We all know that this phrase means a situation in which everyone has a fair and equal chance of succeeding. This phrase, which is expressed as ‘a level playing field’, seems to have become a key point of some of our political parties, including Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP).
It is interesting to note that PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari is often claiming that his party was never given a level playing field’ since the 1988 general election that had catapulted his mother Benazir Bhutto to power, earning her the distinction of becoming the female first head of government in the Islamic world.
Not only did the powers that be reduce the number of PPP seats in the National Assembly through their pre- and post-election machinations, they also drastically curtailed her ability to take decisions as an elected prime minister independently or in accordance with whatever electoral mandate she had at her command, according to Bilawal who is also of the view that she faced an almost identical situation during her second or last tenure as well.
He believes the party or its leadership was meted out a similar treatment in the 2008 general election that was held following his mother’s assassination in Rawalpindi’s Liaquat Bagh in 2007.
Although the party again came to power, it was not allowed a level playing field in the general election to form a government based on a two-third majority that the party had anticipated as a consequence of or in reaction to Benazir Bhutto’s martyrdom.
Insofar as PML-N is concerned, it believes that it too wasn’t allowed a level playing field at least once if not more in the history of Nawaz Sharif’s own faction of Pakistan Muslim League.
And it happened in 2017 when a three-time elected prime minister Nawaz Sharif was allegedly deposed by the powers that be. Both the parties, in my view, have shaped their narratives with a view to brightening their dismal electoral prospects. Both of them seem to be seeking or struggling to protect and preserve their real or perceived vote banks.
Unfortunately, however, neither would mind if the country’s most popular party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), is deprived of a level playing field in the upcoming general election.
Last but not least, political power for all of them is ultimate and unquestioned power and its pursuit demands exhaustive determination just as disputing or resisting it sometimes calls for desperate measures. In my view, the demand for ‘a level playing field’ is one such measure.
Abu Adnan (Karachi)
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023