Neutrality — for how long?

History is in the making and Pakistan once again like many other important moments in its short history stands at the crossroads. It is a moment of choice and it is the four important choices which when made in the next couple of days by the state’s most important institutions and stakeholders will determine on which side of the history this country stands — right side or wrong.

The first choice will be made by the Supreme Court of Pakistan through its judgment which will clarify to us how we as people should understand the meaning of the terms turncoats and of horse-traders in politics. The second choice will be made by people’s representatives inside the parliament to decide whether this government will stay or go. The third choice will be made by the people being assembled both by the government and the opposition outside on streets who will make a choice and demonstrate through their presence whether they support and reinforce what their representatives will do in the parliament. And the fourth choice most importantly will be made by the military, the true catalyst in the entire affair, who will eventually decide to continue to remain neutral or finally take a stand and declare on which side of the history it stands — right side or wrong.

Will the military be willing to break its shackles of neutrality? To stay neutral is to stay in the middle ground — but what when the ground starts shifting fast underneath your feet? Rejecting the good with the bad is what the military has been doing in the past — a position that clearly necessitated the coming of martial laws and the creation of the dictatorial rules by military dictators in this country. The precedence is not good and during the periods of political turmoil’s military has consistently found itself on the wrong side of this country’s history because when it decided that the time of taking political baths by the politicians was over it not only threw the bathtub out, it threw the baby with it.

But in this information age, age of social media and digitalised politics, military must not commit the blunder of wrapping up the entire system and once again push the country back from where the country has been attempting to start again and again.

To grasp fully the meaning of the choice that the military must make it has to thoroughly reflect on the two political forces that it is dealing with here. Two political forces that operate and revolve around two diametrically opposite poles in the society — they have now gradually collected themselves at the two extreme ends of the political spectrum. There is this one political camp that wants to acquire power through political misdeeds, corruption, deceit, and silencing of the dissent; and there is this other camp that spearheads national inspiration, national enthusiasm and national hope. Pakistan in the next couple of days will be clearly divided into two camps. The first camp is represented by the old guards of politics who are extremely influential and powerful and who have always unleashed regressive forces in this country to create and shape the political trends to their liking. Their lust for power is extreme and so are their methods to achieve it. We have had plenty of their political ball game that they play by twisting and creating their own rules to nourish and sustain a patrimonial state. The military will make a big mistake by continuing to blindly support them because the people now largely understand that this camp stands on the wrong side of history. The second camp is of progressive forces, a camp that has gradually become the fountainhead of hope, confidence and of progressive Pakistan. A forward-looking camp that desires an impersonal welfare state which offers hope and opportunities to all in a merit-based system that will gradually throw out nepotism and favoritisms from our society.

What consumes people’s attention is important. For three and a half years people have grown up to understand what are our values and our interests. If the judicial system has not been able to give its verdict on the violators of these values then it is not the fault of the people of Pakistan. Can the military imagine that the Sharifs and Zardaris of our politics can once again return and once again tell us that we have entered a new era and we will again have new politics that will suit new priorities — the priorities that are so evident in winning over the loyalties of some of the PTI turncoats?

There is a very famous idiom the meaning of which is often misunderstood by the majority of the people: dhobi ka kutta na ghar ka na ghaat ka. Kutta is not a dog but the heavy piece of wood that the washerman carries for beating the clothes. It is so heavy that the washerman can’t carry it home every day and can’t leave it at ghaat (washing place) either, as it can be stolen from there. The PTI turncoats and even the allied parties of the government if they make the choice of siding with the opposition will become the proverbial kuttas — whose destiny after having been stolen by thieves is to experience political wilderness and never make it back home.

In my humble opinion, our history has already made a judgment, and unfortunately for the premier institutions of this country, it is their sluggishness that has forced people to make this judgment. People are no more willing to stand and support the repressive forces in this country. If the military has not sensed it so far then it is making a mistake and I hope that in making this mistake it doesn’t stand on the wrong side of history.

Lastly, there is this original quote of Martin Luther King which reads, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it ultimately bends towards justice.” But what I like is President Obama’s recalibrated version of this quote which, in 2010, was written by him like this, “While you can’t necessarily bend history to your will, you can do your part to see that, in the words of Dr King, it bends towards justice.” And this recalibrated quote by President Obama is a message that General Bajwa needs to quickly understand.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 27^th, 2022.

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