government and the military stand apart
When the president left the country amid wild speculation regarding the state of his physical and mental health, there was not as much as a single credible statement issued by his numerous handlers. Instead, the crisis has been compounded by glaringly contradictory and insipid interjections stating a million things at the same time. All this was happening in the wake of the rejection of the NRO Review Petition by the Supreme Court and the hearing of the notorious memo case where the apex court had asked the respondents including the president to submit their replies by December 15, since extended to December 19 – the date the court takes up the case again. The COAS, DG ISI, former ambassador Haqqani, Mansoor Ijaz and others have filed their responses, but not the president. Instead, he has questioned the court’s jurisdiction in the matter. Tightening the screws further, the court has fixed January 2 as the date for the president, the prime minister, the NAB chief and other respondents to submit reports on the implementation of its verdict against the NRO.
Drawing rooms are churning out rumours by the dozens ranging from the president being effectively ‘caged’ to the prospect of a ‘soft coup’ to ‘judicial intervention’. The prime minister presents a pitiable demeanour that keeps changing from morning to afternoon to evening. On the floor of the senate, he was recounting a grave threat to democracy saying that if his government was ousted, no one would be able to form another government and ‘there will be no elections in our lifetime’. He did not have to reveal the centres of threat that his government faces as the statements by various respondents submitted before the SC have exposed the vast gulf that separates the perceptions of the executive and the military: while the COAS wants the apex court to investigate further to unearth the author(s) of the infamous memo and the intentions behind it, the executive wants the court to quash the case, thus allowing its own innocuous parliamentary committee to probe the matter over the next million years.
In a sad continuation of its humiliating track record over the last four years, the government is unwilling to accept responsibility of having brought the country to this miserable pass. Whether it be allegations of mass corruption or dismal absence of governance, systematic destruction of all state institutions or a woeful loss of credibility internally and externally, blatant affront of the judiciary or abnegation of the rule of law, compromising Pakistan’s strategic interests, even its sovereignty, or bartering its security paradigm for a few miserly dollars, the government and its bunch of cronies have only one response: there is a conspiracy afoot against democracy.
There is palpable panic in the echelons of power and I would not be surprised if many of the government’s henchmen may already be thinking in terms of deserting a sinking ship, most notably the ones given presidential reprieves. After all, their hands are the most soiled and their deeds the most corrupt. There are also some who may be thinking in terms of letting the errant go as long as they leave the country alone. But, they don’t realise the debilitating damage that has already been done and the need for the guilty to be forced to own it up and make them cough out the national wealth. If rule of law is to be brought to the country, let it roll out now. If that does not happen, the existing bunch of criminals would only be replaced by a bigger gang of thugs to continue desecrating the prospects of turning Pakistan into a civilised society.
With each passing day, the chances of the president’s return to the country are diminishing on two counts. If he is actually sick beyond a manageable limit, he becomes unfit for the coveted office and may be removed on the ground of health. But, if his hands are actually tarnished in the memo scam on the basis of circumstantial and other evidence that is made available, the physical illness could turn out to be a mere cloak that he is wearing to save himself from possible prosecution. But, this can only be a temporary phase as he would not be permitted the luxury of a permanent residence abroad, or do we expect another NRO? Condi Rice has already pulled the rug from under the feet of the so-called champions of ‘democracy’ stating in minute detail the desperation with which Benazir pursued a compromise with the sitting dictator and her eagerness to having herself, her husband and party colleagues immunised against multiple corruption cases and ‘securing’ her ‘right’ to becoming the prime minister a third time. So, pursuit of ‘democracy’ was, in fact, nothing more than pursuit of personal reprieve from crime.
Multiple failures of the experiments in democracy raise serious questions about its relevance in the existing environment and its efficacy in terms of delivery at the grassroots level. What is it that makes the vast cross-section of the political elite shoot itself dead every time it gets a chance to prove the cynics wrong? It appears to be a quality that is deeply and irretrievably ingrained in their psyche. It is a wild penchant to be seen elected as ‘democrats’ but rule as cruel and corrupt dictators.
Is democracy for another time and another kind of people, or is it that the system has to be rendered workable by providing it the right ingredients especially in terms of people who engineer and operate it? The inveterate cynics would instantly go for the former option while the optimists may still repose their faith in the latter. That being the preferred remedy, who would create the right conditions to make the system work? If ever things were to come to that, all eyes would look in the direction of the apex judiciary.
The writer is a political analyst and a member of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. He can be reached at [email protected]
