Jul 18, 2024 09:04 PM IST
With everything failing, the establishment now wants to ban PTI. But the battle is much larger and a watershed moment has arrived
A massive vote, followed by a fiercely divisive outcome, in Pakistan’s general elections early this year sucked almost every institution in the country, especially the army, into a metaphorical black hole. While the traditional politicians, Nawaz Sharif, Asif Ali Zardari, Molana Fazal and others, felt they were being wiped out of politics, on the intervening night of February 8 and 9, the country’s ever-dominating establishment, the army, felt overrun.
Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) was sure of the victory of the alliance it led, despite its leader being in jail. But by the following day, mind-boggling rigging by the army had turned the tables for the alliance.
The managers of the election, the caretaker governments handpicked by the generals, and the Election Commission (EC), obviously coerced, quickly turned into flunkeys of the army and carried out orders from its general headquarters in Rawalpindi or the Aabpara headquarters in Islamabad.
That unleashed a political storm that has since engulfed Parliament, the judiciary, the army and the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), leaving voters staring at uncertainty and the world wondering what had happened.
The leader of the winning party, with over 200 frivolous cases against him, had beaten everyone from jail. Most of the cases against him were thrown out by even compromised courts as there was no merit or substance. Electoral losers Asif Ali Zardari, the Sharif brothers, and others were moved to positions of power — as Prime Minister, governors of provinces, and chief minister of the key Punjab province — knowing their strings would be pulled by others more powerful.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was the only province where the PTI installed its chief minister. The army could not fight the heavily armed and Afghan-backed Pathans. The crackdown on the PTI voters elsewhere pushed them into a shell. The judiciary was told not to entertain any meaningful case that could disturb the lopsided power balance created.
Over the months, other institutions started realising what had happened, and the world also started taking notice. From weak statements by its State department in the immediate aftermath of the polls, the United States has come a long way. The Congress passed a resolution, in a 368 to 7 majority, that calls for an investigation into the February election. The United Nations released a damning report, too, and the UN secretary-general had called for sanity to prevail in Pakistan.
The reactions have since spurred action. Nothing that Pakistan’s army planned produced results. Now, the judiciary seems to realise that it could be the army’s next target after Parliament had been trampled upon. The army used every trick in its hat. PTI workers were arrested, coerced into submission, and some were even killed. And yet, the party remained unbroken. Thousands of army personnel who could otherwise be guarding the borders were deployed against innocent civilians, forcing them into submission. Heads of key institutions, such as the EC, the ISI, the Federal Investigation Bureau, and judges were lured into following the script with offers of extended tenures.
But all this has brought the country closer to real change, fanning the winds of resistance and defiance of the status quo. Imran Khan, who was not taken seriously until a few years ago, has shown the grit of a real revolutionary, endearing him to the masses. His tenacity has inspired other key institutions to gather confidence. The most crucial is the judiciary. Many within the fraternity have started refusing dictation publicly. Even Supreme Court judges have spoken against the Chief Justice in court proceedings. The Islamabad high court unanimously rejected the orders of ISI and the army to act against Khan.
With everything failing, the establishment now wants to ban PTI. But the battle is much larger and a watershed moment has arrived. Institutions are fighting for their supremacy, the people are ready for change as they have been pushed to a wall with ever-rising inflation and never-ending corruption.
If enough judges muster the required courage to undo the plan of beating the system by allotting undeserved seats in Parliament to defeated people and amending the Constitution, Pakistan will have finally buried the Doctrine of Necessity, a theory that has always bailed out the army. All signs are that this battle will be lost by the army, as reports of a rift between top generals are doing the rounds, and the economy tanks with little hope of revival under a military-led setup.
Shaheen Sehbai is former group editor of The News International, and head of the TV channel, ARY World. The views expressed are personal
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