The chaos intensifies next door
Blurb: Pakistanis are paying a huge price for maintaining a criminal silence over the unbridled powers its military enjoyed since its inception. Institutional and systemic crisis in that country could pose a potential threat to its very existence.
THOUGH Pakistan is not new to crisis, the major crisis with the very system crashing in that country is posing a sort of existential threat. This time around, the country’s former Prime Minister has waged an unprecedented war against Pakistan’s powerful army. Experts have warned that the political turmoil could aggravate the severe economic crisis and create an atmosphere of insecurity among people. It would appear that the nuclear-armed Pakistan is too big to fail. But the institution of army, for the first time, is facing such a large-scale civilian backlash there which could push the country towards a civil war. The army is doing every overt and covert thing to hold its grip; however, it seems only to be losing because its actions are bound to backfire. Running trials of civilians and being accused of fuelling unrest in military courts could only create hostility.
There is an opinion that this time around, Pakistanis are skeptical of the State, which could erode faith in the future. Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif and his allies are hiding behind the powerful military which, in other words, would mean coup in de facto. It is now an open secret that the Pakistani army, as of now, is a divided house and that is why, the current Army Chief General Asim Munir may not opt for imposition of Martial Law; but it is clear that the army would certainly love to enjoy unbridled powers for the fact that the most unpopular government is in office. The judiciary is seen siding with Imran Khan’s party. So, there is an institutional and systemic crisis which, observers fear, could pose a potential threat to the very existence of that country.
Irrespective of the net result of the current crisis, one could certainly draw a conclusion that Pakistanis are paying a huge price for maintaining a criminal silence over the unbridled powers its military enjoyed since its inception. Nonetheless, the Pakistani civil society is to be blamed for this existential threat to their country.
