Politics versus reality

When the federal cabinet meets in Islamabad on October 28, an air of suspense is likely to be hanging over it. We are told that it will review the performance of the ministers before an expected reshuffle or expansion. This is how the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is seen to be responding to popular disquiet provoked by ‘dharna’ politics, though the sense of urgency may have reduced after Tahirul Qadri’s decision to pack up the show he had staged on Constitution Avenue in Islamabad.

But would a concern for the country’s survival be as acutely present to the PML-N leaders as the survival of the present dispensation? I pose this question in earnest because the camouflage created by the media, with its obsession with politics, is hiding a gruesome reality our rulers are unwilling to confront.

It is hard to explain why our mainstream political parties are lapsing into campaign mode, as if elections were just around the corner. Moharram would surely interrupt this cycle but rallies have recently been mounted on a war footing. Imran Khan has been on a kind of road show without winding up the ‘dharna’ and its nightly presentations. Tahirul Qadri, keeping a brave face after the abject retreat of his ‘revolution’, has promised part-time ‘dharnas’ in one city after another.

Yet, the spectacle designed and produced by the Pakistan People’s Party on October 18 in Karachi to launch its young leader Bilawal Bhutto Zardari stands out in this silly season. It was meant to shake the nation and restore the credentials of the party as the voice of the masses. Bilawal did make a good speech and touched all the relevant issues in a liberal perspective. But the rally itself, in terms of how the event was managed with the resources that were invested, was very unsatisfactory.

Here was one more example of how our political leaders set their priorities. It would be interesting to somehow figure out the cost of the rally and see what comes out as the cost of bringing one person to the venue. What really did it achieve? After all, speeches made by Bilawal or Imran Khan or Tahirul Qadri on any occasion are covered live by our news channels. So are media briefings of the ministers.

But would they make a similar effort to study such issues as extremism, sectarian violence, deficiencies in the education and health sectors and the overall moral and intellectual decline of the Pakistani society to suggest credible plans of action? It is futile to ask this question because most of our major parties have been in power. What is their record?

This brings us to the obligations of the present government. It makes sense that they have to deal with the threat that is posed by the opposition parties agitating for change. This is what politics is all about. However, a government is accountable not only for its quality of governance but also for its strategic response to clear and present threats faced by the country. What we see is heart-breaking. There has been no serious effort to suppress a number of militant outfits that are engaged in sectarian killings. A surge in intolerance and religious fanaticism has undermined democratic values that the government invokes for its legitimacy.

Almost on a daily basis we have fresh evidence to show that things are falling apart while the nation’s attention is devoted to political squabbles. Imagine the number of hours our news channels have wasted in presenting, live, the ranting of the ‘dharna’ leaders. The pity of it is that they have constantly been retracting their previous assertions. Look at the ignominy of a person like Shaikh Rasheed becoming the most valued guest on a talk show. Flashback snippets of how Tahirul Qadri had roared from his container can be unbearably tragic as well as hilarious.

And far from this theatre of the absurd, there is Balochistan. On Thursday, eight persons belonging to the Hazara community were shot dead in Quetta. This was only the latest tragedy in a long sequence of deadly attacks on Hazaras in Quetta. But the government has generally shown apathy towards a vicious campaign that borders on a genocide. Later in the day, Quetta was rocked by a suicide bombing that had targeted Maulana Fazlur Rehman. The JUI-F chief had a narrow escape, though three persons were killed.

It is instructive that the suicide attack was given a larger projection and was the subject of many talk shows. The soul-destroying story of the Hazaras was somewhat pushed aside. But the Balochistan crisis has other dimensions. A week ago, eight bodies were found dumped near Hub. They were of labourers who had come from flood-affected areas of Punjab. They were first identified and then shot dead.

Because of my affiliation with the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, I have followed the Balochistan story rather closely. The HRCP has been conducting a fact-finding mission on Balochistan almost on an annual basis and had strived to put it on the national agenda when Balochistan would not attract much attention. We had a council meeting in Quetta as well as a fact-finding mission earlier this month.

Incidentally, when the HRCP issued a statement last week about growing human rights violations across the country and rise in religious extremism, it also said that the political situation characterised by ‘dharnas’ had taken attention away from other more important issues. One of the outcomes, it added, was the strengthening of sectarian forces.

Imran Khan felt annoyed by this observation. Standing on top of his container, he criticised the HRCP for alleging that the Islamabad sit-ins had diverted people’s attention from the current situation of human rights in the country. In retaliation, he accused the HRCP of receiving funds from abroad to promote the agenda of foreign countries to defame Pakistan.

Is it because he does not want to defame Pakistan that, for instance, he does not focus on the killings of Hazaras or the rise of sectarian violence or the persecution of religious minorities, including in the province that is governed by his own party? So, what will his ‘Naya Pakistan’ be like?

Nawaz Sharif, however, has to deal with the reality of the Pakistan that exists now. Yes, he can change it according to his heart’s desire. But, unfortunately, he too does not seem to be very concerned about the rise in religious extremism. It may be useful for his cabinet to spare some time to ponder about sectarian violence and its implications. Will he need another cabinet to do that?

The writer is a staff member.

Email: ghazi_salahuddin@hotmail.com