KARACHI:
Pakistan was founded on the principles of peace, prosperity, social integration and democracy. However, today’s polarised politics is threatening the country’s wellbeing and national security. Currently, society is deeply divided because of differences in political opinion. This has paved the way for violence, mistrust, verbal and physical abuse among politicians and the people, misinformation, misuse of social media, and revealed the biases of mainstream media.
During his tenure, former Prime Minister Imran Khan failed to address the myriad issues of Pakistan, which decreased his popularity amongst the people and led to the no-confidence motion against him in the parliament. Since his ouster, he has held several public processions across the country accusing the opposition of engaging in a foreign conspiracy and demanding fresh elections. Even though his claims of ‘foreign’ conspiracy were proven wrong by all the state agencies, he continues to uphold his anti-American argument.
The strife between the rival political parties has seeped into the mainstream discourse, which has severely polarised our society. People have become intolerant of dissent and are unable to distinguish between facts and fiction. The new government must urgently address this issue by extinguishing the polarisation and promoting peace, unity, rule of law and inclusiveness by engaging with different political parties and socio-economic groups.
Muhammad Zafar Mehsud
Peshawar
Published in The Express Tribune, April 28th, 2022.
Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.
