Perilous pattern

Recent political developments allude to a mindset characterized by impulsive decision-making, overenthusiasm, spontaneous actions, and acute desperation typical of combat activity.

‘Taare Zameen Par,’ a 2007 blockbuster film by Indian actor Aamir Khan, features an academically underperforming dyslexic child. In one of the film’s scenes, the school art teacher, played by Khan himself, draws the attention of the child’s father towards the ‘common pattern’ reoccurring in his child’s academic assignments, replete with egregiously repetitive errors in his written compositions in particular. Curious to relate, but this analogy can help us discern the common yet alarming pattern found in the error-ridden functioning of the current hybrid regime in Pakistan.

Perpetuating the charade of a democratically elected setup, the praetorian rule in the country has somehow managed to press on. However, its shameful performance in almost all areas of governance and administration is best delineated by a consistent pattern that remains relatively unchanged, including its role in manipulating elections, putting a squeeze on the judiciary, reducing the Parliament into an ordinance factory and the election commission into an enslaved consort, enforcing media censorship, imposing social media restrictions together with the installation of firewall and intermittent internet shutdowns, and now banning the former ruling party for its alleged affinity to the ‘anti-state’ elements. Such a hyperactive desperation of the powers that be can even abruptly result in a ZAB-like ending for the PTI chairman.

Particularly since the ‘constitutional’ toppling of the PTI government in April 2022, what we have seen in common is a desperate urgency by the powers that be to get things done by any means. Ensuing the subsequent rise of the PDM government and extending the caretaker setup at the expense of gross constitutional breach, along with the slapdash governance today, the typical pattern behind the current mess-up in state affairs suggests there is a young, immature, and restless mind similar to that of an obstinate teenager who loves to intervene in matters above his reach, intellect, and, of course, ability.

And in the wee hours of February 09, such a willful display of obstinacy reached a peak with the most coercive manipulation of ‘Form 47,’ the term now enjoying a proverbial status of sorts. As it has transpired, a coterie of unelected, totally inexperienced, and shallow non-statesmen is hell-bent on calling the shots and is now at the end of its tether to achieve its ambitious targets. To make things worse, it cares a damn about the public sentiments and doesn’t even realize how callously and ferociously it has been forcing uncalled-for misery on general people.

For the citizens of Karachi and Lahore, for instance, April 23 was yet another reminder of the state’s disregard for the never-ending plight of its people. Both cities, with a combined population of over 150 countries, were shut down at the interior ministry’s directive on less than half-day notice prior to the arrival of the Iranian president.

Mind you! It was not a trademark shutter-down strike called by the erstwhile MQM. However, the abrupt closing down of the largest economic centres of a cash-strapped country that too on the second business day of the week was, indeed, an out-of-the-box masterstroke, which could only be played by a mafia-style administration that revels in enforcing its dominance and power over the so-called electorate.

The ubiquitous pattern emerging out of the nationwide chaos alludes to the unfortunate reality that those who are pulling the strings are, in fact, gambling with governance in general and with the future of the country in particular in a forlorn hope of reviving the struggling economy through a heuristic, cut-and-try improvisation but with no accountability or liability whatsoever.

Their excessive predilection for messing with Pakistan cricket is another pertinent and glaring example of the my-way-or-the-highway modus operandi that best describes the working of the holier-than-thou establishment. The dichotomy is that the same people working day and night to uproot the menace of terrorism from the country have also been entrusted with the responsibility of helping Pakistan cricket stand on its feet. It is no wonder that the word ‘surgery’ was used time and again to improve the country’s failing cricket structure. Interestingly, the same people fixated on dividing a particular political party into different factions will now end the alleged grouping in the cricket team.

Depriving the overwhelming electorate of its legitimate mandate overnight in favour of the incumbent regime to the passing of the most inhuman fiscal budget at the stroke of a pen, such a frenzied slew of political developments alludes to a mindset characterized by impulsive decision-making, gratuitous overenthusiasm, and spontaneous actions, together with acute desperation typical of combat activity.

A regime that regards dissenters as nothing more than traitors and state enemies must carry out some soul-searching above all else. The predictable pattern, dotted with a flurry of unconstitutional moves taken in the guise of national interest, along with a slanted, ill-conceived interpretation of social uprising, portends the absolute disaster.

Without considering the nuanced dynamics of realpolitik, the ‘governance on war footing’ model in place sounds adventurous and thus needs reconsideration since it could lead the establishment to take more disastrous measures with no room to reconcile or undo them. Success is a marathon, not a sprint. However, the unelected men on a mission are just running the risk of sabotaging the entire governance apparatus for imaginative and hasty gains without bringing in much-needed political stability laced with long-term reforms and clear-cut future planning.

(The views expressed in this article are not necessarily those of the newspaper)

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024