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  June 12, 2023

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Home (/) / Another cutting edge: Pakistan’s decaying democratic journey

Another
cutting edge: Opinion (/Opinion)
Pakistan’s
decaying Baria Alamuddin

democratic
(/taxonomy/term/4071)

The rule of law

journey victorious, or
justice weaponized?
(/taxonomy/term/4071)

(/node/2319941)
Short Url
https://arab.news/gb3mn Maleeha Lodhi
(/taxonomy/term/390816)
(/taxonomy/term/346156)
Another decade, The past as present
NASIM ZEHRA
another (/node/2319526) (/taxonomy/term/390
precipice,
(/TAXONOMY/TERM/346156)

another cutting
June 10, 2023 edge experience. Zahid Hussain
12:54
(/taxonomy/term/61451)
Pakistan’s Pakistan needs a
political charter of economy (/taxonomy/term/61451
 (/#facebook) managers-- its to move forward
powerful military (/node/2319196)
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 (/#linkedin) continue to
significantly Nasim Zehra
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influence (/taxonomy/term/346156)
 Pakistan’s Another cutting edge:
decaying Pakistan’s decaying (/taxonomy/term/346

Follow democratic democratic journey
journey. The (/node/2319141)
exercise of extra
constitutional
Daoud Kuttab
authority,
(/taxonomy/term/4976)
continuing
tribal-type The US should not
battles among compromise on (/taxonomy/term/4976)
political parties Israel’s profiling of
Americans
(and the parties’
(/node/2318921)
willingness to
play B-team
MORE IN OPINION (/OPINION)
within the
establishment’s
extra-
constitutional
plans), keeps
Pakistan squarely
in the zones of
instability and Latest Updates
terrible
governance. 
Pakistanis among 90
migrants rescued from
Added to the US-flagged yacht in
context within distress off Greece (/node/2320191/pakistan
(/node/2320191/pakistan)
which Pakistan’s
establishment
Pakistani envoy to
wields power is return to Sudan this
the May 9 week as fighting rages
indirect Pakistan after brief pause (/node/2320186/pakista
Tehreek-e-Insaf (/node/2320186/pakistan)
(PTI) and army
confrontation. US decides to rejoin
UNESCO and pay
Hours after back dues, to counter
Imran Khan was Chinese influence (/node/2320181/world)
arrested, angry (/node/2320181/world)
PTI supporters
responded by
attacking military
3 British nationals
properties and confirmed dead after
installations Red Sea boat blaze
including the (/node/2320161/middle- (/node/2320161/middle-
east) east)
corps
commanders
house, the Gaza graffiti artists
national army bedeck houses
destroyed by Israel in
headquarters, war (/node/2320131/middle-
the air force (/node/2320131/middle- east)
base, intel offices east)
and defaced
images of
martyrs etc.
While the need to
roll back all
challenges in the
forms of violent
attacks on the
state need
unequivocal
pushback, and
harsh deterrents,
especially
punishments for
proven
protesters,
attackers and
planners is a
must, it seems
the army-led
response to PTI’s
May 9 attacks has
dovetailed into
the broader PTI-
establishment
battle which
began post
February 2021. 
" Currently,
the
near
winding
up
of
the
Imran
Khan
experiment
is
overlapping
with
the
initiation
of
another
experiment.
PTI
is
to
be
replaced
with
Istehkam-
e-
Pakistan
Party
(IPP). 

"
-
Nasim
Zehra

Significantly, May
9 did throw up a
severe encounter
between a
political party
and the state
which protects
the legal, security
and
administrative
framework
within which
democratic
politics functions
and operates.
The state’s
response is the
dismantlement of
PTI. 

Currently, the
near winding up
of the Imran
Khan experiment
is overlapping
with the
initiation of
another
experiment. PTI
is to be replaced
with Istehkam-e-
Pakistan Party
(IPP). Khan’s own
former deputy, a
successful
businessman
who entered
politics during
military ruler
general Parvez
Musharraf’s
regime, will lead
IPP. 

More than 100

former PTI
politicians,
including PTI’s
core members,
federal ministers
and
parliamentarians
have become
IPP’s founding
members. Their
re-launch path
has been fairly
straightforward.
From arrest to
release, from
release to
abandoning PTI
and Khan,
declaring a break
from politics; and
from declaration
to rapid return to
politics and into
the IPP fold! 

All this is
happening
against the
backdrop of too
much in flux- the
economy,
judiciary,
inflation-struck
people with
millions tumbling
below the
dreaded poverty
line, the rupee
rapidly losing
purchasing
power-- all with
no quick fix in
sight. 

Alongside a few
desperate efforts
by the
government to fix
critical economic
problems,
political hostility
has been in full
swing. PTI’s top
and mid-level
leadership and
party structure
have nearly
disappeared. The
bridge between
Imran Khan and
his supporters
has nearly
collapsed and
communication
channels are
being pushed
back though
PEMRA orders or
network
restrictions. PTI
now stands as a
greatly wounded
entity. 

The political
undoing was
initiated in 2021
by personal and
policy
differences,
accentuated by
Khan’s largely
simplistic and
contentious
brand of politics
that rebuked and
never engaged
with opposition
parties. A change
of command in
the Pakistan
army brought to
the top the very
man Khan had
unceremoniously
removed from
the top slot of
Pakistan’s
premier
intelligence
agency. Was the
PTI-
establishment
battle then
inevitable? This
will remain a
question that
many ponder for
a long time. 

While the divide

between the two
has grown wider,
placing PTI
outside of
Pakistan’s
mainstream
political
landscape, there
were occasions
when Khan could
have led PTI’s
political
‘comeback’ into
electoral politics.
But on Khan’s
own instruction,
this engagement
never
materialized.
Most important
to mention are
the government-
PTI talks on
holding elections.
Dates for
dissolving the
National
Assembly in end
June and holding
elections on
either September
31or October 1
was decided.
However, Khan
instructed his
team to call off
the talks unless
there was
immediate
dissolution of the
National
Assembly- a
demand that
surprised even
his own
negotiators.

As if to seal the
fate of the talks,
on May 28, the
newly appointed
PTI President
Parvez Elahi’s
house was raided
to arrest him.
And Imran Khan
took the bait.

Recently came
the notable
release of Imran
Khan’s political
deputy, the
experienced and
cautious
politician Shah
Mahmud Qureshi
and the inheritor
of his political
mantle, without
disavowing of
either the PTI or
Imran Khan,
which raised
many questions
about the future
of the PTI.

If Pakistan’s own
history is any
guide, the
establishment
failed to erase
the Bhuttos or
the Sharifs and
even the
Bizenjos, the
Mengals, Marris
and Khan Abdul
Ghaffar Khan’s
progeny from
Pakistan’s
political
landscape. 

For the PTI

however,
Pakistan’s
powerful
quarters may not
seek a
reincarnation in
any mode. The
emergence of the
Tareen-led IPP
emphasizes plans
to reduce PTI to
naught. 

With PTI’s
dismantling
underway,
through legal,
quasi-legal and
illegal ways, the
May 9 saga does
introduce a new
dimension to an
existing
challenge for all
democratic
societies: How do
you align the two:
The compulsions
of the
constitutionally-
consented
framework
essential for
survival, with
democratic
freedoms now
virtually
unbridled in the
digital era?

For Pakistan
specifically, the
question is
whether
unbridled
power-play will
remain dominant
in determining
Pakistan’s
political
landscape, or will
rule of law
 become the
dominant factor
defining the
exercise of
authority,
democracy and
governance.

- Nasim Zehra is
an author,
analyst and
national security
expert. Twitter: @NasimZehra

Disclaimer:
Views
expressed by
writers in this
section are
their own and
do not
necessarily
reflect Arab
News' point-of-
view

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