- And discourteous politicians
Political exchange between parties has become so unpleasant, to say the least, that it is difficult to remember who was the first to drag parliamentary politics into the gutter. Sure, Daniyal Aziz will never win any prizes for political finesse – nor for clean, constructive debates – and is known for deliberately pushing people into angry reaction, but nothing justifies PTI leader Naeem-ul-Haq physically slapping Aziz during a heated TV appearance on Tuesday. This was not the first time Haq lost his temper on TV. Everybody remembers how he threw a glass at PPP’s Jamil Soomra during a talk show a few years ago.
Pakistani politics has been predominantly antagonistic since well before PTI’s arrival on the scene. In the so-called ‘decade of democracy’ especially, people from opposing parties were not just political opponents but, often enough, also existential adversaries. Yet PTI has introduced a unique, aggressive and hostile manner of political activism that revolves primarily around badmouthing and insulting others, even people occupying very senior and prestigious government positions. And it’s not as if the hostility has not made its way inside the PTI’s own machinery as well. Newspapers around the country have flashed the Shah Mahmood-Jahangir Tareen spat on their front pages, with good reason.
Imran Khan never tires of projecting his own party has the only true champion of democracy in the country. Yet from internal elections, or lack thereof, to the dharna and jalsa form of agitation instead of parliamentary protest, there is always plenty of daylight between his words and actions. Now, as his party is gaining momentum ahead of the election, it seems some of his senior lieutenants are acting in an increasingly unacceptable manner. The party leadership should take strong notice of the behaviour of Naeem ul Haq and others like him before they drag the whole system further down the gutter.
