Disturbing discourse

There is hardly any country in the world that has not gone through political crises at one time or another. But not many countries can boast of the political discourse that Pakistani politicians have been displaying for some time now. While many have been pointing out the way ‘container’ language took hold of Pakistani politics since as far back as 2014, the past few days have seen some of the worst examples of abusive language on display – most of it on national television.

From the PM – who is certainly never shy of a heavy dose of invective when speaking about his opponents – calling his opponents rats, to SAPM Shahbaz Gill using vile language against PTI MNA Dr Ramesh Kumar in a TV talk show, to a female PTI parliamentarian also resorting to abuse – again on TV – the past few days have seen political discourse take a nose-dive even by Pakistani standards. There has been repeated use of profanity, mimicry, and veiled and unveiled threats – the PTI having led the way and opened the door for others to follow.

Various explanations and justifications have come in from political actors, mainly from the ruling party, saying profanity cannot be equated with violence but the fact is that – as we saw yesterday outside Sindh House – the way abusive language is used to rile up supporters can easily lead to rioting or violence. What all political stakeholders need to remember is that they are not only abusing the democratic process but also encouraging a very young nation to indulge in similar mud-slinging. Political leaders – most of all the prime minister – are supposed to be role models for their followers. What does a young political worker do when a large part of his/her leader’s politics involves abuse, mockery and threats to violence? We have already seen an alarming increase in incel behaviour over the past three years, with women journalists bearing the brunt of the worst kind of online harassment and bullying. The fact that there has been an enabling political environment for such trolling and cyberbullying should lead to introspection over the kind of political culture that has come into play recently.

Prime Minister Imran Khan and his team are visibly under tension; that much is understandable. But at the moment they need to facilitate the smooth proceedings of the next parliamentary session and rein in the loose talk by their representatives. Continuing on this course will simply escalate the situation to a point where only violent clashes are possible. We were given a slight taste of that yesterday, with charged workers chanting slogans and tearing down the Sindh House gates. In all this, it is also on those in the media whose TV talk shows are used for such language to exercise a lot more restraint than they have till now. Given that most programmes are run on a delay of some seconds, it should be possible to eliminate the abusive comments and ensure that some parameters of moral decency are adhered to. Unfortunately, no matter which way politics goes in the next few days and weeks, the loss of a sense of basic decency may perhaps be one of the worst consequences of the past few years of politics in the country.