Caretakers — but not quite caretaking

After much uncertainty and speculation, a caretaker prime minister has taken oath of office understandably to steer the country towards holding general elections within the stipulated period of ninety days. Is that what is likely to happen, or are there tricks in the bag to hold on to power and put off the elections for another day?

When the ECP representative was recently asked by the Supreme Court whether a date had been fixed for the holding of elections, he simply shrugged his shoulders expressing his ignorance in the matter. That fits in well with the alleged script that we are in for a long night of the caretakers who would get busy with fixing one thing or the other, ostensibly to get the environment ‘right’ for the holding of elections. Now, what kind of environment is envisaged that would ultimately allow people a visit to the hustings to elect representatives of their choice?

Let’s move to Attock Fort for a while where Imran Khan is incarcerated in a dark and dingy cell, categorised as class ‘C’, with an open toilet and hardly enough space for a mattress to be placed on ground. Khan continues to be denied the basic facilities which are his entitled right as guaranteed by the constitution and the prison rules.

He is not being allowed to meet his lawyers and the party people. He is being refused access to his doctor. While there is credible danger of him being slowly poisoned, he is not permitted to have food from home. He is virtually being kept in solitary confinement as no one is allowed to visit him, or even go near his cell. He is even being denied provision of a copy of the Holy Quran with English translation.

Simultaneously, Khan’s party, the PTI, is bearing the brunt of the worst form of brutality at the hands of the state machinery. Workers in the thousands are being kept in jails while homes and businesses of members and sympathizers are under midnight assaults. Massive damage is caused to properties with most businesses closed and recourse to justice completely blocked. Families of leaders who have gone underground are hounded and hunted at unholy hours with several of them taken in by the police. People are afraid of sleeping in their homes for fear of being arrested in the dark of the night. Even minors, women and the elderly are not spared the brutality of the invading parties.

Does that give out the contours of the plan which is being scripted to gradually pave the way to the elections? It does and it does not: the former for this being the ostensible strategy which has been chalked out, and the latter for it all being so grotesque in its imagination, structuring and possible implementation as also for the damage that it will most certainly cause to the state and its intrinsic interests.

It is clear that no elections will be held in the country unless the orchestrators have eliminated the Khan factor and they are certain that he does not pose a challenge to the planting of their favourites in a government of puppets who would swing on the strings which are pulled from elsewhere.

The plan is that, like the past 15 months, we shall have a government which neither has the ability nor the freedom to operate of its own will and which shall only take dictation and frequently submit certificates that the orders given have been dutifully implemented. But the nagging question that raises its head is whether, notwithstanding the exhaustive planning, fully aided and abetted by the brutal state apparatus, such a plan will have any potential of succeeding? And given the maniacal infatuation to make it work, what may be the possible consequences if it does not?

When the eliminate Khan project was initiated, it was expected that he, too, would walk the road earlier taken by his predecessors – that of leaving the country and waiting his time out to be recalled for another stint. In thinking so, the planners forgot to take stock of the reality that not all humans are alike and that there would be a Khan who would both refuse to oblige or submit despite being subjected to unmitigated torture, humiliation, and sufferance.

They forgot that Khan would remain committed to altering the decrepit ways of a past and emblazon new paths to attain genuine freedom. They forgot that Khan would refuse to submit to a brazenly degrading treatment and remain a proud persona driven by deep-set belief and faith in the righteousness of his cause. They forgot that people would espouse Khan with unprecedented zeal, passion and commitment and would refuse to desert him even under the most daunting circumstances.

They forgot that Khan would remain steadfast in the fulfilment of his ideal of a welfare state that would be devoted to the amelioration of the sufferings of the poor and the enfeebled. They forgot that Khan would stand up to the powers and speak with a voice that would resonate through the hearts and minds of his devoted followers to give them a cause to struggle for. They forgot that they would be faced with a Khan who would not break.

So, instead of eliminating the Khan factor, the planners have only cemented it further as his support base continues to surge with the passage of time. A free man, or kept hostage behind the walls of the prison, he rules the people across all hues and shades. He is like a masterful leader guiding his charges to the victory line with relentless consistency, verve, and energy.

But, at the end of the day, it is not the victory of an individual that will matter. It is the victory of the people and the space they inhabit that is far more important. It is Pakistan that will matter. And it is for Pakistan that the project to eliminate Khan should be abandoned and a way found to initiate a dialogue to carve a way out of this sickening hellhole we have dug for ourselves. Like I have always said, it is time to banish the demons of hate and prejudice. It is time to let sanity walk in and take over the discourse.

Let caretakers be caretakers. No more.

The writer is the information secretary of the PTI, and a

fellow at King’s College London. He tweets @RaoofHasan