Inqillab and Azadi
Marches of 14th August changed into a prolonged “sit in.” Twenty days and
nights in the red zone despite humidity, heat, and heavy rain is tough. Till
Wednesday, September 03, 2014, there was no major breakthrough
except some efforts were under way by the interested stakeholders for renewing
talks for calming down the tense scenario, The leadership of Pakistan Awami
Tehreek (PAT) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) are in good friendly relationship;
this unnerves the staus quo parties including the rulers and the friendly
opposition.
Today, the PTI chairman
sent the Vice Chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi to clarify the PTI’s position
before national assembly session; where he skilfully clarified the purpose of
the ongoing sit-in outside the Parliament. “We are not here to burn the House
but to save it,” he declared. “It is our duty to protect the Parliament but
what kind of parliament?” He added, “There is a perception that there is a
grand plan or a great script behind our protest, but PTI never was and never
will be part of any great plan that will undermine the democracy and the Constitution
of Pakistan.”
To request the army to
resolve political crisis was against the spirit of the Charter of Democracy,”
he said while referring to the government’s request to the COAS General Raheel
Sharif. He also criticized government’s handling of the crisis, adding that
Islamabad was turned into Gaza as scores of people were killed and injured. He
said that his party was ready to negotiate with the committee of opposition
members, and only demanded transparent investigation of rigging in the last
general election. (dawn.com)
The most troubling: Democracy is a mechanism by which popular consent
is obtained for policies favoring the rich.
The question: If there are two or three political parties, and
none of them carry integrity, yet one of them is voted to the office – so
what’s good for the general public? Quite obviously, there is a limited choice
for the electors to choose, hence, it’s a tricky game played skillfully by the
crooks.
In the name of democracy, the
greedy politicians always manage to grab power for satisfying their selfish
agendas. During the course of hot pursuit of gaining political power, pressure
tactics and coercion is quite normal. The financially powerful elite tend to
win through rigging. Winning national, mid-term or supplementary election is
not a problem for the crooks, because they can buy votes at any price; the
election staff is easily bought off to change the electoral defeat in to
electoral victory all due to loop holes in the stinky system.
The statement, democracy is of the people, by the
people, for the people is inherently incomplete unless the people are allowed
to have proper schooling whereby they become mentally powerful enough to
politically judge between honest and crook candidates.
Good thing is despite the vadairas’ dirty politics,
the people all over including the remote areas are now slowly catching up and
hopefully the genuine leadership will grow.
In
Islamabad, the invoked Article 245 directs the army to protect the capital, but
the army only is protecting inside the state buildings in the red zone. It is
significant however, that the joint session has followed a army corps
commanders meeting which had asked for things to be resolved quickly and
through political means without the use of force. Sharif’s decision to call in the army in aid of the
civilian authorities on the eve of the march has empowered the army more. On
top of that, poor Sharif seems to have lost further credibility by misinforming
the national assembly that the army chief was not asked to mediate. A statement
by the ISPR contradicting the prime minister’s claim put Sharif into an
embarrassing position.
Indeed, the army is busy with its operation Zarb-e-Azb, yet the ‘sit in’
situation is fast slipping out of the government’s grip, because of its own
fault of using Gullu Butts and ‘PTV takeover’ drama and disrupting the
peaceful ‘PAT march’ towards the prime minister house. Excessive force
including chemical gas and real bullets
injuring and killing the marchers is inhumane.
The army is interested in an expeditious resolve of the crisis by the
government without using force.
Nevertheless, the rulers are already on crutches provided by the
desperate opposition leadership who in return are promised their turn after the
current tenure is over. Taking turns is the only wish of the greedy
politicians. Non delivery, sub standard governance and administrative paralysis
don’t bother them; they rallied in NA to save the democratic system, yet the
battle is far from over.
For protecting their personal interests, the political
elite ask for democracy. After the Musharraf Era, Zardari was only focused on
completing his tenure which he successfully did by bringing all players including
the friendly opposition under one umbrella; the zaradri regime continued right
till the end despite its poor governance and its judicial defiance.
As it’s the turn of N league to govern, the problem
is N league has been alleged for election fraud.
The people suffer from increasing deprivation,
hunger, discomfort and mega corruption all over. Many of us in Pakistan
genuinely believe that the present government has failed to perform. Though invoking article 245
shows the failure of civil administration, the Pak Military has no intention to
intervene into political affairs. It’s
up to the apex court to remove the sitting prime minister so that he can be
independently investigated on murder charges and rigging charges.
Auditing the election should be made mandatory for a more
mature democracy. The electoral fraud can be minimized if the inherent defects
are removed from the current system or it’s totally replaced by a brand new
system of governance as Mr. Qadri suggests.
Pakistan needs newer generation of leaders who are
chosen by the educated Pakistanis. A renewed democracy includes the ouster of
obsolete political practice. After all Pakistan deserves respect and
satisfaction.
