Kalam’s iconic hotel collapses and is washed away. Millions of Pakistanis are suffering from the after-effects of near-Biblical rains and floods – pakalf.com

 

Whither Pakistan? Another Martial Law Beckons!
By Karamatullah K. Ghori
Toronto, Canada

 

Pakistan is teetering on the brink of an economic collapse. Huge tracts of Pakistani landmass have been deluged by unprecedented floods. Millions of Pakistanis are suffering from the after-effects of near-Biblical rains and floods. However, the political mafia imposed on Pakistan as ‘democratic’ government four months ago, is purblind to all this deluge and catastrophe. Instead, all its energies are riveted on, somehow, creating an alibi to ‘eliminate’ IK from the political center stage, where he has been ensconced since his fall as Pakistan’s PM.

They, and their omniscient ‘king-maker’ power-besotted junta, had hoped that history would repeat itself, on the heels of IK’s fall from power. Their script—dusted from their archives of political engineering of the yore—gave them the false assurance that IK, too, would seek the earliest exit from Pakistan to a sanctuary, somewhere in the West. This had been the wont of those toppled from power in the past. The likes of Nawaz Sharif and Zardari took the first flight out of Pakistan, after cutting a deal with the power-that-be.

But IK not only didn’t flee from Pakistan, he turned the tables on his tormentors by taking his case to the people of Pakistan. IK became far more popular, out of power, with the people of Pakistan than he ever was while in office. How did he do it was simple and straight forward. Instead of cutting a deal with his rivals and their guardian-angels, IK publicly exposed their shenanigans. His candid exposure of the villains endeared him to the silent majority, which had stayed away from politics of the country. Responding to IK’s clarion call that they were being enslaved by a cabal of bone-corrupt politicos, the silent majority broke its silence.

The roar of the people in support of IK has been powerful enough to unnerve the corrupt mafia. But far more than unnerving the cabal, it has flabbergasted the men in the khaki who had grown accustomed to the people of Pakistan showering rose petals on them—and hailing them as ‘saviors’ and messiah—every time they strutted on the political stage under martial law. They couldn’t have dreamed in their wildest imagination that a man written off by them would galvanize the people to such an extent that they would stop believing in the messiah-mantra and, instead, put their faith in IK.

So, IK’s phoenix-like rebirth from the ashes has been the fuse to ring alarm bells. His adversaries have panicked and are resorting to diabolical tactics—staple to fascist regimes—to intimidate IK and those tethered to him.

Those sections of the news media deemed favorably-disposed to IK are being silenced. ARY’s is a case in point. PEMRA, a supposedly independent authority to monitor the country’s electronic media, has been unleashed against ARY. It has been taken off the air and its transmissions aren’t being restored despite categorical ruling in its favor from Sindh and Islamabad High Courts.

Where does the ruling mafia draw its courage to defy the courts is obvious. Its supporters are standing firmly behind the corrupt ruling cabal and encouraging it to not only to carry on with its skullduggery but enlarge its circle. The next target of dealing with independent expression of views is said to be the social media, which has been vociferous in its support of IK’s battle cry to work for the dawn of ‘real independence’ of Pakistan and its 220 million dazed and harassed populace.

Fascist, Gestapo, tactics are being deployed to humiliate and persecute those considered close to IK. The brutal and savage manner in which IK’s outspoken chief-of-staff, Dr Shehbaz Gill, has been tortured has triggered murmurs of protest in lands far from Pakistan.

IK himself has been charged with promoting terrorism, just because he had the gall to remind the bureaucracy and the judiciary that they were not supposed to carry out the illegal orders given to them by the ‘holy cows’ addicted to raw power and obeisance to their ‘special’ status in the arcane political culture of Pakistan.

So outrageous—and palpably vindictive—is the crackdown on civil liberties in Pakistan that it is being questioned by those who realize what might happen to Pakistan’s tranquility—and peace in the region—if there’s a popular backlash against it from the people of Pakistan.

UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, has called for respect for civil liberties and for the rule of law in dealing with public outcry over the messy treatment of IK and his colleagues. He has emphasized the need for calm and civility.

A joint letter has been addressed to the myopic leaders of Pakistan by eminent scholars and humanists—in US and Pakistan—calling for respect for fundamental human rights. Among the signatories is Noam Chomsky, perhaps the most eminent and respected defender of human rights in the world.

Pakistan’s history of the past seven decades is replete with the men in the khaki lording over the country’s political journey as final arbiters. They have done it, up front as rulers under martial law, or, otherwise, as puppeteers, pulling the strings of political discourse from behind a curtain.

In the process of putting their stamp of final authority over power in Pakistan, they have proved the prediction of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad—a prominent but in Pakistan a controversial Muslim leader of the sub-continental struggle for independence from British colonial power. The Maulana, in an interview given to a prominent Muslim journalist, Shorish Kashmiri, in April 1946—a full 16 months before the birth of Pakistan—had categorically expressed his apprehension that Pakistan would be taken over by the army and militarized in every sense of the term.

But while proving Maulana Azad right, they threw to the winds the categorical edict of the founder of Pakistan, Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah that the armed forces were “servants” of the people and not their policy makers. Their brazen conduct of the past seven decades is an affront to the founder of Pakistan, whose affinity for rule of the law was legendary.

Imran Khan has unleashed the hidden potential of the people. Who comes out on top in this tense—and potentially lethal - battle of nerves will decide the course of Pakistan, not only for now but for years and decades to come. - k_k_ghori@hotmail.com

(The author is a former ambassador and career diplomat)