Political engineering now worse than ever

Scholar Prof Dr Hassan Askari says ‘maltreatment’ of PTI ‘surpassed all limits of past’

ISLAMABAD:

As the country approaches the January general elections, concerns about political engineering are mounting with PTI leaders’ scripted interviews, their post-release re-arrests, almost one-sided media trials and a TV ban on mentioning deposed premier Imran Khan’s name as they all contribute to growing doubts over the fairness of the upcoming polls.

Although the ‘powerful circles’ have routinely asserted themselves in the country over the years, political experts have not just sounded the alarms on the current wave of manipulation but declared that the political engineering today was proving to be worse and more insidious than before.

They believe that the contemporary political manipulation is casting a long shadow over the fairness of the electoral process.

“Let no one pretend that there is no political engineering today,” said former PPP senator Farhatullah Babar. “In some respects, political engineering today is worse than it was in the past,” he added.

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 The veteran politician, who seeks to uphold human rights and wants across-the-board accountability, observed that political engineering was condemnable in the past, in the present and in the future.

When asked to elaborate further, Babar told The Express Tribune that the temptation to speak further on the issue was great, but for the time being it should be enough to say that political engineering was taking place.

“Stage-managed TV interviews of PTI renegades under duress, not producing them before the courts, multiple re-arrests and one-sided media trials all point towards it,” Babar maintained.

The former senator continued that what Imran and the PTI did in the past was wrong and condemnable but what is being carried out now no better either. “Two wrongs don't make a right,” he continued.

Eminent scholar Professor Dr Hassan Askari seconded Babar, saying that there was way more political engineering now than in the past.
In fact, the professor emeritus of political science went on to say that it was happening with a consistent pattern and the situation was worse than what happened during military dictator Gen Ziaul Haq’s era.

Read more: IHC to take up Imran’s post-arrest plea today

“Political engineering is taking place right now and the same old game is being played in a modern context,” Professor Askari noted.
He revealed that several people -- with whom he spoke with after their release from jails -- shared that police took their remand from the courts but there were “other people” who would take them away, beat them up and returned to the cops.

“It’s like a remand during a remand,” he pointed out.

To Professor Askari, political leaders were responsible for the engineering under way as they preferred temporary benefits. “At the moment, the PML-N is the beneficiary of the political engineering and they are taking full advantage of the opportunity,” he claimed.

However, Professor Askari maintained that the phenomenon of political engineering was not entirely new as it happened to the PPP and to “some extent” to the PML-N as well.

However, he claimed that the maltreatment of the PTI had “surpassed all limits of the past”.

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The PTI is facing a crackdown in the wake of the May 9 attacks on civil and military installations after the arrest of Imran from the premises of the Islamabad High Court by dozens of Rangers personnel in connection with a corruption case.

There is also an unspoken ban on taking the PTI chief’s name and airing his party leaders’ interviews on TV news channels. Imran, who was convicted in the Toshakhana [gift repository) case and later granted bail, is still in Adiala Jail as he was re-arrested in connection with several other matters, including the one involving a diplomatic cypher.

The fate of his party leaders, who have not yet abandoned him during the mass exodus, is no different.

Some political experts cautiously said political parties faced difficulties after falling out with the ‘powerful circles’ and that was happening again.