Frontline Pakistan

A book by the same name written by Zahid Hussain in 2007 is very close to my heart- it was and remains to date my only published book review for a Pune based newspaper, Maharashtra Herald. A published book review from a person who took pride in accepting his lack of reading interest; it was a pure coincidence. While developing a taste towards reading as a student of media, my liking for politics and history gave me an uncanny urge to read up on war and military operations.

As luck would have it, in December 2007, Pakistan was due for elections, I was reading the book describing the country as its constant state of political turmoil. With the last few pages left- on 27^th December 2007, while me and my journalist roommate- Subhajit Sengupta were discussing of what may lie ahead for our neighbours; we got to know that a new twist had come in with Benazir Bhutto assassinated. All it took was for him to push me into writing about the book and getting the daily to publish.

So why am I dwelling on to my personal past today. Honestly, it has been seven years since the day I wrote about a book which described a country with a nuclear arsenal but grappling with political instability almost since its independence. Till 2007, Pakistan had seen more military rulers; each who had annexed power from democratic governments. The person in power then was Gen. Parvez Musharaf, who had forced the prime minister, Nawaz Sherif into exile through a coup. While Musharaf was himself dodging attempts on his life from fundamentalist, 2007 was marked as a year for the state of emergency to end and a return to democracy. But the Bhutto assassination pushed the elections ahead for a few months.

Since March 2008, when the sympathy wave for Bhutto got Gilani elected to the post of the prime minister, Pakistan has had three more prime ministers including Nawaz Sharif while the post of the president since then has been resigned to a ceremonial stature. Overall, there are just too few leaders who have completed a full term in office as an elected non-military representative. More so, almost every government has faced charges of corruption, political misconduct or suspected anti-nationalist sentiment which has over thrown the country.

Today we sit and read of cricketer turned politician Imran Khan and a cleric Dr Tahirul Qadri taking on the current government for possible election malpractices and rigging that took place to get to power. I’m sure political analysts and observers were sitting across the globe were sweating anxiously last night when a protest march of 30,000, with a strong presence of women and children entered the Red Zone in Islamabad demanding Nawaz Sharif to resign. While the leaders of the protest are looking to dwarf Tahrir Square while asking the protesters to be peaceful, it will be interesting to see how things develop.

It seems today evening is a deadline and with 700 armed soldiers guarding the parliament; the protestors plan to take the entire set of ministers hostage within the premises. This situation; as many times in the past, seems to be at a flash point. The tug-of-war between military rule dictatorship and democracy is far from over and the tussle between the political parties and fundamentalists becomes another reason for the military to stage an uprising and seize power. All isn’t quiet on the frontlines within… the Frontline Pakistan.