Is Pakistan’s politics becoming a big mess? Well, it seems so. You hear bashing from each side. Whether it is the Pakistan Muslim League or Pakistan Peoples Party; the Jamiat, the Jam’at or the newly formed Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party. Each side is bashing the other one. Just a few weeks ago, they were all standing behind each other’s back. One would question the support for the otherwise opposition parties. Yet, they were all in government for good sixteen months.
Alas! the times in government and opposition are different. All these parties were jointly in government under the umbrella of Pakistan Democratic Movement. They were all enjoying the perks and privileges’ of being in the government. It seemed everything was perfect in the country with one national government of all political parties; except one.
However, after the dissolution of government and takeover of the caretaker setup, the things did change. And, they did change so significantly that even the good steps in the previous days look bad now. Imagine an estranged wife. What happens? All the love, the cuddles, the romance or anything good turns into the worst nightmare. The couple realizes they weren’t in an ideal relationship for the years they lived together.
It isn’t much different for the political opponents of Pakistan as of today. You find Bilawal Bhutto blaming Shehbaz Sharif or the N-League for being a favorite of the establishment. The entire PDM government put the same blame previously on the PTI government and Imran Khan. Similarly, the N-League leaders mock Bilawal for his party’s performance in the Sindh province. Well, it was common. Yet, it all stopped when Imran Khan came to power. These eternal political enemies became friends. They had a common ground then. But now, things have completely changed.
Is Pakistan’s politics becoming a big mess?
The answer seems yes. After the launch of caretaker government under Prime Minister Kakar, the political activities took a huge turn. Earlier, the problem was a single one. That of conducting elections on time. The constitution demands an election within 90 days after the elected government packs up. However, the outgoing parliament played a wonderful trick of asking the Election Commission of Pakistan to conduct delimitation first.
Thus, the elections were destined to be postponed. Resultantly, the elections weren’t taking place until recently. Although, the elections are announced for February 2024. It is yet to be seen how the caretaken setup and Election Commission of Pakistan conducts free and fair elections in the country.
While all this mess continues, the blame game in between the major political parties has also begun. There are multiple claims of favoritism, selectiveness and support for one group or the other in each part of the country. One political party believes that the other has support. The other considers it that the third one has the support. And this continues between all political players.
Political Process in Pakistan
The process has remained a mess in the country. All the four governments could not complete their tenure in the decade of 1990s. Later, the country was under military rule as the new millennium began. For the last 20 years, every Prime Minister was sacked unceremoniously from the office. All the prime ministers in Pakistan were sent packing through the Supreme Court of Pakistan. It is clearly apparent that there wasn’t any political strength of these parties to stand for their own rights. Rather, all of them served as puppets to their respective establishment leaders.
Today, it seems all the same. However, the arrest of PTI leader has created a huge void and the current political opponents are just chasing each other with same old techniques. It isn’t going to work; it is evident. And, thus it will further remain a mess whosoever takes over the government in Pakistan early next year.
