Hina Haroon
Regrettably, Pakistan had to spend several decades under Martial Law which is why none of us wish Pakistan to go through Military rule again. So, the mantra of Democracy and “we are a democratic country” is something we have heard from every political leader in Pakistan.
Imran hates the Parliamentarian System but he became prime minister through this system and now again this system gave him quite a hefty mandate in the 2024 General Elections
One of my teachers told me one day that Democracy which is a keyword on which many political leaders have managed to manipulate the public to get votes has confirmed that it can be used to murder Democracy when undemocratic minds through political manipulation by using the vehicle of Democracy got the power. This is what we have been experiencing in Pakistan for long. I did not understand what he wanted to tell but today I surely can understand what he meant to teach me.
We have seen that Imran Khan expressed hatred for Pakistan Army but he was raised to power by the Pakistan Army. He hates the Parliamentarian System but he became prime minister through this system and now again this system gave him quite a hefty mandate in the 2024 General Elections. He hates politicians but he has been and is still surrendered by traditional politicians. This was all possible to live a dual personality and get power through Democracy so one can understand how Democracy can be murdered through Democracy.
As someone who voted for the first time and someone who has been listening to these political leaders since 2013, back in the days when I was not eligible to vote, I used to wonder how it felt to cast a vote for your favorite candidate. As I did this year, it was pretty exciting. It feels as if you have played an important role in the future of your country. As I was saying, the word democracy is something that we all know and have heard from every political leader, but what is democracy anyway?
As per a Google definition, “A system of government by the whole population or all the eligible members of a state, typically through elected representatives.”
In simple words, in any democratic country, a political party or leader is elected based on how many votes he manages to get from the general public, and whoever gets the majority of votes gets to take over the government for a tenure of 5 years in Pakistan.
Since 2018, I have asked this question to many people around me: Are we really a democratic country?–because the definition is the exact opposite of what we have witnessed in Pakistan for the past many years.
This is unfortunate for the country that leaders had been elected or selected based on how good relationships they have with the establishment.
Back in 2018, PTI took over the government, and Khan Sahab seemed to be very confident that he was going to change everything in Pakistan. Back in 2014, during Khan Sahab’s Long March, he was very confident and pictured a great future of Pakistan in front of our youth. The youth, who were hardly 15 or 16 at that time, were so happy to see their leader promising them a great future ahead. I remember talking to many of his supporters and the hatred they had for anyone who didn’t support them was something unacceptable, which is something that people who don’t support him still have to face.
From 2014 to 2018, the then establishment managed to portray a very good image of Khan Sahab in front of the world and our Youth—who know nothing about politics but support him, and his celebrity status was a win-win situation for him.
In 2018, when Khan Sahab won the election with a clean sweep, right after that, we saw a downfall for PML-N, starting from the corruption cases, the arrest of Nawaz Sharif Shab, Maryam Nawaz, Hamza Nawaz, and every other party member who was arrested in different cases. It was a bad downfall, and most of us thought, “This is the End of PML-N”. I have seen Khan Sahab all smiling on TV, showing the victory sign to the supporters and telling them that we have done it, welcome to Naya Pakistan.
His definition of Naya Pakistan was based on how he manipulated the youth and general public of Pakistan. In his Naya Pakistan, where he taught the youth to be disrespectful towards every political leader. In this Naya Pakistan, he spread hate through his speeches and promoted abhorrence quite well. As someone who was in his/her teens used to wonder why is he/she teaching the youth to be disrespectful. What if the same thing happens to him? Doesn’t he know the history of Pakistan? Every political leader has to go through tough times at some point during their political career. Why does he think that he is different? To some extent, many of us knew that more or less something like this would happen to him, and guess what, we were right.
His hatemongering worked so well that Pakistani saw the May 9 Mutiny –the day when the “unimaginable” became the reality of the day
The previous Establishment gave him a plan to discredit politicians and the Parliamentarian system but he had bigger plans for him including discrediting Pakistan’s military establishment. It was too late when the plan unfolded and the then establishment realized that they had just facilitated the worst plan of their history, which was functioning against them and Pakistan. However, until then, Imran Khan was already established by the establishment as an ultimate resolution for every suffering that existed in Pakistan. By the time of realized the situation, Khan had already indoctrinated his followers that the military establishment was the cause of every problem the public was facing. His hatemongering worked so well that Pakistani saw the May 9 Mutiny –the day when the “unimaginable” became the reality of the day.
The most important question in my mind is how much hatred the establishment can digest and how much time the establishment will take telling the nation the truth, the truth of how and why they made him, and why they don’t want him anymore
My readers can ask questions about how things reached this point and why did other political parties not stand with the Pakistan Army to mitigate the Imran factor when they were in power during PDM. Honestly, I cannot answer such questions. Whatever had happened since May 9, the realism shows that no one can deny his candidates got the majority of votes. My question here is then, who won the General Elections 2024: The previous Establishment or Democracy or Hate against Pakistan Army?
Although Khan Sahab can’t be the next PM of Pakistan, his supporters pretty much have given a good call that no matter what, we (his voters) are going to support Khan’s hate-filled character. The most important question in my mind is how much hatred the establishment can digest and how much time the establishment will take telling the nation the truth, the truth of how and why they made him, and why they don’t want him anymore.
Note: Having a degree in Mass Communication, Hina Haroon is a promising young journalist who focuses on the socio-political landscape of Pakistan.
Disclaimer:
The views and opinions expressed in this article/Opinion/Comment are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the DND Thought Center and Dispatch News Desk (DND). Assumptions made within the analysis are not reflective of the position of the DND Thought Center and Dispatch News Desk News Agency.
