Politics of vendettas stagnating democratic order
The on –again, off-again love-hate relationship between Nawaz Sharif and Asif Zardari has seemingly hit its nadir, as the normally conciliatory and ready-to-compromise PPP co-chairman is not even responding to frantic calls made to him by Sharif loyalist Khawaja Asaf, as the latter admitted on prime time television.The political communication cord is completely cut. The feud was simmering since the June 2015 Zardari anti-military rant which provided Sharif with a ready excuse to distance himself from his former ally, with an appeasing eye to Rawalpindi, and to insultingly cancel a pre-planned luncheon meeting with the PPP leader. The gulf between them has since intensified manifold, courtesy cavalier remarks made by one and equally outrageous riposte by the other, in full public gaze, duly imitated by the senior leadership. In fact, with the violent emotions aroused by the Panama Papers and its ongoing Accountability Court aftermath, the vitriolic outpourings of Talal Chaudhry and Daniyal Aziz, and the frequent waspish comments of Imran Khan targeting all of the above and more, national politics is increasingly being characterised by a barrage of angry tirades, accusations and character-assassination.
The unfortunate victims of these utterly draining, petty and self-serving squabbles are first, the democratic system and its basic credibility, and second, the forgotten common man, for whose up-lift and betterment the political parties ostensibly owed their existence in the first place. The only beneficiaries are the political spoilers and other unelected elements, who feel strengthened amid all the turmoil and instability. Particularly galling is the tendency of political parties to barter away principles and national interest issues, for short-term convenience and gain. Lately, in a grand slam bid to retain rapidly slipping power, scandalously person-specific legislation was passed, in the case of Article 203 of the Election Bill 2017, and similar measures are possibly being contemplated regarding Articles 62 and 63, which the PML(N) is now eager to amend, for obvious reasons, after being their biggest champion for years despite PPP opposition, while the latter, in a complete about- face, is now rooting for them. Niccolo Machiavelli,correspondence courses offered!
