Pakistan's politicians are shooting themselves in the foot

The break up has begun. Or, as Imran Khan calls it, a ‘forced divorce’.  The scale of the arm twisting is enormous, and has shocked Pakistanis, already accustomed to the heavy hand of the state. As the arrests of party leaders and workers of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf continue, it now appears that the attacks against the army installations were done by a part of the state itself, under the instigation of the Interior Minister. The mess is unbelievable.  The question is what comes next, not just tomorrow but down the line for the Pakistani state, and Imran Khan himself. As of now, the one seems to be inextricably intertwined with the fate of the other. That’s not good news. In fact, it’s the worst.   The Pakistan Army Act and its many twists and turns  The downslide of even a façade of democracy has been appalling. Immediately after the 9 May protests that saw what seemed like large crowds apparently walking in at will into a usually heavily guarded cantonment,  but vandalizing various symbols of army might. The ransacking of the Lahore Corps Commander house puzzled most Pakistanis, since security is normally so tight that even a mall nearby had its windows boarded up to prevent anyone peering into the august residence of the General. The reaction of the army should have been clue enough. As the Supreme Court – itself under threat from the government – moved to grant pre-arrest bail to Khan in case after case, the army decided to try rioters under the Army Act, a decision which was rubber stamped by the National Security Committee. The Pakistan Army Act 1952 was originally meant to try only army personnel and civilians attached to the army. It was expanded in 1966 under Ayub Khan to try civilians accused of inciting mutiny, while Clause 5 added those who damage any military property including buildings, railways, canals, causeways etc. That clause in fact, pretty much covers everything.   In    2015 , the Act was amended further to include trials of ‘terrorists’, with a clause that also includes the offence to “raise arms or wage war against Pakistan, or attack the Armed Forces of Pakistan or law enforcement agencies, or attack any civil or military installations in Pakistan”. That was during the term of Nawaz Sharif, and though it lapses every two years , it can be re-enacted to deal with the PTI. Civilian leaders need to take care when they expand army powers.  And here’s the ultimate irony. Imran Khan himself used the Army Act to try civilians whom he found difficult. That includes a case against human rights defender Idris Khattak , an anthropologist, for allegedly handing over sensitive information to Michael Semple, an Irishman and an expert on Afghanistan and Pakistan, but supposed to be working with British intelligence. At least twenty others were tried under the Army Act during Imran Khan’s period earning for himself a ‘dismal’ ranking from Amnesty International and others. Today, Khan is raging against the lack of help from human rights organisations – who are actually raising this strongly – forgetting that he started the trend in the first place.   Parliament is shooting itself in the foot Meanwhile, in an agony of desperation, the ruling coalition is busy tying a rope that could strangle its own neck in future. These acts of desperation include the most recent “Contempt of Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament) Bill 2023”, tabled by PTI dissident Rana Qasim Noon. This is supposedly to strengthen Parliament, the proposed law, for example, would make it an offence to refuse to obey “any order or direction of the House or a Committee thereof.” This is vague language, and could be extended to almost anything, as against the Constitution which specifies contempt on those who refuse to provide documents or give evidence before a Parliamentary committee. Second, the bill also provides parliament with direct penal powers, rather than through a court, clearly with the intention of bypassing a determined court. In another case, Parliament passed    legislation to the Supreme court’s discretionary powers to take suo-moto notice. Efforts to first send it to the concerned senate committee was rejected, and the law was passed. As expected, it was struck down, with an eight judge bench ruling that the act that “comes into being shall not have, take or be given any effect nor be acted upon in any manner”. Meanwhile a Lahore court struck down a sedition law dating back to the British era, as unconstitutional, even as the government was preparing to charge Khan with this offence. But the worst act of all seems to be that of Rana Sanaullah, Interior Minister, who had earlier said “He [Khan] has brought the nation’s politics to a point where only one of us can exist. When we feel our existence is being threatened, we will go to a point where we will not bother whether a move is democratic or not.” Now it is reliably reported that the attacks against the army installations had been orchestrated by the powerful Minister together with the Intelligence Bureau and Ministry of Defence, in an assessment by the Military Intelligence given to the Army Chief. This, if true, is the lowest of actions by a cabinet minister. But the army was to go even lower.   The breaking up of the party  That the establishment is bent on breaking the back of the PTI is apparent to all and sundry. A slew of senior leaders have quit the party, after ‘condemning’ the violence of 9 May. Among these Shireen Mazhari, former human rights minister, was arrested and re-arrested until she finally announced a decision to not just quit the party, but also end political activity entirely. The public address was an exercise in humiliation, but also a display of raw power of the army. The fate of Shah Mahmoud Qureshi is as yet uncertain, as he was rearrested minutes after he was freed. Meanwhile, even as hundreds of PTI workers have been arrested, the courts have intervened to release whoever they could including office holders like PTI Secretary General Asad Umar, notably advising him, “They will not spare you until you hold a press conference [to denounce 9 May violence].”The blatant use of force and the announcement of the 9 May attacks as a “Black Day”(which was not done even after the tragic Peshawar Army school bombing) is ironical, particularly if the violence was indeed orchestrated. Worse, as almost daily terror attacks hit the periphery, including against oil production units in Hangu, the Tehrik e Taliban Pakistan seems to have issued a new hit list including Rana Sanaullah, Maryam Nawaz and others who – coincidentally – are all against Imran Khan. The list appeared after Maulana Fazl ul Haq survived a suicide bombing attempt. This seems to be another way to get Khan labelled as a terrorist, and underline his ‘links’ with these groups. All this from an establishment that has come under fire from the UN Human Rights Council for its hundreds of cases of ‘Enforced Disappearances’, - which is the legal terminology for those it lifts and ‘disappears’ with impunity. In response, a commission has been established to look into this, at which Justice Athar Minallah of the Islamabad High Court averred, “The commission has failed in its duty, nor can it justify its existence in the circumstances.” Pakistan’s army is out of control, and it doesn’t care who knows it. That Pakistani politicians have got themselves into the present predicament is apparent. Reliance on the army and indulging it in its constant demands for power have worked against institutional growth, so vital to establishing the foundations of a country. Instances like Maryam Nawaz calling the Chief Justice a threat to national security only underlines the decay. In all fairness, the tug of war between politics and the legal system is all pervasive, particularly in South Asia, but in Pakistan it has gone to the limits, pushed by a security apparatus that sees its own survival as equivalent to the survival of the state. That’s dangerous stuff, especially when it is considered that they are pushing matters in a direction where, in truth, it is either Imran will survive or a functioning state. To get the one, the whole establishment is bent upon destroying the other. The author is a Distinguished Fellow at the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies, New Delhi. She tweets @kartha_tara. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not represent the stand of this publication. Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News , India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook ,  Twitter  and  Instagram .