Pakistan: Toxic Politics.

 Any serious inspection of Pakistan's politics would leave the observer with a distinct impression that the political fabric of the country is seriously damaged. Since the 1970's, with the emergence of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, we saw the politics of cults and political dynasties. This cultism continued to his daughter Benazir and now to her son Bilawal. Across the aisle the cultivation of the Sharif family by the dictator Zia ul Haq into a political caucus created the cult of the Sharifs through Nawaz Sharif to his brother Shahbaz and now to his son Hamza. Today it seems the cult of Imran Khan is being created on the back of a call for populous patriotism. 

The political conscience of the country has been raped so often that rapists appear as benefactors and the poor victims (the Pakistan public) embrace them with a sense of forgiveness. What political parties lack in agenda they make up in rhetoric. Their claims of national duty and national selflessness belie the carnivorous corruption that permeates through the rank and file of each political party. Accountability is politicised to the extent that the those being held accountable always have a 'get out of jail' card in the shape of political victimisation. 

In Pakistan's 75 odd years since creation the military has often played the role of the kingmaker and at times assumed the mantle of kingship itself. Interestingly at its rank and file it remains perhaps the only institution that does not have the toxicity of regional, tribal, religious and feudal divisions that plague the country. While its generals have long bet on their political favourites, often falling out with them, they still have some modicum of credibility in saying they are holding the country together.

Imran Khan in his twenty odd years of politicking has had his share of knocks that are part and parcel of the process of political maturing. Creating a new political party of the size that the PTI has become is bound to have its share of political compromises and policy missteps. While he may well have energised the political awareness of people, especially the youth, he still has to understand political rhetoric is not enough and delivery of substantive change needs a robust and highly skilled team. 

While his charisma and public appeal is the glue that binds PTI together there is a needs to translate that into ensuring that PTI does not remain a political movement but actually becomes a political party. This means using the brain power to create discourse within and to bring effective policies for change and then create the teams to bring that change. Imran's biggest capital has remained his honesty and while the accusations of some pilfering of 'state gifts' are an irritation Imran must create the transparency to keep his cleanliness intact. 

His ouster while controversial was essentially on the back of disenchantment from some back benchers in his coalition government, encouraged by horse trading by the Opposition. In the backdrop of rising prices (largely due to the global effects of COVID) the PTI economic performance was hardly stellar. Obsessed to expose the corruption of his predecessors, which seems was there, he unwound contracts for oil and gas which were favourable to Pakistan especially at a time when energy prices were rising. His economic teams was hardly one that one would call the best of breed and he could have done better in this respect.

The PTI ouster also was accompanied in the backdrop of some very undiplomatic comments from a senior official of the US State Department. While the comments cannot conclusively prove that the instigators of the non confidence vote against Imran Khan actually were guided by handlers in the US State Department they did certainly provide Imran with the smoking gun for a conspiracy. Having used this conspiracy card to galvanise the massive public support since his ouster it is not something he can not discard. This does not take away the fact Imran Khan was not exactly Washington's favourite.

For Pakistan however these events can hardly be good news. They now have a new coalition government the partners in which are only united because their hatred for Imran Khan is more than the hatred for each other. Whether such a taped up government can last till the Winter of 2023 when new elections are to be held remains to be seen. For Imran Khan the question remains if he can keep the same tempo of public support till then and hence his call for urgent elections. 

In a sense, with hindsight, one would believe that PMLN and PPP miscalculated their move as ousting Imran Khan in the manner he was removed has actually made him more popular. Surely the massive turn out in the public rallies, since his removal, must have sent some shivers down the back of the Bhuttos and Sharifs backs. While the PTI calling the opposition traitors of Pakistan is far fetched it is certainly drawing political mileage with a public that can be worked up to a frenzy. 

For Imran Khan while the public support garners well there is concern that some of the stigmatisation of his opponents by him as traitors of Pakistan and equating loyalty to him with loyalty to the country stinks of a nationalist fascism that cannot be good for Pakistan in the long term. One has to embrace duplicity of politics where politicians change sides (many of his ardent party members were in other parties before) and there will always be crossing of the aisle. This is what makes it vital that a party not only delivers on its agenda but also carries its members along. 

Pakistan stands at the crossroads where the roadsigns visible to neutral observers spell of toxic politics. Lines are getting drawn ever harder, compromise is all the more difficult and it would seem 75 years of political mismanagement is reaching a watershed moment. Four years ago many felt that Imran was a breath of fresh air, who while lacking political intellect at least had the mileage of honesty to make a difference. The two major political parties while experienced in the walking the portals of power have a great deal to answer for this misdeeds. Yet one hears people frighteningly  say that would would prefer the 'technocratic thieves over incompetent honesty'.

Yet this crossroad is not only about political choices, it's about making the right choices to move from a nation to proper nationhood. It's about examining the soul of the nation to bring maturity to political dissent, substance to governance, and values and ethics to our social fabric. Political divides are good and healthy, provided the discourse we engage in remains respectful and decent. One does not need to shout our opponent down or stand in front of their homes and hurl vulgar abuse, or drown their social media presence with the most vile and uncouth trolling. 

We know that the stakes are high as a political loss always means courts and scrutiny into corruption and mismanagement. Political witch hunts armed with a tainted judiciary only makes heroes out of people. We has to believe that the pillars of democracy rest upon a fair judiciary, a free and responsible press and an educated population. As Pakistanis we need to see how strong are these pillars. The judiciary should examine the corruption and politicians, both in power and out of power should remain silent on matters being adjudicated before the courts. The press should be impartial and fair rather than partisan because then only can it truly hold people in power accountable. Educating the population on their political and civic duties is of paramount importance. However, since the 1970s successive governments have interfered in the educational system with the aim of not only rewriting history but in some cases removing civic studies from the curriculum in schools. It is almost as if the governments in power want an uneducated population so they can manipulate their political conscience yet again.

Imran Khan's Gambit: A defining moment of incompetence.

 A week ago the deputy speaker of the National Assembly disallowed the non confidence motion and a jubilant Imran asked for the assembly to be dissolved as it seemed he has side stepped the no confidence motion. The Supreme Court of Pakistan reversed the move and restored the assembly and today in a few hours the assembly is presumably going to vote on the future of Imran Khan. Jurists will argue whether the Supreme Court has violated the separation of powers and indeed the legal saga may well continue. Imran Khan while saying he accepts the decision of the Supreme Court has kept his cards close to his chest and whatever his next move he will no doubt rely on his supporters to continue 'the struggle' on the streets. 

While I have always admired and believed in Imran's honesty and patriotism his political views have always come across as an over simplification. Prone to accept advice that suits his own view of the world creates a filter that breeds a cultish following that cannot be the recipe for good advice. The use of Article 5 as the basis for countering the no confidence motion was seriously faulted. Indeed the tone of the communication from the US diplomat was very harsh and undiplomatic, but it is not unusual for countries to express their displeasure to embassy officials. How such a communication proves that there was a conspiracy with members of the opposition in Pakistan needs substantially more evidence than what we have seen thus far. 

The Supreme Court may well be the forum to decide whether the actions of the deputy speaker were procedurally correct. Where the judges have over stepped their mandate is in directing the time and date and agenda of the first session of the restored National Assembly. This may well be the point of order on which the judgement may be challenged. The fact remains that in a democracy a no confidence motion is commonly used and it is a fact that members from the Treasury benches can and do cross over to the opposition. In Pakistan it is also the norm that from the day a new government is formed the opposition starts to plan its downfall. This is a zero sum game and indeed with Imran Khan in the opposition we are likely to see him also make every effort to dislodge the government that takes control now. 

While Imran Khan may well wield street power and will use it as best as he can, he needs to also reflect on the past few years and learn from the mistakes. As the noise for a non confidence motion was gaining momentum some three months back Imran Khan felt his hold on his own party and its allies was strong enough to thwart any attempt to remove him from office. Yes there was and is unprecedented price inflation and the economy has continued to under perform. A major impact of this is the global inflation and price instability but since the start of the PTI government they could not give any direction to the economy. 

Imran's promises of forcing the corrupt politicians to return the 'billions' they stole within a year, and to change the course of Pakistan's economy within 90 days were also election rhetoric and while some administrative reforms were made, not enough was done to change the situation on the ground. Imran suffers from the same syndrome that plagued the likes of Zulfikar Bhutto, who came to power with a promise of change, but never could transform things with good advice or break the mould of personality cult. For long the party that Bhutto formed, the PPP, remained a Bhutto family cult, and that continues to this day. The same is true of the PMLN, which is the domain of the Sharif family. Imran slipped into the same mould of surrounding himself with 'yes' men and party machinery aims to further his cult.

In this sense PTI remains a movement and not a political party where a core of political figures have a say. This is true of the other political parties too, but over three decades the likes of Sharifs and Bhuttos have realised they have to carry some of their party members with them. Imran must also understand that his own clean image is not enough to carry a nation with him. He needs to build a first class team around him and to also carry the team with him by giving them credit and praise. A criticism of Imran remains that its all about him and no one else.

For Pakistan while some will hail these developments as a victory for the Constitution but it brings with it the very people who has heavily tainted with corruption back to power. While an election may well be on the one year horizon where the decision by Pakistanis will have to be made whether they prefer incompetence (Imran's PTI) over corruption (PPP and PMLN). Neutral Pakistanis will woe the fact that in Imran Khan's government there was a chance to turn the corner with better governance and economic performance. 

The 220 million people of Pakistan can only hope that Imran Khan and his PTI will have learned an important and vital lesson and will earnestly begin to reform into a party of substance rather than resort to street power as the only option of change. The opposition government that may come to power now will at best be a patch work of  different agendas and will struggle to make any difference. To capitalise on this Imran himself will have to do some soul searching and start with a change in his style of leadership. Pakistan politics needs to mature from rhetoric to substance and this implies changes in not only the style of leadership but also the faces that come forward.