Empty rhetoric rules the roost
While the Islamic Republic is mired in a deep existential crisis, instead of trying to evolve a modicum of consensus on major issues confronting the nation, its political elite is engaged in point scoring and fruitless polemical exercises. Across the wide political spectrum the effort is to ad lib rather than engage in a serious political discourse to evolve some agreement on key issues.
The master of the game is the enigmatic Sheikh Rashid, the Railways Minister well known for his acerbic attacks on his political opponents. Most TV news anchors seek-the Sheikh, heading his one-man ‘tonga party’, the so-called Awami Muslim League, as a solo guest on their shows.
And why not? His vicious attacks on political opponents (usually at the cost of playing havoc with both Urdu and English languages) pull in good ratings.
It hardly matters that in the process not only is truth the first casualty, but the national narrative as well. For example, in his latest fulmination, he had no compunction in saying that as a Muslim he is proud to be a jhadist.
This is probably in response to PPP co-chairperson Bilawal Bhutto Zardari’s claim that three federal ministers associated with banned outfits should be sacked. Although not named but they are generally assumed to be Finance Mister Asad Umar, minister of state for interior Shehryar Khan Afridi and the Sheikh himself.
This useless debate is taking place at a time when Pakistan is under a serious threat of being blacklisted by FATF (Financial Action Task Force) for terrorist financing. Islamabad has just barely managed to escape the gauntlet of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolution declaring JeM (Jaish e Mohammad) chief Maulana Masood Azhar a global terrorist, thanks solely to the threat of a veto by China.
Bilawal Bhutto comes out a breath of fresh air in a fossilized and decimated PPP that his late grandfather founded. But the pervasive virus of personal attacks has smitten him as well.
In his latest, taking a jibe at Prime Minister Khan he congratulated him on World Puppetry Day. Previously Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif, while opening the debate on the mini budget, unnecessarily attacked Khan, who was present in the House, as a ‘selected’ prime minister.
The opposition might not like him, nor accept him as PM, but in the eyes of the world he is the de jure elected leader of Pakistan. How does it help to paint him as a robot run by the military? This is how the Indian media portrays Pakistan’s democracy.
The stark ground realities entail putting up a united front rather than presiding over a divided house
Of course it can be rightly argued that the ruling party itself is largely responsible for the present polarization. True, the PTI should make concerted efforts to bring the opposition on board. But right now the singular effort of government ministers and spokesmen is to run down the opposition as a corrupt and incompetent lot hiding behind its democracy-in-danger mantra.
The PPP and the PML-N strongly feel that the NAB (National Accountability Bureau) is being systematically used as an effective tool to conduct a vendetta against them. The ruling party glibly claims that it has nothing to do with an autonomous accountability putsch conducted by an independent NAB.
The fact of the matter, however, is that the whole narrative of the ruling party, Khan downwards, is geared towards a ruthless campaign against the opposition. With a little tailwind from the powers-that-be, there seems to be a singular and concerted effort to blackball the opposition.
As a direct result the national agenda is being relegated to a secondary slot. Take the case of NAP (National Action Plan) launched with much fervour and unanimity in the aftermath of the 2014 Army Public School massacre in Peshawar.
The leader of the opposition has refused to attend the briefing for parliamentary leaders scheduled for March 28 on NAP on the pretext that the whole Parliament should be briefed instead of just the parliamentary leaders. While on the other hand the PPP is reluctant to attend on the plea that its workers the other day were subjected to the worst kind of police brutality outside the NAB offices in Islamabad.
In the backdrop of the NAB noose being progressively tightened around its neck, the PPP’s narrative is becoming progressively bitter. Strongly reacting to the PTI’s campaign to paint him as an Indian agent, Bilawal in a hard-hitting tweet has loudly questioned that, “If you don’t follow a script you are declared a traitor?”
Of course Bilawal has a valid point to make. That, however, could have been made in less harsh language. For too long anybody disagreeing with the officially certified truth has been branded a traitor. Thanks to the ubiquitous establishment these traitor factories have never run of business ever since the country’s inception.
This is all happening at a time when tensions with India are at an all-time high. The PM has proudly tweeted the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s message of felicitations on Pakistan Day.
The message contains the usual homilies of goodwill reserved for such occasions. But while this message was being hailed by Islamabad, the Indian government boycotted the traditional reception on the occasion hosted by our High Commissioner in New Delhi.
Usually a Union minister is nominated to attend the reception. But in these times of extreme tension even invited guests were also refused entry by Indian sleuths.
The Prime Minister, while briefing newspaper editors just a day earlier, had correctly stated the situation on the Eastern borders remained extremely tense. According to a report by Reuters news agency quoting a senior administration official, “the US remains concerned about India-Pakistan tensions as the nuclear-armed countries’ militaries remain on alert nearly three weeks after their most dangerous confrontation in decades.”
Despite US President Donald Trump asserting that relations between the two countries are “now very good”, his Administration feels that Pakistan has not adequately cracked down on ‘Islamist extremists.’ According to Reuters the Administration also strongly contends that if there was another terrorist attack across the border it will be extremely problematic for Pakistan.
Undeniably, apart from protecting its borders Islamabad has a lot to do on the diplomatic front to be really out of the woods. The problematic economy has refused to jumpstart largely thanks to the government’s empty rhetoric rather than hard-nosed and timely policy decisions.
The stark ground realities require putting up a united front rather than presiding over a divided house in a time of deep crisis. Of course it takes two to tango. But the responsibility lies squarely on the government’s shoulders to bring the opposition on board rather than alienating it through infantile rhetoric.
