- By Nazia Nazar
Najam Sethi, Editor Friday Times wrote yet another anti-state editorial in 3rd April 2020’s issue titled ‘Fallout’. He wrote: “The outlook for Pak is definitely depressing against COVID-19. They remain bitterly divided. The civil-military establishment have abandoned all pretext of political neutrality; the selected PM and ruling party are still focused more on hounding the opposition than tackling the challenge of COVID-19. The philosophy of poverty that defines the health of a nation is abysmally lost in the poverty of philosophy of the ruling classes”. Then he drew a gloomy picture of world economy, as if the world has witnessed the pandemic first time, not realizing the world recovered from pandemics and economic crisis many a time in the past. He then presaged that the new world could be, in the short term at least, more fearful, more circumspect, more distrusting of the other.
He appeared more concerned about the ongoing process of accountability, and expected of Imran Khan to forget about accountability, and let the business of corrupt practices continue as usual. He wrote: “A national leader of substance would have risen to the challenge by formulating a strategy of national sacrifice and survival. He would have abandoned the path of political victimization of opponents and invited them to share a platform for a national consensus on the way forward”. Imran Khan tried to create consensus on strategy to combat coronavirus. PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari had suggested not to criticize Imran Khan. PML-N leaders Khaqan Abbassi and Khwaja Saad Rafique opined that opposition should lend its support to the government to overcome the deadly virus. The problem is that Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah in his lengthy press conferences blames the federal government for not cooperating with provinces, and at the end he says please do not politicize the coronavirus.
Naturally PTI leaders would not take the accusations lying down, and would expose the flawed strategy of the Sindh CM. Anyhow, for some time government and opposition parties have shown harmony on more than one occasion. The National Assembly and the Senate had approved all three amendment bills concerning the tenure of service chiefs and chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee. Almost all the political parties had shown maturity, exhibited a sense of national cohesion and unity. Following the Supreme Court’s verdict of 28th November 2019, which awarded a six-month extension to Army Chief General Qamar Bajwa, and referred the matter to parliament to formulate laws and redefine the Army Act’s clauses about Army Chief’s retirement and extension, the PTI government had presented in the National Assembly and the Senate. Majority of media anchors and analysts had criticized the PPP and the PML-N for supporting the bill.
Most of the channels showed footages of PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif in which he had criticized establishment and vowed to establish civilian supremacy. They questioned whether by lending support to the bill unconditionally was the way to establish supremacy of the constitution? If PML-N has abandoned the course of confrontation with the institutions, it should be appreciated, as the environment of cooperation could help resolve other important issues such as appointment of NAB chairman, Chief Election Commissioner and others. Of course, PPP and the PML-N or any other party would stand for sovereignty of the Parliament, and would not like that judiciary should meddle in the affairs of executive, as today it is PTI’ prime minister, and tomorrow it could be PPP’s or PML-N’s prime minister. It was heartening to note Pakistan Stock market’s rise; rupee was stable against dollar; and there was hope for improvement in Pakistan’s economy.
It should be borne in mind that geo-politics surrounding Pakistan is extremely critical which does not require State to get involved in petty internal disputes, but to concentrate on threats in the making on our western and eastern borders, and lately Pandemic Coronavirus. The consensus and joint efforts by mainstream political parties is being appreciated by the general public, except a handful of so-called analysts that are critical of the national unity and political harmony. Anyhow, this whole process of amendment to Army act was supportive of the argument that how democracy was gaining strength in Pakistan, something which the enemies of Pakistan could not digest easily. Our peers in the media too should hold their horses. Instead of cheerleaders, they should now for a change become moderators. They should stop pitting one organ of the state against another.