Democratic triumph

An unexpected democratic victory. The day of dignified defiance. An extraordinary show of public power. A powerful democratic revolution. An unprecedented yet peaceful defiance of the chronic status quo. Something out of the syllabus. A once-in-history democratic victory. A momentous pronouncement of public verdict. A day of public reckoning. All these and many other epithets were ascribed to February 8, flooding the social and, to some extent, mainstream media post-election in Pakistan. More than an electoral practice, February 8 marked an ultimate defiance of falsified narratives and the politics of parasitism that have preyed on the people since the country’s inception. The public’s verdict, accumulated over decades, has finally been pronounced — loud and clear — a verdict of defiance.

Finally, the public has spoken, reclaiming their space and shattering the culture of dread. Among the positive aspects that defined it, narratives and surveys sponsored or conducted by its beneficiaries have finally bitten the dust. Moreover, the public has decisively rejected arbitrary wedges based on nationalism, regionalism and ethnicity, burying the elite-centric policies of division, ruin and rule.

In this historic moment, the public has reclaimed the ground that rightfully belongs to them. They have condemned the compromised judiciary which, colluding with power, eroded public trust in the constitution and fundamental rights. The voice of the vote has delivered a verdict against crony capitalists, a sold-out media and the courtier tendencies of the bureaucracy. The public has rejected self-proclaimed champions of democracy and architects of social chaos. Moreover, they have defied anything that opposed them in any form. This is also a verdict against institutional outreach and kleptocratic practices perpetrated against the people.

Unlike a history of compliance, the public has thrown down the gauntlet against megalomaniac elites thriving on the lives and labour of the public for decades. The day has proven all political pundits, surveys and predictions wrong, defying the authoritarianism and hollow rhetoric that had swept across the political landscape for decades.

The people have defied decades-old parasitic political practices, which have plundered the public under the pretext of politics. They have resisted individuals who cloaked themselves as saviours and rejected hybrid setups that have been in place since the country’s inception. The public has guarded its mandate as the ultimate kingmaker and rightly emerged as the rightful political engineer. In unprecedented defiance of the megalomaniac status quo, the people of Pakistan have emerged victorious.

However, it would be an injustice if the real architects of the day weren’t given due consideration — the youth. Despite repressions, crackdowns and the denial of a fair field to the party, let alone a level-playing field, the people have fought back with unprecedented strength through the power of the vote. A persecuted party faced challenges, including a jailed leader, thousands of detained workers, numerous criminal cases, the stripping of its electoral symbol, media blackouts and police raids. However, these obstacles could not deter the public from potentially pronouncing their verdict in favour of the incarcerated king. Moreover, the unprecedented participation of women in the electoral process is laudable and bodes well for the future of democracy in the country.

Regardless of its acknowledgement of the mandate, the people have peacefully fought and won the game. Unsurprisingly, the overwhelming public mandate seems to have been rigged in favour of the traditional elite. However, the megalomaniac political parties aiming at making it to power with utter disregard for public mandates are bound to end in smoke, costing dearly on their political future and exacerbating instability in the country. Also, a questionable and compromised political setup is bound to bode ill for the country in general and the establishment in particular.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 18^th, 2024.

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