Abdullah Atif
Pakistan’s history tells us that whenever the weaknesses of the establishment start becoming clear to the people, and it wants to tighten its grip on the civilian system even further, it creates an artificial crisis. The real aim of that crisis is always the one the establishment had fixed in advance, and for that aim it goes as far as it has to.
The recent announcement of new provinces was one link in the same chain. And yet hardly any sensible person would see the solution to the country’s problems in cutting the country into still smaller pieces. But this is our military mafia, which sees the solution to the country’s problems in new provinces, and in truth it wants to use new provinces as the excuse to bring its own new plans to fruition.
At the same time, the imposition of an emergency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and President Zardari’s immediate signature are part of a calculated plan. Looked at closely, the situation on the ground is not so grave that a state of emergency should be imposed. The problem exists, granted, but it can be solved through the police, the district administration and local jirgas. Paralyzing the entire provincial government through Articles 232 and 234 of the constitution serves only one purpose: to create a justification for the security agencies to step in.
In other words, imposing an emergency while civil and political routes are open proves that solving the problem is no part of their aim. They want to show the people that “the civilian governments have become incompetent, so now the army alone is the solution to the whole situation.”
In this game the role of the president and the rest of the political leadership is deeply regrettable, as they blindly stamp their approval on the establishment’s decisions to keep themselves in power. This makes it clear as day where their strings are being pulled from and whose tune they are dancing to. It also becomes clear how successful these self-proclaimed champions of democracy really are, and whether their democracy is even still alive or not.
So blowing a small matter out of proportion and then using it as the excuse to impose an emergency is an attack on provincial autonomy, and it hollows out the federation from within. The final result is that the security agencies get unchecked powers so that they can fulfill their dreams and loot the country and its people even more, because they consider neither the people nor the country their own.
These very elements, wearing the cloak of protectors, are the real enemies of this country. They have neither spared the people’s lives nor guarded their property, and they have only widened the distance between the people and the state.
So artificial crises are no solution for the country. The real solution lies in creating an atmosphere of balance and justice in all the provinces.
