EDITORIAL: That the ongoing government-opposition confrontation has now taken its ugliest turn since PTI came to power about two-and-a-half years ago is a fact. Speaking to media persons the other day, one of the senior leaders of JUI-F, the party which is responsible for successfully cobbling together a coalition of opposition parties under the rubric of Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) to pose a serious challenge to the incumbent government, Maulana Ghafoor Haideri, threatened to stage a protest demonstration before the General Headquarters of Pakistan Army in Rawalpindi. The reasons behind this unprecedented threat by any party in the political history of the country are quite interesting to note. According to this right-wing party which, more than its peers, is known as a party that believes in democracy, accountability and rule of law, the PTI government, not National Accountability Bureau (NAB), is behind the “character assassination” drive against the party chief, Maulana Fazlur Rahman and the PTI government is deriving its strength from the establishment that is responsible for bringing the Imran Khan-led party to power through allegedly “rigged” 2018 general elections. In other words, JUI-F believes that the establishment is behind every move that is aimed at “tarnishing” the image of its party chief.
Accusing the institutions of meddling in political affairs without any incriminating evidence to substantiate this claim is a highly dangerous approach to politics. Little does perhaps the JUI-F leadership know that the country has been facing some unprecedented external challenges that are largely emanating from India and the party’s growing criticism of the Pakistan army leadership is coinciding with growing Indian belligerence on the Line of Control in particular (a recent meeting of the prime minister, army chief and ISI DG in this regard is a strong case in point). Isn’t it a remarkable concurrence of events or circumstances without apparent casual connection? The question is: why has JUI-F leadership which is widely known for its political astuteness taken such a highly questionable approach to politics? A simple answer could be that it is following in the footsteps of PML-N’s Nawaz Sharif who while addressing one of the PDM rallies in Pakistan from London hit out at army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa, holding the military establishment responsible for his party’s woes, including its defeat in the 2018 general elections. It, therefore, clearly appears that a disgruntled maulana has been faithfully pursuing the agenda of Nawaz Sharif through his GHQ gherao threat.
That the situation is profound is a fact; it is giving birth to pessimism and nervousness. This newspaper has an appeal to make: while the government is required to soften its anti-opposition rhetoric, the opposition parties, particularly PML-N and JUI-F, must revisit their anti-military narrative before it is too late.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020
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