*Disclaimer: This is an opinion based article. Views expressed by the writer in this article are their own and do not necessarily reflect ideas of Jayzoq.
Imagine yourself as an old person, or an old Pakistani. More like, someone who is a witness to the past, the present and the likely future of Pakistan. What have you seen in the past 70 years of this country? You have seen the glorious dream of a nation being sought and fulfilled under the leadership of Muhammad Ali Jinnah. You have mourned the losses and grieves of the 1947 migration events. You have seen the coffin of Jinnah being carried away in a flower shroud flag. You have witnessed the rise and fall of the governments from 1948 to1958. You have celebrated the developing decade of Ayub Khan and his reforms. You have suffered the dictatorship of Yahya Khan and the fall of East Pakistan. You have seen Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, his daughter and the Sharif family rule Pakistan for years. You have seen the dictatorship of Zia ul Haq and Pervaiz Musharraf. You have seen unrest, instability, ever-changing reforms and governments.
Pakistan has always been subject to chaotic democracy. In the many years of its existence, there has hardly been a political party that has served in the government for the set 5 years. Halfway between their tenure, Pakistani prime ministers are known to be ousted out of office through dictatorship. The armed forces of Pakistan have always played the power hungry game of manipulative democracy. The ever-changing governments of Bhutto and Sharif were victims of manipulation and even now, there is a silent yet powerful role of establishment in the current government. But things are far from better.
What we are witnessing right now in Pakistan is the worst political failure ever. Pakistan stands at a rapidly declining economy and soaring high inflation rates. The foreign policy is completely in tatters. There is a general unrest in the country due to the economic devastation and mounting corruption. Unemployment, high crime rates, electricity and gas shortages add fuel to the already blazing fire. On top of everything, the devastation caused by COVID-19 does nothing to help Pakistan. Ever since the government of Imran Khan was brought into power, Pakistan, as the wise had told beforehand, has suffered. The country and its men have undergone severe hardships at the hands of incapable ministers and government officials. And while the latter still enjoy their positions drowning in wealth, the people’s sufferings increase.
Amid the governmental failure, the opposition parties have been calling out at the officials of the state on their incompetence and inability to deliver. The clash between the government and the opposition might have turned out to be a typical political clash as observed in Pakistan’s history but this time things are different. In mid-2020, people saw a coalition of 11 opposition parties joining together against the current PTI government to form the revolutionary PDM (Pakistan’s Democratic Movement). This alliance brought together on one platform the great rivals – the PMLN and PPP. But despite their political differences, they held groundbreaking rallies and power shows in several cities of Pakistan where masses of people came out on their call and protested against the government.
PDM’s power show in Gujranwala
Led by ex-prime minister Nawaz Sharif, this movement is the first ever to openly call out at the ‘all powerful, unaccountable establishment of Pakistan’ for rigging the elections. The PDM leaders have outwardly spoken out against the current Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javaid Bajwa in front of eager audiences comprising thousands of people. In a speech in Gujranwala, Sharif addressed the crowds from London, saying: “You rejected the people’s choice in the (2018) elections and installed an inefficient and incapable group of people. General Bajwa, you will have to answer for inflated electricity bills, shortage of medicines, and poor people suffering.” This audacity has resulted in people taking out their frustration on the military instead of the government and rightly so, Pakistan’s armed forces face a humiliation they have never faced in the past.
Here several questions arise in the mind. Has it always been the establishment? If yes, why? And is today’s opposition strong enough to fight them and restore the lost democracy of Pakistan?
For over 70 years, we have been casting our ballots for the freedom we never got.
Alas, there aren’t enough answers to these questions. For years, this country’s democratic governments have been ruled over by power hungry dictators. The people have been held hostage by undemocratic democracies that take away their right to vote and whenever they do provide that illusionary sense of freedom, they still tend to take it away by meddling in the elections. PDM’s powerful slogan ‘vote ko izzat do’ (respect the sanctity of vote) has made people conscious of their right to vote and perhaps in the coming days it will arouse the country enough to fully demand free democracy which has been their right because for over 70 years, they have been casting their ballots for the freedom they never got.
