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  June 12, 2023 PAKISTAN (/PAKISTAN)

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Home (/) / Intense polarization and Pakistan’s democratic future

Intense
polarization Opinion (/Opinion)
and
Pakistan’s Baria Alamuddin

democratic
(/taxonomy/term/4071)

The rule of law

future victorious, or
justice weaponized?
(/taxonomy/term/4071)

(/node/2319941)
Short Url
https://arab.news/2xnv3 Maleeha Lodhi
(/taxonomy/term/390816)
(/taxonomy/term/275041)
Pakistan has The past as present
RASUL BAKHSH
been a polarized (/node/2319526) (/taxonomy/term/390
RAIS polity and
consequently, a
(/TAXONOMY/TERM/275041)

divided society Zahid Hussain

April 14, 2022
19:56
for the past half (/taxonomy/term/61451)
century, and Pakistan needs a
even longer if we charter of economy (/taxonomy/term/61451
look back deeply to move forward
 (/#facebook) into its history. It (/node/2319196)
 (/#twitter) started with the
 (/#linkedin) serious PAKISTAN (/PAKISTAN)
differences Nasim Zehra
 (/#whatsapp)
among the (/taxonomy/term/346156)
SAUDI ARABIA (/SAUDIARABIA)
 political elites of Another cutting edge:
the country over Pakistan’sMIDDLE
decaying
EAST (/MIDDLEEAST)
(/taxonomy/term/346

Follow the character of democratic journey
the state, quality (/)(/node/2319141)
WORLD (/WORLD) BUSINESS (/ECONOMY)

of federalism,
OPINION (/OPINION)
relationship
Daoud Kuttab
between religion LIFESTYLE (/LIFESTYLE) SPORT (/SPORT)
(/taxonomy/term/4976)
and governance
and ideological The US should
JOBS not
(HTTP://CAREERS.ARABNEWS.COM)
choices. One may compromise on (/taxonomy/term/4976)
  (https://www.facebook.com/arabnewspk)  (https://twitter.com/arabnewspk)  (https://www
argue that it Israel’s profiling of
Americans
could be a
(/node/2318921)
normal process
in a diverse
MORE IN OPINION (/OPINION)
nation’s struggle
to take a definite
direction and
achieve stability
in the formative
phase. But one
wonders why it
would take nine Latest Updates
years in writing
the first
Pakistan’s Russian crude
constitution and shipment paid in
then its Chinese currency —
annulment minister (/node/2320296/pakist
(/node/2320296/pakistan)
within three
years without any
King Charles III takes
general elections to saddle to restore
or transfer of royal tradition
power happening (/node/2320281/world) (/node/2320281/world)
under it.
Pakistan says has no
Without getting plans to freeze foreign
into the details, it currency accounts
was the inability (/node/2320266/pakistan) (/node/2320266/pakist
of the ruling
elites, their
diverse regional
 backgrounds,
personal vested
interests in
power grabs, and
for that purpose,
Sweden court PAKISTAN (/PAKISTAN)
upholds rejection of
Qur'an burning
SAUDIban
ARABIA (/SAUDIARABIA)
(/node/2320261/world) (/node/2320261/world)
MIDDLE EAST (/MIDDLEEAST)

engineering of IndiGo airlines flight

political (/)briefly diverted
WORLD to
(/WORLD) BUSINESS (/ECONOMY)
Pakistan amid bad
manipulation to
weather OPINION (/node/2320256/press-
(/OPINION)
wreck (/node/2320256/press- review)
governments and review)LIFESTYLE (/LIFESTYLE) SPORT (/SPORT)
forms new ones.
JOBS (HTTP://CAREERS.ARABNEWS.COM)
Factions of the
  (https://www.facebook.com/arabnewspk)
same elite under  (https://twitter.com/arabnewspk)  (https://www

different party
platforms kept
displacing one
another from
power endlessly
until the military
took over in 1959.
There is another
view that political
elites were
innocent and
they were
actually played
against one
another as
puppets by the
civil and military
bureaucracy.
This is too
charitable a
perspective to
excuse the
political elites
and their never-
ending
factionalism,
which continues
to this day, after
a long history of
 74 years. If they PAKISTAN (/PAKISTAN)
had played by the
rules, SAUDI ARABIA (/SAUDIARABIA)
demonstrated
political MIDDLE EAST (/MIDDLEEAST)

solidarity on
principles and (/) WORLD (/WORLD) BUSINESS (/ECONOMY)

forged a political
OPINION (/OPINION)
consensus, the
democratic LIFESTYLE (/LIFESTYLE) SPORT (/SPORT)
norms and
convention JOBS (HTTP://CAREERS.ARABNEWS.COM)


would have
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gelled over time.
The recent ouster
of former prime
minister Imran
Khan, despite the
fact that he had
the largest party
in the parliament
with 156
members losing
power to a
motley group of
political factions,
the closest
second having
only 86 members
and forming the
new government,
speaks a great
deal about
persistent
polarization. The
sad story of
Pakistan is that
naked factional
elite interests
have shaped
these power
plays, often by
seeking friendly
 intervention PAKISTAN (/PAKISTAN)
from the
powerful judicial SAUDI ARABIA (/SAUDIARABIA)
and security
institutions. MIDDLE EAST (/MIDDLEEAST)

(/) WORLD (/WORLD) BUSINESS (/ECONOMY)

" Generation
after
generation,
coming
OPINION (/OPINION)

LIFESTYLE (/LIFESTYLE) SPORT (/SPORT)

JOBS (HTTP://CAREERS.ARABNEWS.COM)
from
 the
 (https://www.facebook.com/arabnewspk)  (https://twitter.com/arabnewspk)  (https://www
same
feudal-
tribal
social
background,
Pakistan’s
political
elites
have
promoted
political
values
that
run
counter
to
nation
and
state-
building.

"
Rasul
Bakhsh
Rais

The normal and

expected role of
the political
 elites in any form PAKISTAN (/PAKISTAN)
of political
system is SAUDI ARABIA (/SAUDIARABIA)
working toward
stability, order, MIDDLE EAST (/MIDDLEEAST)

national unity,
solidarity and (/) WORLD (/WORLD) BUSINESS (/ECONOMY)

continuity along
OPINION (/OPINION)
with ensuring
progress, social LIFESTYLE (/LIFESTYLE) SPORT (/SPORT)
and economic
development. JOBS (HTTP://CAREERS.ARABNEWS.COM)

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The Pakistani  (https://twitter.com/arabnewspk)  (https://www
elites have done
quite the
opposite:
polarizing and
dividing people
along ethnic,
religious,
ideological and
narrow political
lines. Generation
after generation,
coming from the
same feudal-
tribal social
background, they
have promoted
political values
that run counter
to nation and
state-building in
ethically and
demographically
diverse society.

Ultimately, it is
the rapacious
character of the
Pakistan ruling
classes, their low
 commitment to PAKISTAN (/PAKISTAN)
rule of law and
accountability SAUDI ARABIA (/SAUDIARABIA)
and access to
power as means MIDDLE EAST (/MIDDLEEAST)

of material
benefits that have (/) WORLD (/WORLD) BUSINESS (/ECONOMY)

stunted the
OPINION (/OPINION)
growth of
democracy. In LIFESTYLE (/LIFESTYLE) SPORT (/SPORT)
such conditions,
the military has JOBS (HTTP://CAREERS.ARABNEWS.COM)


assumed the role
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of ‘guardian’ of
the state, and has
regularly
managed
political conflicts
erupting over
power struggles
among the elites.

The present
polarization
between the PTI
and the rest of
the 11 so-called
political parties
and factions is
not new. It is a
continuation of
the same
historical
pattern, only the
main characters
have changed.
Each successive
confrontation has
been more severe
than before. The
ongoing clash
looks like
political warfare
 with no-holds- PAKISTAN (/PAKISTAN)
barred, barely
covered with a fig SAUDI ARABIA (/SAUDIARABIA)
leaf of
constitutionality. MIDDLE EAST (/MIDDLEEAST)

This has been in

the making for (/) WORLD (/WORLD) BUSINESS (/ECONOMY)

the past nine

OPINION (/OPINION)
years when
Imran Khan LIFESTYLE (/LIFESTYLE) SPORT (/SPORT)
challenged the
fairness of the JOBS (HTTP://CAREERS.ARABNEWS.COM)


2013 elections.
 (https://www.facebook.com/arabnewspk)  (https://twitter.com/arabnewspk)  (https://www
The others, in
return,
questioned the
accuracy of the
2018 vote and
vowed to oust
him from power
by forming a joint
alliance,
launching street
demonstrations,
and finally
succeeding by
winning over
dissidents from
his party and
coalition
partners and
moving
successfully a
vote-of-
confidence
motion in the
National
Assembly.

The sudden
change of heart
by four coalition
groups
 supporting Khan PAKISTAN (/PAKISTAN)
and the open
betrayal of 20 SAUDI ARABIA (/SAUDIARABIA)
members of his
party have raised MIDDLE EAST (/MIDDLEEAST)

many troubling
questions about (/) WORLD (/WORLD) BUSINESS (/ECONOMY)

the neutrality of
OPINION (/OPINION)
powerful state
institutions. This LIFESTYLE (/LIFESTYLE) SPORT (/SPORT)
adds another
dimension to the JOBS (HTTP://CAREERS.ARABNEWS.COM)


political conflict
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playing out in
media, civil
society and the
general public. 

Khan has
instantly decided
to engage in
popular agitation
against what he
calls an
‘imported’
government by
weaving a
narrative of
foreign
‘conspiracy’ and
accusing some as
‘traitors.’ His
decision to resign
from the national
assembly en-
masse is
stunning and
may prove to be
an adventurous
path to
Azadi‘liberation’
for the country.
He will be doing
 politics now not PAKISTAN (/PAKISTAN)
in the parliament
but in the streets, SAUDI ARABIA (/SAUDIARABIA)
rousing public
anger against the MIDDLE EAST (/MIDDLEEAST)

‘corrupt mafia’
and demanding (/) WORLD (/WORLD) BUSINESS (/ECONOMY)

fresh elections. 
OPINION (/OPINION)

- Rasul Bakhsh LIFESTYLE (/LIFESTYLE) SPORT (/SPORT)

Rais is Professor
of Political JOBS (HTTP://CAREERS.ARABNEWS.COM)


Science in the
 (https://www.facebook.com/arabnewspk)  (https://twitter.com/arabnewspk)  (https://www
Department of
Humanities and
Social Sciences,
LUMS, Lahore.
His latest book is
“Islam, Ethnicity
and Power
Politics:
Constructing
Pakistan’s
National Identity”
(Oxford
University Press,
2017). Twitter:
@RasulRais 

Disclaimer:
Views
expressed by
writers in this
section are
their own and
do not
necessarily
reflect Arab
News' point-of-
view
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