The Same Playbook

It is quite obvious now that the decision making in Pakistan is confined to a cabal that is neither innovative by orientation nor perceptive enough to infer that going by the same playbook will produce results that will be scarcely different than those that have put the country in the current perilous state.

The current spate of actions taken in respect of the upheaval in predominantly Punjab speaks volumes about the immaturity consistently exhibited by the high-level decision makers who aim to nip in the bud all dissenting voices emerging from the polity about the dismal state of existence in Pakistan.

The impression conveyed is that the entire nation’s existence revolves around a specific stakeholder of the state and that defying its erratic policies is against the national interest. Quite obviously this premise is full of inherent fallacies and following it pell-mell may cause more harm and may further polarise the country.

Equally embarrassing is emulating the populist approach that was erroneously followed by the former ruling party bringing the country to the brink while considering that it will bring in different results. Many neutral observers strongly feel that the concept and practice of defining national interest according to the pre-conceived notions of a garrison state may prove equally disastrous for the future socio-political relationship in Pakistan.

Along with the bitter aftertaste of the reaction against the so-called reactionaries another factor stood out strikingly and that has to do with the excessive sensitivity shown by the powerful quarters of the state to the political agitation without realising that its seeds were planted by them and quite obviously they had to reap what they had sown.

The main issue here is that the powerful segments of the state do not believe that politics has a way of channelising itself through various means. This situation is clearly evident from the fact that despite draconian measures adopted in the past to curb and ignore dissensions politics continued to shape the national discourse and whatever social consciousness that took place in the country was due to it.

The arbitrary decision makers consistently ignore that it is only political action that brings in social change and it can simply not be brought through regimentation of the society. It is evident that infantile policy makers have not learnt the lesson and they keep on following the brief given to them.

They do not appreciate that a fruitful debate even over the role of the judiciary and any other state entity adds to the strengthening of national consciousness and solidifying national sentiment.

The political agitation and the furore it generated is required to be viewed dispassionately and also requires deep introspection that the powerful stakeholders of the country have no truck with. Instead of them altering their thought-process the arbitrary decision makers are consistently raising the ante by indulging in political engineering that has proved to be very disastrous just in the recent past let alone the decades they kept the country in a state of flux.

It should be kept in view that the recent series of events are the outcome of decades of repressive conduct and have let fresh controversies erupt over the conduct of the strongly-entrenched segments of the state. It must be kept in view that the credibility of state institutions is dependent on the level of trust it enjoys among the populace and no amount of propaganda may convince the public opinion that it is aimed at.

In the wake of the current dissensions simmering within the body-politic of the country it is imperative that a national agenda is immediately devised to pull Pakistan out of its current crises and take it on the path of democracy, reiterating the need to put the house in order. The gross interference in national affairs of the elements that have their own axe to grind is steadily complicating the matters and the current era is already rated to be unprecedented in the national annals.

There is hardly any doubt that the current era is exceptional as far as the suppression of opposition sentiment is concerned and is widely described as fundamentally prone to suppress any voice speaking the truth.

It is frequently reported that the tenets of constitutional rule are not adhered to and laws are openly broken with no compunction. Every Pakistani is lamenting the country’s current situation with unprecedented inflation fatally damaging the ability of the common man. This is rated the only time in the Pakistan’s history that large swathes of population have been pushed below the poverty line.

The social and political engineering carried out during the last few years have created a national structure that is hardly recognisable. The most problematic aspect is that no one is prepared to rectify the situation and there is apparently no answer for this callousness.