Being noble/honest has become a crime
Q: Do you feel that the Panama controversy pushed the government into an early campaign mode, of sorts? Some analysts have said that PML-N took to the streets to deflect Panama pressure. Do you agree?
Sheheryar Khan Afridi: Certainly, yes. Actually the ruling elites strongly believe in fooling the people at large on every issue. They have been using this trick since 1980’s by raising hollow and attractive slogans to shift public focus away from real issues. They do it in a bid to conceal their corrupt practices and alter media focus from their flawed governance.
Having said that, let me add that the prime minister has been trapped in his own plan as the opposition parties have started to prepare themselves for elections which actually were going to be held in May 2018. But the misadventure of prime minister is going to cost him heavily.
The PPP leadership, under a deal with prime minister, has also been engaged in holding corner meetings. This suits the ruling party as it helps shift media and public focus from Panamagate. Perhaps both parties believe that PTI is in a deep slumber and they can steal away the show.
However, they are badly mistaken this time around. We will show our cards when the time is ripe.
Q: Has PPP really managed to create some momentum after former President Zardari returned or is it mostly hot air and posturing? What quantifiable steps do you think the party will have to take to regain its old vote bank?
SKA: Yes, definitely. The PPP had made some waves after Bilawal Zardari started to mobilise the party workers in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. However, Bilawal’s gains were soon reversed when party workers came to know that Asif Zardari would remain in the saddle. This has badly hurt the morale of the PPP workers who wanted a change at the top as Bilawal reminds them of the legacy of the Bhuttos. On the contrary, Zardari reminds the party workers of the party’s tenure when loot and plunder were the order of the day and the country had literally gone to the dogs.
The focus of Asif Zardari on capturing political heavyweights reflects that he is trying to fish in stormy waters. While the people at large want change, the senior Zardari is trying to reinvent the wheel. He is destined to be doomed.
Q: It seems the run up to the next general election will see a fair share of alliance-building. It’s almost as if all parties are on the lookout for somebody to tag along till the vote. What partnerships do you see building?
SKA: Since election fever is yet to take over the public at large, it would be premature to predict about emerging alliances.
However, an alliance I can see brewing is the possibility of revival of Mutahidda Majlis-e-Amal (MMA). The religious parties have suffered heavy defeats in the previous two elections and mostly have been pushed against the wall. For instance, Jamaat-e-Islami has been restricted to two national assembly seats in a remote area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazal (JUI-F) has also suffered heavily at the hands of the PTI in KP and Pashtun nationalist parties in Balochistan. Moreover, the push for madressah reforms, registration of religious seminaries and efforts for effective implementation of the National Action Plan (NAP) have also squeezed space for the religio-political outfits. Hence, they may strike another marriage of convenience despite the fact that these parties have major differences over everything — from school of thought to the offering of prayers.
Moreover, the PPP leadership would try to tag along other minor political forces including Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT), Awami National Party (ANP), Balochistan National Party-Awami (BNP-A), BNP-Mengal, Qaumi Watan Party (QWP), Pakhtunkkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP), etc.
Another possibility is that the PPP would try to strike a seat adjustment with the MMA or whatever the name would be adopted by the religio-political parties’ alliance.
On the other hand, the PTI is all set to go to the polls solo. However, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) may also try to attract some smaller parties and the religious parties may also strike a seat adjustment arrangement with the ruling party in Punjab and KP.
Q: Despite all the fuss about rigging in the previous election, not much has really been done to restructure the election commission. Do you think fraud will become an issue again?
SKA: Definitely it will be. Vote fraud is a major issue for the countries like Pakistan where influential heavyweights grab everything by misuse of the flaws of the system. However, let’s not jump the gun and wait for the parliamentary committee to bring its reform package before the nation.
Q: Recent bails awarded to top accused belonging to or associated with PPP including Dr Asim, Ayan Ali, Sharjeel Memon and Hamid Saeed Kazmi has set alarm bells ringing for many. Political commentators, including your party leader Imran Khan, see an underhand deal between the ruling party and the PPP leadership. How do you accuse the two political parties while the bails were awarded by the high courts? What does this say about PTI’s faith in the judiciary?
SKA: PTI’s faith in the judiciary stands firm and you are twisting the facts. Chaudhary Nisar Ali Khan’s statement is on the record. He said that PPP had put a condition for withdrawal of its opposition on Panama case if the government’s prosecutors do not oppose bail pleas of their accused leaders in the courts.
Now it seems that the government, under immense public pressure on the Panama case, has accepted the demands of the PPP leadership and directed the state prosecutors not to oppose the bail pleas of the accused named by PPP leaders. In such cases, the courts have no option but to accept the bail plea where the prosecution does not oppose the bail.
Now this is the manner in which these thug politicians have plundered our national wealth through underhand deals. In today’s Pakistan, being a noble and honest man is the biggest crime while thugs make a killing. If you are a common man and you make a small mistake, you would be treated like a criminal while the thieves are taking advantage of the loopholes in the system.
In my personal view, this system has totally failed to deliver. It is an irony and shame that the political parties, with a bid to attract the attention of the masses, come up with attractive slogans as if they are their messiahs and for the rights of the common man they have sacrifised enormously at all levels.
Unfortunately, all such parties failed miserably in bringing judicial, educational, agricultural and health reforms and hence these parties now seek the assistance of the military for every issue they face.
Whether it is natural calamity, census, law and order (Rangers in Karachi and Punjab), they are largely dependent on the army. Likewise, whenever the public comes to the roads to register their protest, they fail in delivering and turn to the military again for their rescue.
The political elites have also destroyed all state institutions from NAB to police and from SECP to the Privatisation Commission. Now they are hell bent on destroying the only prestigious institution Pakistan has, it’s military.
It has now been proved that this system exists to cater to criminals, gangsters, thieves and dacoits. There is no space for justice to the common public or the poor. This is why this system is creating hopeless and angry youth which may go astray at anytime.
The angry youth may either play into the hands of foreign agents who are working on disintegrating Pakistan or they simply may become victims of those criminals who are waging a war in the name of religion, sectarianism and linguistic nationalism.
It is unfortunate to note that after the corrupt and rotten elite of political parties, the army leadership has also failed to nail the corrupt coterie. It seems that soon after Gen Raheel Sharif’s departure, his policy of smashing the nexus between corruption and terrorism has been trashed. Gen Raheel left without nailing the corrupt clique and now all efforts are being made to provide the rotten and corrupt politicians legitimacy.
The looters should fear the day when the people of Pakistan would grab them from their collars and dispense justice at each and every corner and crossroad of this country.
