May 9 attacks hurt entire polity, not just PTI
By MNS
STATE OF THE NATION
WHAT transpired on May 9, 2023 has clearly shown how a single day can make or break a popular political party. Even if it cannot be said with certainty yet that former prime minister Imran Khan did indeed instruct his party’s workers and activists to attack army installations on that fateful day, the party as a whole cannot wash their hands of the disastrous events that took place. Because their actions did not just smack of lack of patriotism but bordered on treason, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) activists directly involved in the incidents should not escape retribution.
Even if it’s ever proved conclusively that he did not plan or order those attacks, Mr Khan will still be deemed guilty of promoting a cult following among his admirers and also failing to school them properly in ways of a disciplined political party. (Such was his attitude before May that each time he was cornered on any matter, among the first things he uttered words such as: “I still have many surprises up my sleeve.” Nobody told him in clear terms that he was not supposed to “shock and awe” anybody, but rather to serve the country and its people either as chief executive of the country or the leader of the opposition. Getting into power should therefore be viewed as a means to serve the masses and nothing more. So, there simply was no need to sacrifice everybody and everything for the sake of power.)
The actions of May 9 proved to be singularly disastrous not only because they dealt a tough blow to the PTI but also because they destroyed all hopes of us Pakistanis having a polity devoid of military intervention in the foreseeable future. Until that fateful day last year, the army had been touting neutrality and vowing to act as an apolitical entity going forward. In response, Mr Khan used to say that only animals could remain neutral and apolitical, equating its top brass with such hated historical characters as Mir Jafar and Mir Sadiq. To the dismay of people who wanted to see the end of military intervention in politics, Mr Khan wanted the establishment to keep on meddling in politics, but only in his favour.
The claims on the part of former army chief Gen Qamar Bajwa and current Army Chief Gen Asim Munir that the army would remain neutral in all matters political had sent a wave of relief, even elation, among all those who wanted to see the Constitution implemented in letter and spirit and free of military intervention. Although Mr Khan and company had fired many broadsides at it, army under the command of Gen Munir initially showed exemplary patience and largely kept away from political matters.
Many people, especially those supporting the parties other than PTI, were no doubt happy at this turn of events as they thought the times of army’s neutrality had finally and truly arrived. They sort of wished to see almost all the parties join hands over the single agenda of showing to the military the proverbial door from which it could exit the political arena. But for that to happen, Mr Khan, after being ousted from the power corridors just as Nawaz Sharif was removed thrice, needed to stay low for a while and then slowly proceed to bury the hatchet with his rivals. But alas that did not happen, simply because Mr Khan knows when to start a fight but not when and how to end one.
So the events of May 9 upset the apple cart in a big way. Stung by the alleged PTI bid to bring about a mutiny in the army in the wake of Mr Khan’s arrest and armed with irrefutable proof that the party’s mid-level leaders, workers and activists had taken the law into their hands on that infamous day, the army resolved to fix the problem on its own. The top brass, therefore, insisted that all the perpetrators should be tried under the Army Act of 1952. Then the military sleuths and investigators began calling all the shots in the ongoing crackdown on the PTI.
Analysts agree that on May 9 the PTI set out to turn the tide in its fierce conflict with both the establishment and the PDM parties, but what it managed to do instead was shoot itself in the foot. One feels, however, that despite numerous predictions of his political demise, Mr Khan’s career as a politician is still far from over. Although he has been disqualified from electoral politics, the jury is still out on the influence he will be wielding in politics in the years ahead.
A case in point is Nawaz Sharif’s continued influence over his PML-N, and by extension over the country’s politics, despite his ouster from politics at least twice during his career. In a similar vein, Mr Khan may be down at the moment but not necessarily out.