Dear Readers,
The New Year was greeted with fireworks, music and crowds chanting “Happy New Year” in several world capitals, demonstrating the human resolve to be optimistic and keeping the hope aloft for a better tomorrow, whether this ever happens in reality is another matter. Having braved through the highs and mostly the lows of 2021, the people of Pakistan really hoped for a break looking forward with renewed hope and aspirations of change in their lives. However, in New Year we face the grim reality of steep inflation accompanied by economic woes that would appear to be mounting. The hands of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government are tied by circumstances beyond their control, not only because of mismanagement on their part but aggravated by the rank corruption of previous governments. A fresh wave of inflation was unleash by the withdrawal of many subsidies alongwith an increase in the price of petroleum products. This can have but one outcome accentuated levels of political instability already rampant across the political landscape.
If 2020 could be termed as the year of inconceivable losses because of the COVID-19 pandemic, 2021 was considered a year of hope, during which the process of defeating this virus began to gain momentum. Not only were vaccines against the coronavirus manufactured but also a large population of the world was successfully vaccinated. Life was gradually restored with precautionary measures, however some countries had to bear a heavy toll of human lives. The vaccines became a harbinger of hope that the world would finally be able to put this deadly chapter behind it. This was not to be, while COVID-19 is very much still present, the newest Covid variant, Omicron is spreading with such astonishing speed that it now poses a major threat to the world, including Pakistan. Countries are once again putting in place measures such as limiting social gatherings, closing down venues where crowds gather including cinemas, concert halls, etc. In Pakistan, major cities have started reporting hundreds of cases of the Omicron variant, which was first detected on December 13 in Karachi and federal ministers are urging people to get vaccinated and revisit mask-wearing. The World Health Organisation (WHO) recently warned of a “Covid ‘tsunami’”, it thus becomes imperative for the government to curtail explosive. While public messaging about preventive measures has increased, it is also vital that all airport protocols be further strengthened, particularly when several flights arrive within a short span of time.
The Pakistan Democratic Movement’s (PDM’s) planned “long march” that was scheduled for March 23, 2022, in the words of Maulana Fazlur Rahman, “to dislodge the government” was dropped suddenly and instead an “Inflation March” would be held on the same date in Islamabad. The PDM may or may not be aware that it is fast losing any credibility it had, considering that it has, time and again, publicized holding countrywide protests against the ruling PTI but has not been able to even make a dent, in seems that it is still cocooned in its “preparatory” mode. In the process it lost two of its hard-core allies, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Awami National Party (ANP). The one thing we can be very sure of, if and when the PDM does launch its Inflation March, we can experience a lot of turbulence, chaos and turmoil.
The government has been unable to evolve national consensus on vital economic issues that confront Pakistan due mainly to a mutually destructive political war of attrition among the major political parties. This has compounded Pakistan’s economic woes. Small wonder that the domestic situation therefore remains unstable, improving governance in the year before the elections will therefore be the major challenge for the PTI. At the same time, the regional situation, and especially Afghanistan, will continue to present a central challenge to Pakistan.
Our political discourse has been deteriorating to such an extent that targeted audio and video leaks have become almost acceptable. A leaked phone conversation between Maryum Nawaz and Pervez Rasheed exposed how the PML ‘manages’ certain journalists, certain media barons, how others are disparaged and ways are contemplated to get positive coverage. The act of phone-tapping is illegal and this should never be acceptable in a democracy but such things keep happening or are allowed to happen in societies where the rule of law is very weak or where there are two laws, one for the strong and powerful and one for the weak.
The people of Pakistan find themselves on the horns of a dilemma as their debts grow and the economy falters with every passing day. Not knowing how to cope with the situation has led people to become wary and suspicious about everything, no one knows what is true and what is fiction. Malicious rumours continue doing the rounds, no one knows who is behind these but somehow or the other, a section of our media appears to be truly notorious and effective in perception building and its management. At this time speculation is rife about a deal being reached between Nawaz Sharif and the Establishment that will lead to his return to Pakistan. Nobody seems to understand that this could well be a pre-emptive narrative being built in case the British govt expels him from UK and he is forced to comeback to Pakistan. Other rumours are related to the appointment of a new Army Chief which will be due in November this year. Such rumours were strongly quashed by Major General Babar Iftikhar, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General on Jan 05; he rejected reports of a deal with former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and termed these as “baseless speculations” while addressing a media briefing. Terming such reports as “absolutely baseless speculations” he asked the media to “please ask from where they are getting such reports.” He also dispelled speculations about a “civil-military” rift and urged that the Establishment be kept out of TV talk shows.
The DG ISPR was at his best in making at clear that fencing would go on and the Army would not accept any other contention as being propagated by the Taliban govt. All things considered, the New Year may have arrived in Pakistan on a grim note but there is hope given to Army’s very clear statement of intention that there is no intention to take things lying down.
“The opinions/views expressed in Defence Journal are entirely those of the writers and cannot be construed to reflect the official views of Defence Journal”.
