Rulers torment the nation

by SHIREEN M MAZARI

Worst is that democracy has led us into more political instability as the democratic leaders opt for the usual authoritarian approach to governance alongside a feudal mindset that makes them regard the country as their personal fiefdom.
Is there a deliberate death wish the leadership has for Pakistan and its nationals? Otherwise, why would the president and the prime minister deliberately plunge the country into yet another judicial crisis at a time when the nation is already suffering from multiple crises making their daily lives an uphill struggle? The IMF has ensured that there will be no economic stability for many years to come and that the poor will either become even poorer or, when that option has been exhausted for those who had it in the first place, simply die with the increasing deprivation. Fuel is up; gas is up but barely available as is the case with electricity; water is becoming a rare commodity thanks partially to India and our leadership’s tolerance of its water terrorism; sugar and flour have become luxury goods; yet the IMF’s voracious appetite for destroying the stability of developing countries has yet to be sated and now it is demanding a mini budget with more killer measures for the masses.

After all, it is only the masses that suffer such measures, the ruling elite relying on state largesse for gas, electricity, fuel and all other luxuries.
Nor is it just the economic issues of daily life that are taking their toll as never before on the ordinary Pakistani.

There is the total lack of law and order and the shadow of terrorism spread across the country post-9/11 after our previous rulers went into a costly and destructive alliance with the US in its misnamed War on Terror and our present rulers’ continuation of the same support – albeit in an even more expansive fashion. It is not that we did not suffer from terrorism before, but certainly after recklessly going along with the US, despite our dismal history with that country, the problem underwent a qualitative shift in scale and type. Right now a typology of terrorism prevailing in Pakistan would have to include the extremist Taliban threat, the ethno-sub national threat, the targeted political killings, state terrorism of India, in terms of support for militancy in FATA and Balochistan, and the US, in the form of drone attacks and the constant blackmail of the “do more” mantra.