Courting disaster, Afrasiab Khattak
Former
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif while commenting on the current political impasse
in the country in a recent speech mentioned the crises of 1971 in the then East
Pakistan (now Bangladesh) when disrespect for the aspirations of people
expressed through vote had led to the disintegration of Pakistan. His
detractors labeled this analogy to be far-fetched one and a mere flight of
imagination. But any serious and rational consideration of the dangerous
internal and external challenges faced by Pakistan today would prove the
gravity of situation beyond any shadow of doubt. I remember a small public
gathering in Lahore in 1971 organised by students to oppose military action
against the elected representatives in the then East Bengal. Apart from poet of
the people Habib Jalib and prominent leftist leader Begum Tahira Mazhar Ali
Khan, some student leaders also addressed the gathering. I was one of them. We
didn’t get any media coverage and police started raids for our arrest. JI and
other “patriotic parties” started holding big rallies in support of military
operation. The rest is history.
Fast forward to the present situation post 2013 and to the story of denying the
mandate of the majority Punjabi voters by the Punjabi dominated security
establishment. As far as the population wise smaller provinces like
Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan and Sindh are concerned their mandates have been
violated a number of times with impunity. Not only that. Their protest against
violation of their fundamental rights has always met with severe state
repression which also included military operations. But after 1971 it’s
for the first time that the security establishment has refused to put up with a
ruling party which is elected by majority voters of the Punjab.
The real rulers are out to demolish the
popular political leader of Punjab by using every trick of political
engineering and coercion in the bag of intelligence agencies controlled by the
army. What is most extraordinary is the fact that Nawaz Sharif, so far the most
popular Punjabi leader, has refused to bow out in the face of all kinds of
pressures. Major portions of print and electronic media are churning out
establishment’s narratives against the civilian dispensation but thanks mainly
to social media some people can see through these one sided campaign. It
goes without saying that the strategy of “shooting our way through “used by
army generals in the then East Bengal or in the smaller provinces is not an
option in the Punjab because bulk of the security forces and bureaucratic elite
belong to the same province. But the dichotomy is bound to hurt the country.
The second
glaring similarity in two situations is the international isolation. In 1971
the despotic military dictatorship of General Yahya Khan had totally isolated
itself in the world by launching a brutal military operation against the people
of the then East Bengal for electing and supporting a political party that
wasn’t in the good books of ruling military junta. Even an intelligent and
bright foreign minister like Zulfikar Ali Bhutto had failed to break that
isolation. Today’s Pakistan is dangerously isolated due the large scale
presence of religious extremism and terrorism in the country.
The scariest thing is that the more the civil
government is losing control over the state system the greater and the more
prominent is the footprint of extremists and militants in the country. The so
called Defense of Pakistan Council (DPC) which is the biggest conglomerate of
religious extremists and jihadists, and which also includes proscribed
organisations held its conference in the Chief Minister House in Peshawar last
Sunday.
Pervez
Khattak, Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa publicity declared to support
the aims and objectives of DPC. Most prominent one of their objectives is to
support “Jihad” in Afghanistan and impose Sharia in the country. Symbolically
handing over to Jihadist elements a province adjacent to Afghanistan amounts to
owning Taliban’s war in Afghanistan. This policy is suicidal to say the least.
Who has framed this policy and who will be responsible for its consequences?
Pakistan is caught in an eyeball to eyeball confrontation with US on
Afghanistan.
News
about drone strikes and drone flights on Kurram Agency are being blacked out in
the so called mainstream media. But even for the best friends of Pakistan,
policies of soft corner towards terrorism are frustrating. If the BRICS Summit
Declaration 2017 is anything to go by even closest friends like China find it
impossible to defend such adventurist policies. Heating up of western front at
a time when military conflict is escalating on Line of Control with India in
Kashmir on the eastern front is yet another indicator of the gravity of
situation.
Political
engineering in Balochistan just a few months before general election is another
case in point of courting disaster. Balochistan which is facing the longest
nationalist insurgency and the longest military operation of its history is
also coming under threat from the escalation of conflict between Saudi Arabia and
Iran in West Asia. Saudis are pouring in money for expanding the footprint of
Wahabi and Salfi elements in Balochistan. JuD ( former LeT) is building many
new centres in Makran division not far from Iran’s border. It’s pretty clear
that Iran will also not sit idle. Iran has an impressive track record when it
comes to being “pragmatic“ in supporting the enemies of its enemies.
It
didn’t hesitate from supporting the hard core Sunni Alqaida and Taliban, once
regarded as dangerous enemies, in their fight against US in Afghanistan. What
would stop Iran from supporting Baloch nationalists for countering Saudi
activities? This is obviously the time when Balochistan needs stability. But lo
and behold the provincial government of Balochistan was chosen for the vote of
no confidence for unraveling PML (n) government in the federation. Dissolution
of provincial assemblies of Balochistan, Pakhtunkhwa
and Sindh within January, along with agitation in Punjab and resignations by
the opposition members of Parliament is the path towards premature packing up
of the current dispensation.
Suppressing
dissent by abducting critics can’t solve any problem. Putting our house in
order by letting democratic process continue and by implementing NAP to
eliminate extremism and terrorism from the country is the only way out. We all
know that those who don’t learn from history are condemned to relive it.
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