Pakistan’s Democratic Battle

On the evening of October 21^st, the major arteries leading into Lahore were clogged with cars, buses and trucks carrying fervent supporters of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. As night fell, Greater Iqbal Park, infamous for political gatherings, was teeming with people from across the country. Party anthems praising Sharif blared from speakers scattered throughout the park, while party leaders anxiously awaited the arrival of their supreme leader. Sharif soon appeared in a helicopter above the park, enthusiastically waving to his supporters who had come to hear him speak after six years.

The stage was set for Sharif’s grand return. For weeks, the Pakistan Muslim League inundated the airwaves with campaign ads, adorning Lahore with party flags and banners featuring Sharif’s image. Party ticket holders had been instructed to transport thousands of workers to welcome their leader. After a disastrous year in power, leading a coalition government, the party had to display its political influence in the heart of Punjab. This forced them to play their trump card: Nawaz Sharif. It was time for the party not only to assert their relevance but also to demonstrate their significance to the ultimate power player in the country, the Pakistan Army.

Fool me twice, shame on you!

Pakistan has had a checkered democratic history. Elected prime ministers have often been assassinated, overthrown, or convicted. Half of Pakistan’s 75-year history has been ruled by military dictatorship, while the other half is yet to see an elected prime minister carry out a full constitutional 5-year term. The latest victim in the power struggle between the formidable army and politicians is Imran Khan. Once the blue-eyed boy of the generals Khan’s fall from grace was historically inevitable as the military green-lit his removal, leading to his ousting from office through a vote of no-confidence in April 2022.

Ashes ashes, we all fall down!

The scenes were unreal. Brandishing sticks and stones, a fired-up crowd marched through security check points, advancing deep into Lahore’s military cantonment. The protestors had had enough. Reaching the gated residence of Lieutenant General Salman Fayyaz Ghani, the corps commander of Lahore, the mob stormed the compound. They had already threatened the government, but what was about to unravel had never been seen before. Having knocked down the gate, the charged crowd broke into the house, after completely ransacking and vandalizing the home, they set the residence on fire. “We warned you!” they roared.

The Incoming Dawn

By: Agha Haider Raza

The dawn of a new year is about to rise, but despite the passing of another year, it seems Pakistan is stuck in the wrong gear. The passing year has been a tumultuous one. Starting on feeble legs in January due to a battered economy and a power struggle between then prime minister Imran Khan and the previous army chief, Qamar Bajwa. The bitterness created space for the opposition in Parliament to oust Khan’s government in April. Despite a coalition of multiple political parties forming the cabinet after Khan was voted out of office, the country has been sailing through extremely choppy waters. As seen in the movie Titanic, one wonders if the alarm bells which are ringing, are those being sounded before the country hits an iceberg or are they the sounds of the band playing the violin while the ship is sinking.

Pakistan Craves Stability

By: Agha Haider Raza

I came across a Twitter thread sent to me the other day, highlighting snippets from a book. One particular quote from the thread stood out. “Corruption was rampant, with massive thievery of state property, including illegal tapping of electricity.” “Friendship, especially political ones, determined who got what.” Surely, I thought to myself, the author must be writing about the current state of affairs Pakistan. Today, the country’s economy is in shambles, finance minister Ishaq Dar is gallivanting around the world in an attempt to restructure and refinance Pakistan’s debt, Moody has downgraded Pakistan’s credit rating while inflation in the country hovers around 20%.

The snippets were from Lee Kuan Yew’s book, From Third World to First, written back in 2000 on his observations of Pakistan from the early 1990s. He was shocked at hearing only 21 percent of the Pakistan’s budget was allocated for administering the country, while the remaining amount was prioritized defense and debt restructuring. 

Despite the passing of decades, these problems have only exacerbated, bringing Pakistan to the mercy of global financial institutions and rich countries. The country’s economic and political crises have been staring the country in the face for years, but little has been done by our politicians to resolve or attempt to correct course. With roughly 35 years of military rule, and sporadic civilian governance, Pakistan craves democratic stability.  The dirty politics of the 1990s culminated in the imposition of martial law, ensuring that the dominating Pakistan military continued to remain in power. With the return of a democratic government after elections in 2008, it was hoped that the military would keep itself at bay. Unfortunately, meddling by the military establishment could not be curtailed. In 2011, Imran Khan relished the opportunity to work with the military to find a path to become Pakistan’s prime minister.

Imran Khan – Prime Minister of Pakistan

With the military paving the path, Khan won the 2018 elections and started his reign as the country’s 30th prime minister. Khan’s tumultuous tenure was rigged with political victimization, media censorship, and a sheer obsession of locking up political opponents. Khan’s inexperience of public office saw multiple changes within his cabinet, including four different finance ministers within his first three years in office. Not known to be diplomatic, Khan bungled foreign relations with key allies including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and most importantly, China. Despite the military’s desire to thaw relations with India, Khan stood steadfast on his desire to forego any dealings with his neighbor. With the economy tanking, rampant inflation, and poor governance, the military pulled their support. Khan was forced to relinquish office after he lost a vote of confidence in parliament.

Spewing venom, Khan took the streets, selling a narrative that the new government was ‘imported’ by the US and military top brass, blaming the United States for orchestrating his departure after colluding with generals of Pakistan’s army. The problem with this narrative is that not only is it simply not true, Khan has reignited a suppressed anti-American sentiment to bolster his claims, while charge sheeting military generals of treason.

The only fortunate part of this narrative – like his predecessors Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto – Khan seems to have come to the realization that the military must not have a role in political engineering (unless they support him!). Absolving himself from accountability during his tenure, Khan has hinted it was the military who actually controlled power, forcing him to take unpopular decisions. But Khan has also admitted he used the military and the influential ISI to coerce politicians for various purposes including ensuring their presence in parliament for passing legislation and key votes.

It is certainly welcoming that Khan has realized the country’s powerful military should be kept at bay and not allowed to engineer Pakistan’s political landscape. For far too long the political class has allowed itself to be used as pawns and puppets, dancing to the tune of those blowing the trumpet from Rawalpindi. The problem however is that Imran Khan needs to tend to Pakistan’s economy, and not obsess over arresting his political rivals. The country has barely avoided default, and is teetering on the brink of an economic collapse. The current financial team seems to be running around Washington, DC like headless chickens, the country is immensely polarized, calamity has struck with floods wreaking havoc across Pakistan while the political elite refuse to have any meaningful economic policy debate or discourse.

Pakistan’s Economic Challenges

Pakistan has a huge population which is only growing. More than sixty percent of the country’s population is under the age of 30. Education metrics are extremely poor, Pakistan has a meager export industry with minimum focus on expanding its manufacturing sector. Despite being subsidized, the agriculture sector has one of the lowest yields of crop in the region with hardly any seed development or research over the past few decades. Many look for a quick buck in the real estate industry, by parking money in land holdings, contributing zilch to the country’s GDP. Pakistan relies heavily on imports, but hardly has any foreign exchange reserves to keep up with its purchase bill. To further compound problems, the country faces an acute energy crisis, relying on expensive non-renewable sources.

With such serious issues staring the country in the face, the political rulers are busy playing musical chairs for the prized prime minister seat in Islamabad. The military needs to stop toying with technocrats by imposing their own finance minister. Enough of the scripted politics and backroom deals. Short term gains will not help Pakistan. A country of 230 million people desperately requires stability, with a laser sharp focus on establishing strong economic fundamentals. Such stability can only take place when the military is not allowed to engineer Pakistan’s political landscape anymore.

Agha Haider Raza tweets at @ahraza_

Imran Khan and the Military Musical Chairs

By: Agha Haider Raza

‘Dair aay, durust aay’ is an often-repeated phrase in Urdu, loosely translated to “long time coming to finally getting it right”. Since his ouster from the highest office in the land a few months ago, former prime minister of Pakistan Imran Khan seems to have realized the fatal consequences of being used by the country’s powerful military. Seething with anger at being deposed by a vote of no confidence, Khan has taken to the streets, lambasting the military for their involvement in domestic politics, allowing the opposition to overthrow him and form a coalition government.

Impunity For Religiously-Charged Mobs Is Now An Old Problem For Pakistan

By: Agha Haider Raza

The riled-up mob was chanting. They wanted to avenge themselves on him, they wanted him to come outside. Locked up in a room for protection, he prayed for his life as the angel of death descended from above. The violent mob overpowered the few trying to protect the unprotected. He was eventually dragged outside, pelted with stones and torched to death.

27 years ago, Sajjad Farooq was murdered by this barbaric mob in Gujranwala, an industrial city in Pakistan. This storyline may seem familiar. Last week, in Sialkot, Pakistan, Priyantha Kumara was also dragged outside, pelted with stones and set ablaze. Both men were accused of blasphemy. Neither was charged or investigated for any crime. They were just brutally lynched.

Imran Khan Feeling The Heat!

Prime Minister Imran Khan addressed a fairly large rally in Jamrud, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa at the end of a tumultuous week for politics in Pakistan.  In what should have been a policy speech for the uplifting of the former FATA region, Khan used the stage to lash out at his opponents in Punjab and Sindh.  With great uncertainty on the economic front, severe in-fighting amongst PTI leadership, Shahbaz Sharif’s name taken off the Exit Control List (ECL), Nawaz Sharif getting some respite from the courts and Bilawal Bhutto raising the stakes with his harsh criticism on the government, Khan seems to be feeling the heat.

Imran Khan’s tsunami is flooding Pakistan!

By: Agha Haider Raza

Pakistan’s media airwaves have gone haywire over the spectacle that has emerged since renowned journalist, Hamid Mir, was shot at multiple times in Karachi a few weeks ago. In response to the audacious attack, Mir’s employer, GEO News openly hinted that the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) was responsible for the attempt on Mir’s life.  As expected, the ISI sprung into action; flexing their muscles through the “independent” media and “civil society” by protesting against the allegations leveled by GEO News.  Rather than using the unfortunate attack on Hamid Mir as an opportunity to engage in a frank discussion on the safety of journalists in Pakistan (deemed one of the world’s least safe place for journalists), this incident has opened a debate on the credibility of Pakistan’s first democratic transition and reignited long-standing tensions between the incumbent government and the country’s most powerful institution, the Pakistan Army.  Using the bold attack on Hamid Mir as a springboard, Imran Khan is boycotting GEO News and has resorted to street protests to declare the sham of a democracy we have at present. Khan and his party claim that the general elections of 2013 were stolen from them via alleged rigging committed by the PML-N and GEO News and after exhausting all appropriate avenues have decided to utilize there street power.  This is not the time. What the country really needs are its politicians to embolden and strengthen Pakistan’s fragile Parliament by passing electoral reform and acting on the discrepancies in the last election to avoid repeating similar mistakes in the future.

To Use or Not to Use Religion

By: Agha Haider Raza

With the first ever democratically elected Parliament nearly passing the baton to another parliament via general elections in the midst of our reach, we may just be witnessing history.  History is in the making because over the 66-year roller coaster ride, Pakistan has never observed such a transition.  Numerous military interventions, lack of assertive civilian leadership along with the involvement of non-state and foreign actors has made Pakistan suffer deeply.