EDITORIAL: Antonio Gramsci, the Italian Marxist philosopher and politician, who is best known for his theory of cultural hegemony, had famously said, “The challenge of modernity is to live without illusions and without becoming disillusioned.” There’s little or no doubt about the fact that the country’s obtaining situation is becoming more and more volatile with every passing hour, to say the least.
The government and opposition have drawn battle lines against each other to the chagrin of the common man and an already beleaguered economy. That the filing of a no-confidence motion against the incumbent prime minister is part and parcel of the ideal and reality of democracy duly enshrined in the constitution is a fact. In Pakistan’s case, however, it is unfortunately fraught with grave risks to the present and future of democracy in a country that has been ruled for half of its history by men in uniform. How unfortunate it is that while the prime minister is widely considered as an honest person he has been proving himself as an inept politician by deciding to hold a massive show of power on the eve of the commencement of voting in the National Assembly on the no-confidence motion tabled by the combined opposition against him.
Although the joint opposition, which has been baying for his blood for quite some time, has employed some objectionable tactics to step up its pressure on him, whatever it has done so far it’s still very much in the confines of democracy.
It is a grim reality though that the prime minister has increasingly become frustrated with the evolving situation for some valid reasons. Little does, however, he appreciate the fact that nobody else but he himself is a solution to the problem. He must therefore act and do everything strictly in accordance with Constitutional stipulations in order to defeat the no-trust motion against him. In other words, he is left with no option but to face the situation with prudence and magnanimity.
Even in the event of his failure to survive the no-confidence vote, his experience as a former head of the government will stand him in good stead when he will be preparing his party and himself for the next general elections by reaching out to people with a view to fulfilling the unfinished agenda in his party’s second term in power in an effective and meaningful manner. All the political parties, including those who constitute the ruling coalition, are required to protect and preserve democracy, howsoever possible, and promote democratic values and norms. The prime minister, therefore, must revisit his approach to the current situation by deferring his planned ‘historic’ rally that he has decided to organise at D-Chowk in Islamabad to a date not before or on the day the National Assembly meets to hold a vote on opposition’s no-confidence motion. He must appreciate the fact that morality cannot remain apolitical while politics cannot evade morality forever.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
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