Farrukh Khan Pitafi<\/p>\n
There are several analogies to describe our current state of affairs. Caught in a tractor beam and trapped in a gravity well. But one fits like a glove. Treadmill walking. The more you walk, the less actual distance you are likely to cover. And if it is possible, make it a multi-directional treadmill because we are in the habit of changing directions mid-stride. Sadly, this road, too, was paved with good intentions.
\nBetween the removal of Nawaz, the installation and then removal of Imran and what appears to be the single-minded rehabilitation of the former, you know we are stuck \u2014 stuck between a former premier taking his sweet time to disappear and the second coming, nay fourth-coming, of another which has taken atrociously long to materialise. And that, too, if that can manage to be a thing. Ceteris paribus it is one tall order. But more on that later.
\nEconomics, foreign policy and domestic policies all circle the drain because the previous dominant order (remember, we mark the calendar based on the change in command in Rawalpindi, not Islamabad) left precious few cards on the table. Those six years witnessed some remarkable developments. Taliban\u2019s takeover of Kabul, a near war with India which counter-intuitively returned Modi to power, the FATF and the hardening stance of IMF coupled with our remarkable agility to change finance ministers whenever one found a formula to macroeconomic stabilisation, unbelievable reversals in the war on terror and constant questioning of CPEC. And then the political summersaults.
\nDespite walking the treadmill, I try to put up signs of distress whenever I can. Consider this quote from my piece titled, \u201cMuch ado about Panama\u201d, dated June 7, 2017: \u201cIt was our short-sightedness that brought to us the gifts of instability, terrorism, economic meltdown and international isolation. Today one politician will be removed and another one will be installed. And tomorrow the new politician will also become too big for his boots and then the cycle will repeat itself. On this carousel of power, it will matter little if the loopholes in the system were ever closed.\u201d If you are intrigued by this premise, I assure you that I have enough material to write a voluminous book just on those fateful six years. Peripheries of power offer you an unparalleled vantage point. If that book is not written yet, it is only primarily due to the regard for a few kids.
\nBack to analogies. I don\u2019t mind falling from a tree. That bit is called life. It is the edict that one has to hit every branch on the way down that gets my goat. For twenty-two years, a politician is consigned to the wilderness of radicalism. Then someone is seized by the bright idea that he be brought in, handed the keys to the kingdom, and every dissident suppressed. When he does what he is likely to do, he is forced out in a painfully long and messy process. Now, the one man at the receiving end of his persecution, with an outsized view of his victimhood, is returning to the country. Doing the same thing over and over again will certainly produce different results. Good luck with that.
\nThe question is whether Nawaz Sharif\u2019s return to the Islamic Republic can swing the public sentiment in his party\u2019s favour. The jury is, of course, still out. But the portents are not encouraging. There are many factors leading to this conclusion. Whatever his reasons, it looks like he has missed the most suitable moment. The ideal time to recapture the public sentiment was immediately after the no-confidence vote against Imran. The country badly needed a counter-narrative against the PTI\u2019s onslaught, and his presence here could have done away with the ridiculous optics of an elected premier rushing to London every now and then for dictation apart from lending some stature to the then government. We don\u2019t know what kept him: his privilege or the wisdom of our six-year maestro.
\nThen bear in mind this is the PML-N. Punjab\u2019s politics is neither known for its imagination nor intellectual depth. As a result, when the party dons a thinking cap, it invariably scores the highest number of own-goals. For instance, at the time of the caretaker government formation, the party behaved as if it had won the election and did not need any other party\u2019s support. While it congratulated itself on what it viewed as a deft move, the other coalition partners called it a power grab. The loss of the PPP\u2019s support is most telling. The party might have lost a lot of public support in the past decade, but it still remains a massive reservoir of brain power. It can burn you in ways that you may never see coming. The PML-N constantly alienates well-meaning but influential potential allies just to placate its yesmen and kith and kin.
\nThen there is the matter of brand. For a daughter and an heir apparent to say that only her father can solve the country\u2019s woes is understandable. My daughters will sound precisely the same. But to convince the people in such a way that it affects the vote share is another. To be honest, the party has done precious little to build its brand in the past seven years. This is a very different electorate compared to the one the party last encountered.
\nBut all this does not end the whisper campaigns started by spinmeisters. One particular channel seems to be running the party\u2019s campaign already. This takes me back to 1993 when a PPP jiyala told me his party would form the next government because the US wanted it to be so. I asked him if he thought there would be rigging. He said no, but that would be the invariable outcome. In those simple times, such whisper campaigns might have worked. But will they work in this age?
\nSo, if anyone is now spreading rumours that he will win because certain Arab countries may want him to win has no understanding of how many variables are out there impacting the opinions and positions of international leaders. This is neither how foreign policy nor electioneering works. Watch and learn.
\nMy own view is that, more than anything else, Pakistan\u2019s current state is directly impacted by the politics of another country \u2014 India. It has very effectively controlled the regional atmospherics for the past nine years after all. And there, we can\u2019t be too sure of the outcome. How can we permanently alter our dynamics to fit one result when we can\u2019t be too confident and are trapped in the gravity well of the saffron giant?
\nI don\u2019t know about you, but I am not left with the stamina to endure more of the same.
\nThe writer is an Islamabad-based TV journalist. He tweets @FarrukhKPitafi and can be reached at contact@farrukh.net<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Farrukh Khan Pitafi There are several analogies to describe our current state of affairs. Caught in a tractor beam and trapped in a gravity well. But one fits like a glove. Treadmill walking. The more you walk, the less actual distance you are likely to cover. And if it is possible, make it a multi-directional […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[13021],"class_list":{"0":"post-361662","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-article","7":"tag-farrukh-khan-pitafi"},"yoast_head":"\n