The
Government of India Act 1935 declared “Pakistan” only as an independent
dominion. Then in the constitution of 1956, the state was named as the “Islamic
Republic of Pakistan.” However, when the constitution of 1962 was promulgated,
the state of Pakistan found a new name, “Republic of Pakistan” with the prefix
“Islamic” dropped. The same was restored to its original position in 1963. Down
the road, the constitution of 1973 retained this nomenclature for the state of
Pakistan; so the name resonates to this day.
But
one question has perennially been raising its head through the 7 decades of the
history of Pakistani state: Did this naming, renaming, i.e. conversion and
neutralization of the state of Pakistan make any difference to the life of the
ordinary citizens of Pakistan? Has the politics which produced, abrogated,
suspended or put in abeyance these constitutions been able to provide the
ordinary citizens with what a state is in any case is required to provide them
with as its first and the foremost duty? Did the state of Pakistan regardless
of its nomenclature protect life and property of its citizens? Did it help them
live a life of their choice? Did it help them live in freedom? Did it help them
realize their dreams?
The
answer to all such questions is a big and desperate NO! In fact, from the very
beginning, the politicians set to build a kingdom of their own. This was
despite the controversy which entrenched its feet even earlier than the death
of the Father of the Nation. This controversy survives to this day and revolves
around the crucial question concerning the nature of the state of Pakistan,
i.e. what kind of a state Muhammad Ali Jinnah wanted Pakistan to be? After
about 68 years, this question is being debated probably more forcefully now
than in the early days. What is strange and rather magical is that both the
politics and polity of Pakistan are oblivious of that debate; what little
difference it could make and made may be seen written in the constitution and
other books of laws, which are again have nothing to do with the real
day-to-day life of the ordinary citizens.
How
this political kingdom came to be established is a long-winded story which may
be summarized thus: Political parties monopolized politics by politically
enslaving their workers, sympathizers, and voters; this they do by inculcating
in them personality cult of their leaders; the political leaders in their power
politics never espouse any values and principles and these characterizations of
their politics trickled down not only to their lower cadres but found a fertile
soil in the populace also; political parties solely focus on their own party
interests (read personal agendas of their leaders) and they never think of
political evolution of Pakistan which is borne out by the unfinished debate
about the nature of the state of Pakistan; political parties divided the
country into their political principalities (read geographical delimitation of
vote banks) and use them as the support-base of their political kingdom;
political parties use all of their politics just to keep their hold intact on
their political principalities so that they are always able to seize political
power; political parties always befool their workers and voters under the guise
of deceptive slogans which never come to serve the interests of the people;
political parties always opt for the politics of non-issues such as problems of
personality, family, larger and bigger shows and processions, etc; political
parties never do the politics of real issues which the people miserably face
daily; they never tell the people how they would be taxing them and regulating
their life, and how they would be spending their tax-money; etc.
No
doubt, if one deciphers that manual of Paki political parties some of the rules
of which have been listed above, one may see how the political kingdom was
built and maintained, and how it perpetuates. All this trickery is performed
under the pseudonym of Democracy. This magical democracy provides politicians with
alibis to violate morality, rules and laws and social values. It is this
character of the political kingdom which this specialty of the politicians
explains well: they live, behave and act like kings and princes with no fear of
accountability; they submit to no rules and laws; whenever such a fear takes
shape, they would manipulate the relevant rules and laws; they put themselves
above all rules and laws and morals, and in their ultimate existence they are
law unto themselves.
This
political kingdom of Pakistan seems like a fantasy, but it’s more than real.
Its existence was very much noticeable a few weeks earlier when the Azadi and
Inqilab Marches of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and Pakistan Awami Tehreek
respectively were making headlines in the newspapers and TV channels. Actually
this political kingdom has no vital and reciprocative relation with the
ordinary citizens; it descends down only when it is in an emergency in the face
of challenges (read threats) from the elements external (read security establishment)
to it; but this kingdom’s ambivalent relationship with the security
establishment is too obvious to be legitimized; it needs to be understood in
the context of a power tussle, and not in the context of what the constitution
of the country dictates. That highlights the unconstitutional character of this
political kingdom.
It
is in this perspective that the politics of all the political parties needs to
be explained and understood. No matter it is Muslim League-N, Peoples Party,
Muslim League-Q, PTI, Jamat-e-Islami, Awami National Party,
Jamiat-a-Ulema-e-Islam-F, or others, all of them are part and parcel of this
political kingdom. And a kingdom can never be devoid of intrigues and
conspiracies on the one hand, and treacheries and betrayals on the other; that
is what History tells. Who’s a friend today may be an enemy tomorrow, i.e. the
parties which support democracy today may be undermining it tomorrow. Asif Ali
Zardari who is standing with Nawaz Sharif today may be abandoning him tomorrow
in his bid to conquer back PPPP’s principality in the province of Punjab. It’s
a political kingdom, where nobody knows what’s going to happen the next moment;
it’s not a constitutional state, where whatever is going to happen tomorrow is
constitutionally predictable!
This article was completed on
October 13, 2014, and was originally posted in November 2014.
