Pak SC view of its army reflects our reality too

Pakistan's apex court has hit the nail on the head of the Pak Army without mincing words about its role and failures in the light of the Faizabad dharna that took place in November 2017 and its repercussions that paralysed life in Islamabad and Rawalpindi when TLP protesters blocked the interchange roads in the two cities.

The violent protests in fact, had called for insurrection against the incumbent government then. Pakistan was stunned despite being aware of the role of militants and extremists and terrorists in the country and their influence on the polity. Faizabad dharna, for those unaware of the ‘behind the scene’ activity, was a culmination of dirty politics and manipulation skills of the army and the government agencies.

On the one hand, the protests were illegal and led to brutal repression of the peaceful protesters. On the other hand, illegal, blatantly violent hate-mongers, got away with their arson and treason shocking the nation. Media too was not allowed to write about and expose the happenings of the day.

The Pakistan's Supreme Court rightly observed “when institutions stay within their designated constitutional boundaries and there is an effective system of check and balance, citizens stay safe and the State prospers. The trouble starts with self-proclaimed saviours”.

Why does Pakistani's establishment encourage anti-democratic tendencies and anti-democratic forces that destroys the inter-institutional power balance? Opposition politicians always collude with such elements to destabilise and bring down elected governments.

That is the tragedy called Pakistan. Perhaps, this attitude is not confined to Pakistan alone but to the entire sub-continent. While, in Pakistan, the fundamental principles of democracy have been forgotten yielding place to bureaucracy, autocracy and dictatorship, the very democracy and the power it bestows upon one is used to manipulate the society in India.

The stark reality and difference in these two countries is that people at the helm of various wings of governance try to manipulate the governments of the day in Pakistan whereas, in India, it is the government that manipulates various institutions like the CBI, ED, IT and other investigative agencies.

This is not happening just now. We have seen how these institutions were used by the powers that be during their rule is evident in the cases filed against Opposition leaders and opponents.

Those who do not have cases as of now and in power would anyway see those same investigative agencies raiding their and their kin in future once they are out of power. Raids and cases seem to be the fall out of politics and not because of corruption which is a constant to them.

The issue here, hence, is whether are not one is corrupt. It is more about the bureaucracy which is ever willing to bend before the masters and do their bidding. Why should it be so servile and obliging? Can we expect those to be clean then? Pakistan and India were achieved by (whether one likes it or not) by men of integrity and conscience who gave up their everything for freedom. The observations of Pak Supreme Court are not binding on us, yet those reflect our reality too.