The recent political developments in Pakistan have witnessed the Pak PM making a mockery of democratic norms. Mr Imran Khan faces a no confidence motion fielded by opposition parties against his government on 08th March 2022 and has been under tremendous pressure since then to save his regime. More than 100 legislatures from Pakistan People’s Party headed by co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardair and Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) headed by Shahbaz Sharif have handed over the requisition to the speaker’s secretariat of National Assembly of Pakistan and requested for a voting by the legislators to prove that the ruling coalition headed by Mr Imran Khan in which Pakistan Tahrik-I-Insaf Party (PTI) is the major player is still enjoying the majority in the National Assembly or otherwise.
Mr Khan has sought the legal opinion from Attorney General of Pakistan and facing the uphill task of proving his majority since 28 of his coalition members have been reported to have sided with the opposition. No ruling party has lost in the no confidence motion in Pakistan earlier and there are chances that history may be created between 26 to 28 March when voting is done in the Pakistan National Assembly. Although, Pak PM is speaking of support by Army however it seems Army has taken a neutral stand this time and asked the political parties to settle their issue.
Maulana Fazlur Rehman of Jamat Ulema e Islam (Fazl) is the third major leader of opposition who has made a coalition of opposition leaders and trying to topple down the present ruling coalition in power. The opposition has threatened that their supporters would swarm the capital city before the voting is done in the National Assembly.
Mr Imran Khan is politically hard pressed and has started holding public rallies to gather support. Recently in a public gathering at Director Scouts Ground in Balambat on 11th March, he forgot all the basic courtesy expected from PM of a country and addressed his opponents as Showbaz (Shahbaz Nawaz), Dakoo (Asif Zardair) and Diesel (Maulana Fazal) as per the reports published in Dawn. It was in spite of clear instructions given by their Army who are the main players in the power game and sitting behind the curtain not to use derogatory language for opposition leaders. As per another report, Pak PM has said that his supporters would also swarm the capital city in large numbers before voting on no confidence motion and once the no confidence motion is defeated against his ruling alliance; his supporters will SEE the opposition leaders. Thus we find that the state of affairs in the political arena of Pakistan is really mirky now and the PM himself is making a mockery of the democratic norms.
The roots of democracy in Pakistan are fragile and more than half of the time since 1947 where the road of democracy has been crucified five times and it has remained under rule of military dictators. For remaining period also the reign of governance has been in Army’s hand who have been calling the shots from behind the scene. Let us hope that the good sense prevails and democratic values are established and respected in this country which has earned global fame for breeding terrorism, so that the entire sub-continent is benefited from political stability.
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