Triumph of democracy

Politicians can overcome anything if they work together

Our fledgling democracy has been able to ward off the threat posed to national security by consolidating the political will of the Parliament, now in session. Writing about the threat I had said a week earlier that ‘Politics [Politicians] will find a way out of this impasse, and will uphold the quintessential values of the democratic order’. The Parliament has asserted itself, the judiciary has risen to the occasion to establish the rule of law, the armed forces having realised the threat to their integrity are ready to act, as the Parliament decides. All the political parties, including the Opposition, have demanded that hard decisions must be taken to clear the mess around the Parliament. The Parliament has demonstrated a unity of thought and action never seen before which indeed is a triumph of democracy over the undemocratic forces.

It is for the first time that a popular political party has joined hands with a maverick clergy and both are tormenting the nation with a behaviour so repugnant to our national sensibilities. Imran Khan has charge-sheeted the judiciary without producing any proof, and has blamed it as being partial and biased. He is pinning hope on the assumption that the ‘Umpire’ would intervene to dismiss the government, hold elections and hand over the power to him. Unfortunately for him, it was not to be. The Umpire may have promised regime change but did not act and cheated both, Imran and Qadri, and has brought disrepute to our national institutions. May be there was a need for such jingoism as entertainment for the oppressed Pakistani nation, just like WW wrestling provides where you find male chauvinism at its best. Thanks, Imran and Qadri.

But the real threat to national security is the hidden agenda. Therefore, there is a need to discern the threat in its true perspective. A prominent political analyst writes:

“Five years back, the Americans and the Canadians decided to unite the two schools of Islamic thought under Tahirul Qadri’s leadership, as a counter to the emerging Deobandi and Salafi alliance in Afghanistan and Pakistan prior to the drawdown from Afghanistan. Qadri was picked up for this job and sent on promotional tour of Europe, Denmark and Iran, where he recruited many activists to his cause. The book Khwarji Threat was published and circulated in thousands. (Khwarjis were the ones who fought against Caliph Hazarat Ali in the battle of Nehrwan). Armed with this support Qadri visited Pakistan where the foreign intelligence and the NGOs helped him develop his contacts into our media, security establishments, institutions and the politicians. Thus the maverick Minhajul Quran clergy was launched in 2013 to sabotage the coming general elections but failed. He returned to Pakistan this year, further bolstered by his masters’ support and the support of the newly recruited Pakistani activists to dislodge the elected government.”

No wonder Qadri and Imran consistently called for the Umpire to give the final decision but the Umpire was not in Pakistani but far away, who chose to turn a deaf ear to their calls because they dare not challenge the national political will which has asserted itself.

Another conspiracy, aiming at our sociopolitical values, was highlighted by me in my recent article titled Our long march politics:

“I have a feeling that there is a hidden politico-ideological agenda of the movement. What happened in Algeria and Egypt in the recent past to replace political Islam with secular Islam may well be the objective of the movement in Pakistan. To recall, Qadri’s last visit to Pakistan in 2013 was aimed at forestalling the elections which Nawaz Sharif was sure to win, but Qadri withdrew after negotiations with the PPP government.”

And that is the double jeopardy behind the hidden agenda.

There are always two sides of a picture – the good and the bad. We have seen the bad side of the picture during the last few months and there is the good side that must be discerned to fortify democracy because these are the weaknesses and hard realities this movement has highlighted, demanding immediate corrective measures:

• The electoral system is defective and needs to be corrected on priority.
• Holding early elections to establish the credibility of the system is necessary.
• The present dynastic plutocracy must be replaced by liberal democracy, representing the middle and lower middle classes, in particular.
• A pool of experts must be created to advise the government on all matters of national life.
• “There is no real threat to Pakistan, but definitely there is a need to change our attitude.” –Senator Haasil Bizenjo.

These are the defining moments which have taken a positive turn as the Parliament asserts itself to correct the course of democracy.