‘House full of traitors’

The politicians are swinging out against each other with terms as loaded as “treachery” and “loyalty” - and freighted with “patriotic sentiments” - ever since Prime Minister Imran Khan lobbed the word “traitor” at the opposition parties and those who deserted his party.

As constitutional crisis grips the nation and PM Imran enjoys a carte blanche to recast the political setup following the dissolution of the assembly, both sides have made it clear that they will not play by Queensberry rules.

Almost all of them are drowning out the other in claiming that theirs is the fight against “traitors” - It’s a house full of “traitors”.

Both the prime minister and his party members, who have largely chorused his views, and the opposition leaders are stoking dangerous jingoistic sentiments.

The government has railed against the opposition parties for colluding with the United States to oust the government through a no-confidence motion. It has a brandished “secret threatening letter” as proof.

Meanwhile, the united opposition, while denying the allegations, insists that it was, in fact, the PTI government that has repeatedly violated the constitution, and thus, committed treason.

In Pakistan, high treason is the ultimate crime and is punishable with death or imprisonment for a life sentence. The gravity of the treason charges is such that even former military ruler General (retd) Pervez Musharraf could not escape it who, after being found guilty of high treason, was handed down the death sentence under Article 6 of the Constitution in absentia.

Article 6 of the Constitution says: “Any person who abrogates or subverts or suspends or hold in abeyance, or attempts or conspires to abrogate or subvert or suspend or hold in abeyance the Constitution by use of force or show force or by any other unconstitutional means shall be guilty of high treason."

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However, as the irony would have it, all the “traitors” of the dissolved assembly have now knocked at the apex court's doors, which apparently is moving ahead at a snail’s pace as protracted political limbo continues to aggravate.

No one seems to be in a hurry in deciding the matter or appears to be infuriated at the notion of being ruled over or represented by traitors. Those who have allegedly betrayed the nation, the country as well as the constitution with the help of the abettors have not yet been asked “how does it feel to betray your own race” – anyone who has seen Avatar will instantly recognise the quote.

Will the top court give a ruling that would draw a clear line if all of them, half of them, some of them or at least a few of them actually do fall within the definition of being a traitor as, if not all, most of them would go back to the house with their heads held high again and resume their businesses.

The most active forum commenting upon the situation so far is social media but, like it or not, it is being used to only add more people to the list of high-profile traitors instead of having any meaningful discussion.

The world is hell-bent on cleansing their respective countries of traitors but here in Pakistan, we have ended up making the supreme legislative forum a House full of traitors; who might soon go to elections again; come back in the assemblies; legislate and continue deciding about the fate of the nation without ever feeling the need to remove the tag of being the ones who sold their soul to the devil.

The trend of calling the opponents traitors is as dangerous as facing allegations of committing a religious crime. Who would be responsible if someone takes the law into his hands and attacked a rival politician? What if the attack is reciprocated?

All eyes are on the Supreme Court now to see if it ends up shutting the door on those who abrogate the Constitution with gleeful chuckles or go down in the history as a forum that could not see the forest for the trees.