The Culture of Dirty Politics in Pakistan
01 September 2017Saeed Qureshi
These days there are cattle bazars set up all over Pakistan. In these bazaars
people sell and buy the animals for sacrifice to commemorate the religious
festival of Eid-ul-Azha on September 6 this year. The compounds, bazars, roads
and the open fields are the venues for animal trading and are replete with
filth and stench all over. This stench would further pervade all over Pakistan
on September 6 and it would take a long time to clear the streets etc. from
the offals, bones, and other unusable parts of the bodies of the sacrificed
animals. The skins are sold in the markets.
This tradition began from Saudi Arabia and now it is a part of the religious
obligations all over the Islamic world. It is a rerun or the tradition of
prophet Abraham (1900 B.C.) who agreed to sacrifice his son Hazrat Ismail (for
Jews it is Ishaq) on the command of God as a test of his level of obedience to
God. The tradition says that he tried to sacrifice his son but God sent two
rams instead. This tradition was adopted by Jews first and followed by the
Muslims after the advent of Islam.
Another Biblical version narrates that he took away his other wife Hajira and
his son Ismael at the behest of his first wife Sara to a far-off place. Sara
's own son Ishaq was 14 years younger than Ismael. Sara turned hostile to both
Hajira and ismail after the birth of her own son Ishaq. Here is the
contradiction that primarily it was not the command of God to sacrifice Ismail
but to obey the order of his wife Sara to take Ismael and his mother Hajira
away from her eyes as Ismael was mocking Sara and his step brother Ishaq.
Besides this temporary phase of sacrifice of the animals causing a great deal
of stench, health hazards and atmospheric stench, we can witness the political
dirt and pollution caused by the political lot in Pakistan. The culture and
penchant of foul mouthing, name calling, abuse and accusations between the
rival parties and politicians is prevalent like an epidemic.
There are politicians who are active in derailing the democratic order by
using the state institutions. The latest example is the removal of Nawaz
Sharif as the prime minister of Pakistan by the supreme court. This is a handy
and the easiest way to remove a president or the elected prime minister from
his office.
Instead of conveying their parties' manifestoes and programs in a civilized
manner, the combatant politicians treat each other as the enemies and use
abusive and degrading jargon against each other. The PMNL president and prime
minster prime minister Mian Nawaz Sharif has been the target of ridicule,
cheap remarks and even abusive language by his worst political adversaries
namely PTI chairman Imran Khan and Sheikh Rashid the president of the
political party "Awami Muslim League".
Traditionally, every government in Pakistan has been painted by the opposition
as the enemy of the people and the country. The opposition leaders invariably
claim that when they will come in power they will turn the country into a
paradise and all the problems and the issues bedeviling the lives of the
people would evaporate.
This pattern of political culture has been going on in Pakistan ever since it
came into being in 1947. In the meantime, Pakistan was dismembered in 1971.
The eastern wing of the former Pakistan separated due to the grave follies of
politicians including ZA Bhutto, some army generals and the then president
General Yahya Khan. To understand how foolishly and callously Pakistan was
dismembered and the defeat of the armed forces of Pakistan was facilitated,
one should read the insightful book, "Memories and Reflections" written the
then Pakistan's foreign secretary and ambassador Sultan Muhammad Khan who had
been an eyewitness of what happened during those tumultuous times.
The Pakistan in the present situation has passed through many ups and downs
including the martial Laws phases of General Ziaul Haq and General Musharraf.
Those martial laws were the natural or forcible outcome of the bizarre
political atmosphere created by the ruling parties and the politicians in the
government and outside. But perhaps no lessons have been learnt or imbibed by
our army of politicians. There has always been a bizarre and degrading tussle
going on between the parties in power and those in the opposition with
character assassinations and name calling.
There had been a relatively peaceful and stable tenure during the presidency
of Asif Ali Zardari (November 2008 to November 2013). Despite his many
drawbacks and penchant for making money and allegation of financial
corruption, he kept the democratic order intact. The credit goes to him for
allocating more powers to the provinces.
But what is happening now seems to be a political war between Mian Nawaz
Sharif and his family and their main opponents namely Imran Khan and Sheikh
Rashid. Extremely sleazy epithets, dirty slogans and derogatory remarks are
used against Sharif family by both Imran Khan, Sheikh Rashid and their party
cohorts in their speeches and day to day comments.
Sheikh Rashid is adept in hurling highly caustic and offensive invectives
against the Sharif family. While it would be acceptable for the nice and
civilized political campaigning to win the popular support to pave way for the
next general elections but such a nasty behavior is to impel the army to step
in and remove the government in power. That can happen if the political
temperature is heightened by an equally filthy rebuttal and tit-for-tat
response by the people in power.
The politicians like Sheikh Rashid and Imran Khan otherwise pigmy politicians,
are busy in settling their personal scores with the PMNL in general and Sharif
family in particular through non-political avenues. The apex court has not
been fair or impartial in handing out verdict against prime minister Nawaz
Sharif and order his removal on flimsy grounds while such accusations were not
fully established or conclusively proven
Even after his removal the vicious tongue-lashing and vitriolic outbursts
against him and his family have not been abandoned by the PTI shenanigans
joined by Sheikh Rashid and doctor Tahirul Qadri the head of "Pakistan Awami
Tehrik". Dr. Qadri is a Canadian citizen and has no political role to play in
Pakistan. How can he bring about a grand revolution based upon the religious
basis when he spends his 11 months in the salubrious and comfortable society
of Toronto?
Sheikh Rashid nurses grudge against Nawaz Sharif because of his close
association with former president General Pervez Musharraf in whose government
he remained as the minister for five years (November 2002 to November 2007).
His opposition to Nawaz Sharif is not based on principals but on the grounds
that Nawaz Sharif and General Musharraf have been rigid opponents of each
other.
In October 1998, the then prime minister Nawaz Sharif elevated Musharraf to a
four-star general and made him the chief of the Armed Forces. The discord
developed between Sharif and Musharraf was due to the Kargil war initiated by
Musharraf in October 1998 without the knowledge of prime minister Nawaz Sharif.
That war led to an extremely serious situation between India and Pakistan.
Sharif was unsuccessful in removing Musharraf and in retaliation through a
coup, Musharraf took over the power and put Sharif in jail.
Nawaz Sharif has been a great admirer of Imran Khan as a top cricketer who as
a captain and cricketer led Pakistan to victory in the 1992 Cricket World Cup.
It is yet to be figured out how Imran Khan turned a diehard opponent of Nawaz
Sharif. But it is being guessed that he wants to halt the CPECH project at the
behest of some foreign powers that don't want Pakistan to prosper and attain
the status of a developed country with the help of China.
As far corruption of Nawaz Sharif, the main question is "who is not corrupt in
Pakistan". If Imran Khan is bent upon weeding out corruption then the crusade
or campaign against corruption should be waged on the country level and not
solely against the Sharif family.
The popular support and approval for both Sheikh Rashid and Imran Khan is
insignificant. In the recent by-elections in Azad Kashmir and for filling
vacant seats in Pakistan, Imran Khan's PTI and Sheikh Rashid's "Awami Muslim
League" miserably failed to capture any seats. As far Allama Tahirul Qadri, he
comes once in a while to fish in the troubled waters and cannot attain power
or nationwide popularity or acceptance for all time to come. He seems to be a
spoiler and that is why is bracketed with Imran Khan who both lacks vision and
peoples support. A part time religious zealot is unfit to be a political
leader or get the peoples' support.
I would urge the guys like Imran and Sheikh Rashid, jamaat-e- Islami and also
Allam Qadri not to resort to street agitation and instead hold on to
democratic tradition by contesting the next general elections to be held in
June 2008 and try their luck through political means. If they cannot attain
power through the political mandate then at least they should allow others who
rule through popular mandate to stay till the maturity of their assigned
period.
Otherwise it is going go to be rerun of the past when the weak governments and
the politicians attempts to remove the incumbent government through street
agitations which invariably has culminated in military dictatorships.
It is also necessary for the politicians not to be abusive and hurl personal
attacks and throw filthy allegations on their opponents as both Imran Khan and
Sheikh Rashid are doing. It is not only indecent ethically, politically and
religiously but make them look uncultured, vulgar and foul mouthing hooligans.
Good or bad let incumbent PMLN dispensation compete its mandate of five years.
As already stated, instead of using the shortcut of moving courts against
political opponents, the political opposition should wait for the next general
elections due in June 2018. It would set a healthy tradition of continuation
of democratic order which is in place after the departure of PPP government
under president Asif Ali Zardari in September 2013. General elections are not
far and are scheduled to be held in Pakistan any time within the 90 days after
5 June 2018.
The writer is a senior journalist, former editor of Diplomatic Times and a
former diplomat. This and other articles by the writer can also be read at his
blog www.uprightopinion.com
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