The sparks are aflame

Much may already have happened, but much more, tragically, continues to happen. It may not be difficult to fathom the direction the steps currently underway are chiselling, or its impact on the country and what it may have to suffer. A situation of uncertainty already pervades the environment with few in the know of what a beleaguered nation may expect as the next offering on its plate overflowing with heaps of existential issues.

Understandably, we have a caretaker government in place whose sole job, as prescribed in the constitution, is to hold elections and make way for the mandated government within a period of 90 days. But the caretakers are doing little by way of caretaking. Instead, they are operating as if they are and shall remain the government for the foreseeable future with elections nowhere in the reckoning.

They seem to be emulating the steps of the two provincial governments in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa which have survived in defiance of the constitution well beyond their stipulated tenure. The Supreme Court judgment in this regard came three months too late, holding the perpetrators guilty of contempt of constitution, but fell short of prescribing due punishment for them. So, they go on merrily brandishing and exercising their illegal power even after having been declared unconstitutional by the apex court.

In multiple instances, accused people, granted bail by one court, are immediately rearrested by security personnel in some other case. Even in cases where the courts have passed orders to seek their prior permission before arresting an individual, these instructions are wantonly disregarded. In the prevalent conditions, the judicial system has been effectively stripped of all credibility or relevance.

This is in addition to other state institutions having become dysfunctional in carrying forth the constitutional duties assigned to them and have, instead, become the handmaidens of the powers that be to abide by their diktat as received which, almost always, is contrary to the articles contained in the statute books.

Such and other factors are enough to make one understand the nature of the mindset that is operative behind these manifestations and the ultimate objective of handling things in this manner. Gradually, but certainly, we are moving away from the constitution and what is contained in it as guidelines for managing the country and its institutions. The path that we have chosen to tread takes us into an uncharted territory which is the favourite domain of individuals who consider themselves beyond the pale of the law. Alarmingly, emulating the culture of diktat, the tribe comprising such people is expanding rapidly, becoming increasingly vicious along the way.

Blindness can be temporary, and blindness can be permanent: the former indicates an induced state of mind which operates beyond the domains of reason and logic while the latter reflects a physical disability contracted by birth or by an accident. The former is usually self-imposed while the latter is an integral feature of one’s existence beyond the realm of cure. Blindness of both kinds germinates other ailments which impact human life as also an individual’s interactions with the rest of the world. It is this consequence which can generate immensely damaging consequences.

It appears that we are suffering from one or the other kind of this lethal belittlement. We are caught up in a multi-layered blind alley with depleting prospects of escaping its unremitting darkness. Imagine a state with a constitution which is held in contempt, a judiciary whose orders carry no mandate, rule of law which is treated with scorn, institutions which survive by proclaiming unquestioned servility to the command of lurking shadows, and an impoverished people being pushed remorselessly and cruelly to the fringes of life.

And then there is this other ailment whereby people have been deprived of their inalienable right to raise their voice against perpetration of crime and cruelty. It is as if they have been consigned to a dark dungeon to suffer indescribable afflictions in utter silence, without a word of protest.

But there comes a time when this state of helplessness begins to stir revolutions. A change begins to take shape with the resilience within becoming the strength of the feeble, the downtrodden and the impoverished. They rise in unison against the forces of repression and take them on with indomitable strength and courage. The suffering of decades surges forth in the shape of deep-rooted resolve to cast off the shadows of doom and move on to bask in the light and glory of a new day, a new life, and a new promise.

Pakistan. It appears, is on the verge of such a change. People here have absorbed multi-faceted deprivations at the hands of the beneficiary elite which has taken them for serfs who are given a lease of life only if they observe the commands as delivered. They have done so through generations.

Because of exposure due to social media platforms and assimilating the conditions prevailing in their own surroundings and throughout the rest of the world, there is rebellion brewing among the younger generations which are now fighting for establishing a more just order and gaining a more equitable status. This latent energy is sprouting forth and spreading around with not a soul remaining unimpacted by this phenomenon. They are all contributing to shaping this change which can colour their life with hope and promise. They are determined to go the whole hog irrespective of the travails along the way and severity of the consequences.

Who could inscribe this feeling better than Faiz sahib: “Mournful eyes and a wretched soul are not enough,/ Aspersion of harbouring a secret love will not suffice,/ Shackled we shall walk in the bazaar today.

With our hands spread out, we go./ Intoxicated and entranced in the rhythm of dancing, we go./ Head covered in dust and apparel washed in blood, The city of my beloved beckons, we go.”

Things have come to a pass where the extreme may look ordinary, and where resorting to it may become a necessity to win back freedom and self-respect which have been mauled mercilessly through decades by those who have spears in the hands laced with poison, ever ready to hurl them at the emaciated bodies of those who may have been reckoned as human at some point in the past. They need to emerge from the dark holes of existence and stamp their presence on those who thought they were the dredge of the earth, fit to be dispensed without remorse and without the fear of punishment.

Such are the constituents that shape transitions. We are on the cusp of witnessing one right here in our midst.

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

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