The idea and the phrase ‘National Action Plan’ when had come into being late in 2014 after the APS tragedy, had sounded fascinating to every ear in the country. Hopes had risen in our minds that the country would be put at last on the path of self-correcting investigation on the one hand, and of resolute drive to root out terrorism of all kinds from our society and soil.
Initially it was believed by many that ‘national action’ would not be restricted only to ‘hunting down’ the mercenaries used for bombings and shootings to generate terror in the society, but also would cover the long-neglected or long-overlooked area of unearthing and putting to accountability, the practitioners of corruption and facilitators of crime who had been flourishing behind the façade of respectability.
Infact it was General Raheel Sharif whose impassioned statements had raised these nationwide expectations and generated great longings for a corruption-free Pakistan. That dream, if not dead, has suffered a kind of stroke. With the date of General Raheel Sharif’s retirement rushing on to us, all that the counter-forces of the above national dream and popular longings have to do to celebrate their survival is to see through a few weeks without a major nightmare or earthquake.
Such is the growing confidence of these status quo forces that a man of Rana Sanaullah’s stature and character had the courage to issue a statement designed to rebuff the country’s powerful Army Chief. That this statement could not have been issued without the blessings of Mian Nawaz Sharif goes without saying. That the PM had chosen a minion to rebuff the General speaks volumes about the growing confidence of those forces which are products of corruption, and which can’t survive and prosper unless the seeds they sow keep yielding rich crops.
The last few days were quite hectic. There have been meetings and meetings and behind-the-scene maneuvers, stunning statements, counter-moves—and finally the news that a monitoring/implementation committee headed by Lt Gen ( r) Janjua had been formed to ensure that the National Action Plan was not history.
The PML (N) camp, is still nervous, but there are broader similes on the faces of its spokespersons.
Who will win?
Pakistan? or the forces determined to stay in control, so that the right of the rich to get richer, and to rule this nation remains intact?
Politics and Corruption-free society can’t co-exist.
