Last call

Political engineering has been and is the buzzword for democratic governance in Pakistan since after the military intervention started in the late 1950s and the appetite of the forces-that-be to impact the process has simply not abated. In fact, it has reached a point where they do not hesitate to adopt measures that prove extremely harmful to the interests of the country. They are not satisfied that they hold all aces but insist that all other stakeholders should acquiesce in whatever they do. Their insistence on unqualified acceptance of plans they intend pursuing has created deep fissures within the polity impeding socio-political and economic development as the current economic crisis portrays. It has become quite clear that the lack of a widespread consensus about national policies is the central issue and that the forces-that-be are the main hurdle in letting it happen. This disconnect has already proved extremely harmful to the collective interest of the country and, if followed persistently, may bring the situation to a harm that may be undone.
The country is in profound crisis but it is surprising to see that the forces that matter in the country are still resorting to same old tactics to resolve issues that failed repeatedly and brought the country to the current crisis. It was widely assumed that the forces in question, with the emphasis they place upon acquiring knowledge through rigorous courses in many institutions they have established themselves, would have learnt and realised the futility of traversing the same path again and again with same set of solutions and expecting something radically different to come out. By the looks of it what is becoming clear is that they are unfortunately employing the old playbook that has failed them before repeatedly. One shudders to think that despite running out of innovative yet viable options such forces are bent upon asserting their dominance without realising that the course they take may prove disastrous.
It is abundantly clear that as their machinations unfold the prospects of real democratic governance will go awry and may usher in further uncertainty. The old tactics of splintering political groupings and trying to create unnatural alliances have not produced intended results and expecting that they will do this time may be living in a self-righteous cocoon. Artificial political parties have been birthed by dissidents to fracture the electoral landscape, create kingmakers and produce malleable governments but these sinister efforts have simply increased instability. It is not surprising that such parties get adherents as the authors of such puerile schemes who apparently have not given up on them despite witnessing them fail miserably.
The situation is aggravated by the fact that the political parties have been deprived of robust resistance and may not be able to remain viable alternative. Viewed in this backdrop where would the arbitrary forces go when cornered off this time round is a very worrying question. Apparently, this eventuality is conveniently ignored and may prove very difficult to rectify when the time comes. The insistence on this self-defeating measure speaks volumes about the tunnel-vision harboured by the forces that matter in the country. It has proved futile to make them understand that their stratagems are no more practical and will not be effective at all with the possibility of them boomeranging.
The unfortunate thing about democratic governance in Pakistan is that it has never allowed to mature into anything resembling institutionalised processed duly recognised as such. It has been repeatedly portrayed as a quest by power hungry groups to hog administrative authority and run riot with the resources of the state. The permanent state apparatus has played havoc with democratically elected dispensations on this pretext so many times that it has simply become meaningless. Even the rabid supporters of the arbitrary forces have started to voice disagreement and concern about this approach though it is evidently falling on deaf ears.
By resorting to the old tactics, the arbitrary forces have become the main source of dysfunctionality in the country. Their actions have opened up huge craters within the body politic of Pakistan that have the potential of subsuming the very essence of nationhood. The only way to make them realise their folly is to build a national democratic political consensus imbued with real democratic values bereft of self-serving ambitions. It may be asking too much from the polarised democratic political elements who are kept in consistent turmoil by the overcentralised arbitrary force that has usurped institutional dominance of the state. Nevertheless, this is the only viable option available to the civilian political elements and if they fail to do so then the country may actually face existential crisis. It probably is the last call to summon whatever resolve is left with the badly mauled democratic political spirit before the national cause is irretrievably lost. TW