EDITORIAL: President Zardari’s address in parliament, and the way the joint sitting was turned into a circus because of it, goes to show how quickly and completely the pendulum of politics swings in this Islamic republic.
It wasn’t too long ago, after all, that PTI (Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf) was in power and (then) President Arif Alvi had to brave similar scenes staged by the opposition of the time – now in government – with the same accusations of fraudulent elections and illegitimate administration, etc., filling the air.
It’s no surprise then that whatever the president says on such important occasions is drowned in all the din, no matter how relevant or important it might be in the context of a myriad of problems facing the country. This time, for example, the president was right to stress the need for a meaningful dialogue among all stakeholders, especially political leaders, to finally put an end to the unprecedented bitterness of the last few years.
Yet the opposite seems to be happening. The political cleavage has only widened after the February elections, and quite clearly PTI is not going to accept the present administration as legitimate; just like it spent its own few years in power dogged by the “selected government” charge by the same parties that are now in power.
The president also spoke of the climate emergency and the urgent need to improve relations with all neighbours. But none of that matters because the headlines still largely spoke of the mayhem that the opposition was very proud to cause throughout the speech.
Where does that leave the ordinary people of this country that are still wondering who is going to lead them out of their many crises; especially as levels of inflation and unemployment not seen in generations eat into their lives and push them further and further down on the food chain? There’s only so much to expect from the political elite when the government spends all its time harassing its opponents and the opposition is entirely consumed by questioning not the government’s policies but its very legitimacy.
Of course President Zardari is not the first person to advocate political unity in these turbulent times. But surely he’ll remember that his party – of which he is still a part despite being president of the state – was also in no mood to listen when his predecessor made similar recommendations. And that is the biggest tragedy of Pakistan’s democracy and politics.
The argument that a more transparent general election on Feb 8 would have helped matters, though fundamentally correct, still misses the point. Because our political culture has evolved in a way that no losing party ever accepts the results as they come. Then they spend the rest of the electoral cycle crying foul and playing the victim till, as is so often the case in this land, they come back to power and watch the other side go through the same motions.
This script has gone on too long to be accepted by the people any longer. It is very unfortunate that as the country has regressed its people have, quite naturally, become increasingly helpless as well. And now, even though they get to vote in elections every few years, in reality they are reduced to bystanders to their own fate as the political elite plays musical chairs with their country.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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