Winner from two National Assembly constituencies in the October
10 general elections, Sheikh Rashid feels that there
might be massive defections in major parliamentary parties like PPPP, PML (Q), PML (N) and MMA in a couple of weeks, because
leaders have weak control over their parties.
Sheikh Rashid has also said that in the present
"confused political situation" if politicians did not act wisely
the political situation would deteriorate further and in case of
a political deadlock the country could even go for a fresh
election.
It is possible that the country might even see another
Martial Law. Shaikh Rashid did not excatly say so but I dare to
be speculative about it. I am not the only one worried about it.
South Asia Tribune, which is Shaheen Sehbai's(ex-editor The
News) on line e-magazine, "Pakistan is heading toward a serious political crisis(Martial
Law) as the newly elected, but confused
Parliament dominated by defiant anti-Musharraf forces refuses to
accept his package of constitutional amendments saying they have
reduced the status of Parliament to a rubber stamp and have
given the President veto powers over the collective will of the
people".
Given Sheikh Rashid's strong pro-establishment connections,
and Shaheen Sehbai's independent views, the theory of "things
might take shape otherwise" may hold weight.
Pakistan has a history of military intervention due to political crisis. Sometimes, it has
been discreet but more
often than once, it has been very obvious.
Last time the army intervened, it stayed in power for more than
11 years until a conspiracy "blew up the general's plane".
Following that, the country went thru a prolonged period of
experimental, nondirectional politics dictated by expediencies
based on the dictates of such agencies like IMF, World Bank,
etc.
“The goose of General Musharraf appears to have been cooked,” an
analyst said in Washington, elaborating: “He has messed up
things so much that now it has become imperative for the army to
extricate itself and that can be done only by some one else and
not by Musharraf.” reports South Asia Tribune.
I somehow agree with this observation but with a caveat. Granted
that the Pak military has an appetite for political power and
its continued presence in the country's power politics, but what
are the motley crowd of half-baked half-educated politicians
doing to mitigate this problem?
Every time the politicians are provided the opportunity to come
together and give direction to the nation, they decide to look
the other way and take care of themselves first instead of the
nation. Army or not, any strong sector of a democratic
establishment would then react so. In Pakistan's case the army
is the biggest and the strongest power base hence their
intervention, discreet or otherwise.
In the West, since the rules of the game are already set and
well defined, the effect of any one of the estates exerting its
pressure on the polity is discreet but meaningful.
In Pakistan, we still have a long way to go and those of us who
want things to improve "overnight" like the onset of
"mobile phone " are expecting a miracle in this case. It took
the West a massive exploitation of wealth and resources to
afford to "think and act" on a very high level of moral grounds
which unfortunately we still haven't achieved.
In the absence of capitalist wealth and resources, Pakistan's
politicians have tried to use religious albeit spiritual "wealth
and resources" to garner mass support and help establish "rules
of the game". But we keep forgetting that the rules of the west
which are based on really high moral grounds draw their
intrinsic strength from harnessing material wealth and resources
and not "religion or spiritual manifestations".
If "clash of civilization" is a phrase that defines this gap,
then be it so. But that does not do any good to Pakistan's
health anyway.
In Pakistan's context, the constant invisible clash between the
army's "politicians" and the movers and shakers of the
mass psyche must converge and create a golden mean so that the
nation can harness the opportunities which keep getting passed
on to the country by the synergy of world events.
Sometimes "you gotta do what you gotta do"! Politicians
should come together and form a meaningful national government
lest we create another scenario where events may push us back
instead of forward.
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