OUR politicians seem to have no appetite for politics: they would all rather ride to power in a jeep than on the shoulders of the masses they claim to represent. Despite the wanton destruction wrought on the structural framework of Pakistani democracy over the last two years, neither its victims nor its beneficiaries seem to have had enough.

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Instead of reverting to the constitutional order, they want things to continue hurtling towards more instability and disorder. Politicians repeatedly reject the most sensible paths forward, thereby ensuring that any salvation for the country keeps being put off. This is an immense disservice to the people of Pakistan. Politics and leadership are not a zero-sum game, yet they are now regarded as such. Perhaps this is an inevitable outcome of the militarisation of politics, but the notion needs to be consciously rejected for the country to move forward.

The PTI has once again ruled out the possibility of talks with the government. The snub came in response to a proposal made by PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif for an all-parties effort to pull the country out of its crises. The PTI’s position is that it does not see the PML-N or its allies in the coalition government as legitimate counterparties because it believes they won through a rigged election. Instead, the PTI only wishes to speak to the security establishment, which, paradoxically, it also repeatedly condemns as the main force behind its ongoing victimisation.

But if the PTI is willing to let bygones be bygones when it comes to the armed forces, why can it not extend the same courtesy to its rival parties, which, for all their flaws, represent the people of Pakistan? For this, it has no reasonable answer.

Meanwhile, the PML-N and its allies continue to dig deeper into the hole. Once seen as the protectors of Pakistan’s democratic order, they have lately defaulted to using scorched-earth tactics in their desperation to keep the PTI out of power. In April 2022, when they ousted the PTI government over its oppressive policies, few would have expected they would midwife Pakistan’s rapid slide towards totalitarianism.

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Yet here we are, with each day bringing with it a new scheme to thwart the Supreme Court or subvert the constitutional order. Due to their clumsy wielding of power, they have made it progressively more difficult for all stakeholders to retreat from their positions. For instance, negotiation and dialogue would have seemed much more plausible had the government kept its distance from the persecution of political opponents and refused to upend democratic principles in exchange for retaining power.

There are now only difficult ways out of this mess. Politics requires compromise. Till the civilian leadership accepts this, nothing can be expected to change.

Published in Dawn, September 3rd, 2024