Pakistani politics: one step forward, two steps back
While the situation in Karachi has become worrisome with increased presence of law enforcement agencies in the metropolis, in a way it reflects the collective failure of the country’s civilian leadership
The federal government, led by Nawaz Sharif’s political party the PML-N, seems in limbo these days. Seemingly, the party’s leadership only wakes to crisis whether it’s in the form of accusations by rival political parties or some tragic incident, like the Quetta attack a few weeks ago.
The opposition parties, on the other hand, have equally been settling negative trends in their own work domain. While the PTI’s dharna politics has clearly destroyed Imran Khan’s political career, it has evidently affected the government’s performance; however one might want to interpret it. The PAT’s politics of colluding with other opportunist parties – like the PTI – to settle personal scores with the Sharif has further cemented the opportunist traits of the country’s civilian leadership.
Political parties’ unbound point scoring battles with rivals reflect that there are no limits to political opportunism even when it hurts the country’s national interests. For instance, after the Quetta attack, one PTI’s lawmaker reportedly said on social media that whenever PTI’s plans to take out rally against the country’s enemies (the rally was against Nawaz Sharif’s federal government) a blast oo tragedy occurs.
Furthermore, a good example of the political opportunism which is rampant among political parties in Pakistan is the strategic alliances between different political parties even when they differ ideologically. While in KPK, PTI and Jamaat-e-Islami are running a coalition government, Imran Khan’s party has consistently targeted Jamaat-e-Islami for its politics elsewhere.
Although there have been complains about the military assertive role in the country’s foreign policy, no one can argue that the military was behind the Prime Minister’s strategic decision of not appointing a fulltime foreign minister. The civilian leadership’s withdrawal from national governance sphere has allowed the military to creep in to fill the space: while it may appear that Pakistan is being run by a civilian government, practically the government does not exist beyond local issues related to day to day affairs. The country’s security apparatus, not just external but also internal is being run by the military. The reasons are obvious: the civilian leadership has neither the will nor the vision to tackle the crucial security issues of the country.
While the situation in Karachi has become worrisome with increased presence of law enforcement agencies in the metropolis, in a way it reflects the collective failure of the country’s civilian leadership, for in the last six decades it has not been able to assuage the fears of a small community which has ultimately rested its survival with a person who thrives on bloodletting. It’s one of the reasons that the military even after multiple large and small operations in the city has been unable to resume normalcy.
Laurent Gayer in his book, Karachi: Ordered disorder and the struggle for the city, argues that “Between June 1992 and November 1994, the army itself conducted a massive operation in Karachi, which aimed at breaking the backbone of the MQM’s secondary state…. but the operation backfired on several levels. The violence unleashed upon MQM workers and Urdu-speaking civilians further alienated the freshly invented Mohajir community.” The situation is reminiscent in the present crisis where the party workers have refused to respond to the military’s onslaught despite the fact that MQM’s leadership is known to have added to their miseries.
The military’s push to divide the party by creating number of factions from within is likely to fail as well. In 1992 operation, the military’s drive to create another bloc inside MQM, known as the Haqiqis, resulted in a fiasco as the newly created group established its own no go areas in Karachi. After Altaf Hussain’s speech earlier in the week in which he made a string of anti state remarks, the Ranger’s crackdown against the MQM’s has shifted gears but it’s unlikely to bring any respite as long as the city’s security and political dynamics are understood in its entirety. The same apathy on the part of national parties reflects in other parts of the county as well. The grievances of people from Baluchistan, KPK and even in some areas from Punjab are a telling tale of the masses deepening estrangement towards the state’s inefficient and corrupt political setup.
Sharif has been more worried about the appointment of the next military chief rather than ensuring that the civilian parts of the National Action Plan (NAP) are being implemented in equal footing as the military parts of the plan. One stark example is the country’s political party’s inability to bring laws to regulate the thousands of Madasas or religious schools. The military has consistently pushed the federal government in this regard but the government has not moved beyond rhetoric. In fact, a month ago, Imran Khan, the chief of PTI donated millions of dollars to Haqqania Madrassa which is known to have produced suicide bombers and terrorists. Besides PPP, whose provincial government in Sindh, a week ago approved two draft bills to regulate Madrasas in the province, not a single provincial government has shown seriousness in the implementation of this strategic part of NAP.
Effectively, the development of the democratic culture is an evolutionary process but it does not, in any way, promote further entrenchment of tribal and hereditary politics. Unless the country’s civilian leadership considers itself a part of the state institutions and act accordingly, people’s alienations are inevitable to deepen.
We need to rectify this shortcoming on war footing as chaos and disorder in the name of building democracy has taken its toll on people.
