EDITORIAL: Considering how the political environment turns more toxic by the day, with each side bent upon outdoing the other no matter what the cost or spillover on society, the state or its institutions, it’s safe to say that this is now the new normal and things will keep getting from bad to worse for the foreseeable future, at the very least.
The latest item on the list is the arrest of PTI (Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf) chairman’s chief of staff Shahbaz Gill, complete with sedition charges slapped on him by the government and cries of “abduction, not arrest”, and all that, by the party.
No doubt that all arms of the press, this publication included, will uphold the freedom of free speech, yet the burden of responsibility that always accompanies such freedoms also mandates very careful screening of what is aired by popular media; lest its influence or outreach is exploited for personal and/or political gain. Worse still, if it is used to drive a wedge between state institutions and in the extreme case fan flames of mutiny in some of them; as the government claims in this case.
The matter of which party is doing more to undermine the so-called establishment as well as the judiciary, and whether their tactics are acceptable, has become so complicated that only the honourable courts can settle it now. There is, on the face of it, enough in Shahbaz Gill’s controversial statement for the government to feel confident about its case. PTI, on the other hand, also seems pretty certain that the statement was vague enough to imply that he meant something completely different. And so, this has become just one more punching bag as the political elite goes about spitting venom at each other and degenerating social media discourse even further.
But, surely, all this is not about just one statement from one person from one party. The government is convinced that Gill is but a pawn in the bigger chess game of snatching the initiative and pressuring all institutions to bring PTI back to power, and that finally it has a thread to pull on, that will expose the whole plan.
Be that as it may, it must still make sure that it does not overstep the line in its haste to clamp down on an opposition that has brought it much grief over the last six months, especially the recent drubbing in the Punjab by-elections.
Reports that police in plain clothes jumped gates to arrest television executives (of the TV channel that aired Gill’s statement) in the thick of the night must be investigated as well and whatever trace of intimidatory tactics is observed must be addressed at once. There is a proper, legal way of dealing with such matters and it must be followed in letter and spirit.
Legal and procedural points aside, perhaps this incident will also prompt some soul-searching within PTI. Its strategy of ‘a good offence is the best defence’ and badmouthing and degrading all strains of opinions that do not agree with its narrative, even in case of court judgements, has gone on far too long. And Shahbaz Gill, for all intents and purposes, has been the poster boy for this offensive.
His tweets and comments are always, as if by necessity, laced with the kind of derogatory language that is considered beneath the dignity of civil discourse, even in the so-called dirty world of politics. And since he never seems to mind dragging even critical state institutions into his diatribes, in a way he asked for what is happening to him. If he didn’t see this coming, especially before he made that statement, it would suggest that he was having too much fun just moving the pieces without concentrating on the whole board.
One can only hope, given past experience, that the honourable court’s final decision will address this matter in greater detail than the fallout of one TV programme’s contents and draw a line that politicians cannot be allowed to cross, no matter how much their social media followers like it.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
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