Exposing the fallacy of 'deal'

By Amir Zia
January 8, 2022
Bol News

The state’s lack of capacity to hold the corrupt accountable and failure to ensure the rule of law is keeping the country in perpetual political turmoil. These are the challenges which require resetting the system and introducing sweeping structural changes.

The Pakistan Army had to officially deny rumours of a deal between former premier Nawaz Sharif and the establishment to take the wind out of the double-edged propaganda campaign which, on one hand, aimed to destabilise the government and discredit the military leadership and, on the other, create political space for one of the most corruption-tainted political families of the country.

Major General Babar Iftikhar, the Director General of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), in his short but emphatic response to a question, during his first briefing of 2022, called speculations of a deal with Nawaz Sharif “baseless” and said that individuals making these claims should be asked to give evidence and name those making such offers. DG ISPR’s response was in line with the Pakistan Army’s policy of operating within its constitutional ambit and not getting into the business of making or breaking of the governments as was once the norm in the 1990s.

But it seems that Pakistan’s traditional parties – aka the political establishment – from the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) to the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and their allies want to rewind time and embark on a journey into the past. The journey which takes them to the era of the 1990s when one political party conspired against the other by striking underhand deals with the establishment. The brazen loot and plunder and gross mismanagement forced the establishment of those times to support change in hopes of a better outcome, which unfortunately never materialised.

Times changed, but not the old habits of politicians who thrive on dynastic politics and manipulation of the weak and flawed democratic institutions of the country. No wonder, all the major opposition players – from Sharifs to Zardaris – are still looking towards the establishment for their return to the corridors of power, though for the public consumption their leadership keeps issuing politically correct statements. Just as both the PML-N and the PPP repeated this mantra after DG ISPR’s briefing of January 5 that they bank on nothing else but the power of votes.

However, their compulsions of realpolitik remain totally opposite. If, in a recent speech in Nawabshah, former president Asif Ali Zardari in not so veiled terms asked the establishment to first send this government packing, the PML-N too came up with its own story of a deal which would pave way for Nawaz Sharif’s return and eventual ascend to power. The planted story of Sharif’s return was bought hook, line and sinker by many of our “informed analysts and mediapersons” who painted it as a done deal.

However, in their passion to push the storyline of “Sharif’s triumphant return,” they completely ignored the fact that the former Premier was not just an absconder, but a certified convict. Only by trampling the law of the land and the constitution, could Nawaz Sharif be given a clean chit in the blink of an eye.

Was it even logical to think that the military leadership would do this for Nawaz Sharif or for that matter any other politician by setting aside all the principles, the law and the constitution? How any institution or its leadership could have explained this about-turn to the masses? How could this be explained even to its own rank-and-file?

And for that matter is the establishment oblivious of the hostility and antagonism Nawaz Sharif, his daughter Maryam and handful of close loyalists harbour towards the institution of the army? The PML-N’s ruling family – read the duo of Nawaz and Maryam – not just want to target a few individual officials, but they want to change the whole complexion of the army. Sharif in the past too had tried to transform the Pakistan Army into the Punjab Police by interfering in postings and promotions, but failed to have his way. Now after the ouster from power for the third time, which was because of Sharif’s involvement in the Panama Scandal, he still holds the Army responsible for his disgraceful exit and wants to settle the score by maligning the institution and its leadership.

Those who orchestrated the story of the deal – now being vehemently denied by the PML-N leaders – wanted to cash in on the recent friction between Prime Minister Imran Khan and the military leadership over the appointment of the ISI chief. The aim was to create mistrust and try to widen any possible wedge between the two sides. But that episode is done and over with and the civil and military leadership are back on their normal working relations.

However, this did not stop Nawaz loyalists from pushing the story that the military leadership is desperate to get rid of Imran Khan and wants Nawaz Sharif back to pull the country out of its economic challenges. Some close aides of Sharif were seen proudly boasting that it was Nawaz Sharif, who kept stiff conditions for a deal in which a public apology from the institution remains one of the top demands.

But there are many in the government and the opposition camp who know that many of the economic issues are the result of structural flaws and inherent weaknesses of the system and corruption of the past rulers. Imran Khan and his team’s lack of capacity alone is not responsible for the deterioration of conditions, given his government’s thin majority in the Parliament and a hostile but entrenched interest group working 24/7 to make it unsuccessful – from those in the political to the media establishment.

Imran Khan’s stubbornness and mistaken priorities may have complicated some of the challenges, but on many of the broader issues, there are no fundamental differences between the civil and military leadership. Both sides are well aware of the grave challenges faced by the country on the domestic and external fronts and know that it can ill-afford any misadventure or heightened political instability.

However, the agenda of the opposition is to keep the political pot on the boil at the cost of political stability of the country. By doing this, the opposition wants to maintain pressure on the government and show its relevance. Hence, the regular and frequent calls for agitation and protests as the PPP announced its anti-government march for February 27 and the PDM threatening to do the same in March. This never-ending protest mood, agitation and political polarisation is an in-built flaw of parliamentary democracy, which is one key reason hampering stability and progress in Pakistan.

The state’s lack of capacity to hold the corrupt accountable and failure to ensure the rule of law is keeping the country in perpetual political turmoil. These are the challenges which require resetting the system and introducing sweeping structural changes. Unfortunately, this is not even on the PTI agenda.

Yet, Prime Minister Imran Khan still has a good one-and-a-half year in power before the 2023 elections. And even if his government operates within this degenerated and flawed parliamentary system of democracy, it can at least put the accountability process back on track to ensure that the corrupt stays out of the electoral politics and address some of the economic issues to mitigate the burden on the common man, who is been squeezed by rising inflation and falling income. To achieve even these minimalistic goals, the civil and military leadership would have to work in tandem and that too, against all the odds.

Going by the initial signs, 2022 is all set to take Pakistan on another rough ride in which heightened political polarisation, growing instability and uncertainty would remain the order of the day. Unfortunately, the state cannot put the house in order without stamping down hard on factors responsible for this situation. And to do this, overhauling the system inside out is a must. But who will bell the cat? Your guess is as good as mine.

The writer is the Editor-in-Chief, Bol Media Group