Behold: another impotent storm in a teacup called Pakistani politics
The question is: Will we or won’t we get the PM this time? This is the perennial question that leers at some of us as we stand amidst the abundance of sameness, our fingers crossed, we murmur prayers for the success of ‘other’ side, as only then we could break free and experience something other than this tedious democracy
Now that we are done with the holy month of fasting and just celebrated Eid with the usual zest and fervour. Being done with the ‘usual’, now everybody is craving for something big, something ‘unusual’ to do with someone big.
Once again we have undertaken the arduous task of sifting the saints from the scoundrels. We stand befuddled at the same crossroad, gaping at the same Cheshire Cat and making sense of its same signature grin.
The question is: Will we or won’t we get the PM this time? This is the perennial question that leers at some of us as we stand amidst the abundance of sameness, our fingers crossed, we murmur prayers for the success of ‘other’ side, as only then we could break free and experience something other than this tedious democracy, something more desirable than to be ruled by those we elected and to be ruled by force and coercion in lieu of consent and accord.
Since our lot is easily bored and prone to experience deadly ennui towards our elected governments within their very first year of power, willy-nilly we were enduring the same people for third consecutive year and then finally we had a godsend, a certain document leak from a certain Central American country gave us our lost raison d’etre to feel alive and kicking.
For past three months, politics in our land has been revolving around all leaks Panama. The infamous Panama Papers other than being history’s biggest data leaks have raised many bygone spectres and provided an opportunity to many opposition leaders to dream anew their old fantasies.
Being on the see-saw of authoritarian regimes and democratic governments, we are slow to ruminate our own bents and biases and are quick to seek resignation of folks we don’t like or deem atrociously bad. Dearest sirs and ma’ams, governments are loathed the world over, but they are also tolerated for the terms they have been voted in for. We indulge in the former while denying them the latter. And in it lies our perdition.
In the aftermath of so-called Panama Papers, the opposition parties raised hell and demanded a commission to look deep into the leaks and point out the culprits and punish them accordingly. The government gave in and a 12-member committee was formed to finalise the Terms of Reference (TORs) to probe the revelations in Panama Papers. By the end of May, the committee met and deliberated the issue at hand.
For the time everything looked fine and working and that is precisely when opposition’s monomania to get the PM to relinquish his office took the better of its wits and the whole formation of TORs became an exercise in futility where precepts of justice and fair trial were made a mockery out of.
The government’s stance was to investigate all and sundry whose name surfaced in Panama Papers. In order to do so it was willing to constitute a commission through issuance of an ordinance. The opposition, on the contrary, wanted to throw the baby out with the bathwater by insisting that the very existence of an offshore company is a crime and such companies are made to stack away wealth that is plundered from the masses.
Both opposition and government agreed that judicial commission will investigate all and any names that appeared in Panama Papers. Opposition, during the meetings, assumed the role of being the pleader and the executioner. It wanted to amass the powers that exclusively fell in the domain of judicial commission.
Another bone of contention was that on whom lies the burden of proof. The government desired it to be on the claimant, while opposition was of the mind that whoever has their name in the Panama Papers must give details of sources they bought their properties with.
And at last, behold the best-loved, pet point that opposition wants the government to accept. That, dearest folks, goes something like: the whole shebang of accountability must start off with PM and his family. Meaning thereby, get the government by the gut, slowly bleed it and then slay it at the altar where democracy has been executed many times before.
And then while the talks were afoot, PPP filed a thousand page strong reference in the Election Commission of Pakistan. Once again, the political parties are all set to play in the hands of powers that are traditionally known as power managers.
The older souls among us haven’t forgotten about the episodic drama of brief parliamentary terms back in 90s and the ludicrous reasons paddled for sacking prime ministers one after another. Our fathers witnessed it with deadpan expressions. We, it seems, are being prepared to witness the same spectacle all over again.
The older souls among us haven’t forgotten about the episodic drama of brief parliamentary terms back in 90s and the ludicrous reasons paddled for sacking prime ministers one after another. Our fathers witnessed it with deadpan expressions. We, it seems, are being prepared to witness the same spectacle all over again
So, dearest sirs and ma’ams, get yourself all high and lofty as we are all set to go around the same course. Our apathy stricken lot keeps on getting bored with the small dose of democracy and endeavours to rid ourselves of all that is familiar and hug something less civvy and more savage.
The situation reminds me of a fable I read in my kidhood. The warring cats lost the bread they were fighting over and the ape after bagging it went all hip hop hooray. So, although we know the winners and losers as the plot is rusty and old, without further ado, let’s get it started.