Another passing phase?

Contributing Editor Vice Admiral (Retd) Iqbal F Quadir says we are going through just another ambiguous period in our country.

In the name of Allah
Most Gracious Most Merciful

Sura e Fateha

Praise be to Allah the Cherisher
and Sustainer of the World.
Most Gracious Most Merciful.
Master of the Day of Judgment.
Thee (You) do we worship and Thine (Your) aid we seek.
Show us the straight way.
The way of those on whom Thou (You) hast (have) bestowed Thy (Your) Grace
Those whose (portion) is not wrath and who go not astray.
(Translation — Maulana Yusuf Ali)

By the time this article is published the general and provincial elections would have been over and the names of those elected would have become known together with their affiliations to one or the other of a crowd of political parties that participated in these elections. Numbering over eighty, most of these parties would neither have had the facility nor have the urge to read fully the LFO that has replaced the 1973 Constitution as the new administrative dispensation for the country. Nor would most of them have had the facility to even keep count of ordinances and other bits of information about the future system of administration that the present government has promulgated or introduced from time to time. All that must be of little concern to them anyway. The sole aim of these small groupings could not have been more than getting elected by whatever means possible with a view to bargaining into the winning alliance after their election. Many feel that these parties are the encouragements of powers that be with intents that would unfold at the appropriate time. Some of these parties have been given the name King’s Party, a name that they greatly savour and even give an appearance of being proud of. For some unknown reasons the pre-election political functions of these latter parties were reportedly graced by presence of state functionaries including at times the provincial governors. Their constituencies also became the beneficiaries of government funds or projects that other constituencies were denied even though the latter’s need for them might have been greater.
The Election Commission has categorically stated that no pre or post-election rigging (dhandhli) would be tolerated and the elections would be free and fair. The President and the Chief Executive too has repeatedly assured the populace that elections would be free and fair. However, many political leaders continue to point out events or actions of government functionaries and certain political parties that they consider pre-election dandhli. The general perception, right or wrong, has been that certain parties have received undue favours of the government that should have been taken note of and action taken to stop them. However, what was most observable all throughout the pre-election period was the complete absence of electioneering fervour that used to be the hallmark of past general and provincial elections. There could be many reasons for this display of passivity by the general public. The most important of these must be the lack of any crowd pullers in any political party except perhaps Imran Khan whose this exceptional quality unfortunately got wasted in his endeavour of becoming a lone star of his admirable principles. However, unfortunately in politics that does not do. Had, from an earlier stage, he worked for a closer understanding with, as also between, the other so-called opposition parties, the outcome of a free and fair elections would have been truly one sided. Now, with the apathy of the general public towards elections clearly discernable and little time and space made available to political leaders to whip up enthusiasm, and despite the traditional public support for PPP and ML(N), it is not very certain in whose camp the camel would finally sit.
There are many other reasons or causes that have led to this display of lack of interest towards elections. The foremost amongst them must have been a loss of faith in the electioneering process itself. With past practices made public where a military organ of the state was made responsible for ensuring correct results and the Presidency ran its own Election Cell, once bitten twice shy, the public has a right to feel skeptical on wasting their energies in going to the polling booths. The result of the Presidential Referendum has made many parties to cry out loud at the fairness of the Election Commission. Added to that is the history of long periods of army rule with each ruler eradicating whatever seeds of democratic institutions that had been sown by the ousted elected governments before them. The latest LFO is a reminder if one was needed what those in power think of the collective and unanimous wisdom of the nation. Many must be feeling what is the purpose of voting if the Establishment is going to throw out their elected representatives any way on some pretext or the other in the next two or three years if not months. The constant baiting of politicians and their performance as an institution, the incomplete and selective accountability in society, the shining coat of armour provided to bank defaulters on part payments of outstanding dues and the slight caused to civilian honour and ego at every civil activity being gradually taken over by military personnel have all pushed the civilian population into a corner. Some actually feel, if being in uniform is the only way of becoming honest and hard working, why not put the whole nation in uniform? Would that not be phenomenally beneficial for the country?
In any case the President and Chief Executive has made it clear repeatedly what amounts to woe behold the one who would think of altering any of the policies that have been initiated by him or under his orders. The cleaver of NSC has already been put in place. That makes for short work by future elected governments, assemblies or bodies. Any one can judge the effect of such a situation. General Beg thinks differences could lead to instability after elections. Those whom according to the press the Minister of Information refers to as opposition, perhaps he knows some thing more than we do, are very quiet about their future courses of action under differing circumstances. A couple of Western diplomats down in Karachi for Expo-2002 referred to the general talk in Islamabad of disorders after the elections were over. I could not agree with them for reasons stated above but which I did not mention to them. The nation and its elected leaders having been roughed about so thoroughly, it has lost heart and the will to stand up to anything that is sprung up on it. Like everything in the past, this is another passing phase that the nation will willingly endure. Unlike those of the other win the people of this wing have always rested their faith in God. But let that not make the establishment test the nation’s will for too long lest it recoils like a cornered cat.