In Pakistan, an attempt is being made to repeat the old political experience in a new way with new people. When the 2018 election was going to be held, everyone knew what the result of the election would be and who would become the Prime Minister? The reason for this was that the electables were leaving their parties and coming to one party. Then we warned that all this is wrong and the result will not be good.
Now the 2018 experiment is being repeated with new characters and electables coming to the new party. In 2018, who was the Prime Minister? Now he is in jail and the one who was removed and sent to jail is now back in exile and is preparing to become Prime Minister.
It is clear that what happened in 2018 was wrong and we called it wrong then and what is happening now is also going wrong. Now the old mistake is being repeated and it will be assessed in two to three years.
Forced disqualifications and restrictions do not solve any problem in Pakistan. In Pakistan, when someone is disqualified by power of the boot, they come back. This is not rocket science; it requires understanding a little history of Pakistan.
The decision to ban in 2023 will fail and cannot be sustained. The history of Pakistan is a witness for this. Pakistan’s first Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan disqualified Sindh Chief Minister Ayub Khoro under the PRODA Act. Then Ayub Khoro was reinstated by the court and became the Chief Minister. Then Ayub Khoro used the same law against his political opponents. In Punjab, the same law was used against Iftikhar Mamdut but the court reinstated him.
In 1958, Iskandar Mirza appointed Army Chief General Ayub Khan as his Prime Minister after imposing martial law in the country. General Ayub Khan relieved Iskandar Mirza and became the head of the country himself.
After that, he started imposing restrictions on politicians and enforced the EBDO Law. He imposed the law of EBDO on Hussain Shaheed Suhrawardi. Akbar Bugti and Feroze Khan Noon were also banned. Later, a case of treason was also established against Hussain Shaheed Suhrawardi. Then Ms. Fatima Jinnah was also defeated in the election.
Later, after becoming the Prime Minister, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto also imposed restrictions on political opponents. Then General Zia-ul-Haq prosecuted Bhutto and executed him.
General Zia-ul-Haq added the disqualification clause of politicians to the constitution in 1985 assembly. Cases were also established against Benazir Bhutto but she was not disqualified.
Supreme Court of Pakistan disqualified Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani. The petitioner against Prime Minister Geelani was Nawaz Sharif. After that, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was disqualified. Last year Prime Minister Imran Khan was disqualified by the Election Commission and now there is an attempt to disqualify him again in another case.
The sad situation is that three Prime Ministers of Pakistan were killed and four were disqualified.
Liaquat Ali Khan, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto have been killed while Hussain Shaheed Suhrawardy, Yousuf Raza Geelani, Nawaz Sharif and Imran Khan have been disqualified.
When it was wrong to disqualify Nawaz Sharif and now he is being brought back to power and Imran Khan was put in jail.
So what was wrong before and what is being done is still being done wrong. Its results will prove wrong in the history of Pakistan. Our establishment needs to learn a lesson. Anyone who tramples the constitution of Pakistan is only destined for disgrace, so it is better not to do so.
Senior analyst Hamid Mir has given this opinion in his V log.
