Project Democracy: What is to be done?

As the latest drama of rhetoric and revolutionary idiom unfolds, it is imperative that all progressive forces pool in their organisational resources to defend the latest bout of civilian rule against khaaki (and assorted) conspiracies

On the afternoon of 15th January, the latest in the long line of our (uniformed and non-uniformed) saviours camped out with his followers on the streets of the capital and declared the government void and null.

Tahir ul Qadri eulogised the military and higher judiciary as the only competent, functioning institutions in Pakistan while demanding that assemblies be dissolved with immediate effect and a 'neutral' caretaker setup be installed. Amid invocations to God, judiciary and military to save the country from the 'cabal of dacoits and looters in Parliament', it seemed as if the judiciary was the first to respond. News started coming in of the Supreme Court (SC) decision in the Rental Power Project case which asked for the immediate issuance of arrest warrants against sixteen people including the sitting Prime Minister, Raja Parvez Ashraf. For a few hours at least, the sound of boots marching down Constitution Avenue rang loud and clear in the minds' ear of many people and Project Democracy seemed to be winding down rather quickly. It might yet happen but before that, some context.

While it is almost guaranteed that Qadri has backing from the military establishment, the context of his long march and the SC decision has to be kept in mind. Skirmishes with the Indian military on the Line of Control (LoC) had already got alarm bells ringing among the corridors of power. Massive demonstrations against Shia killings around the country morphed into a demand for military rule in a province which is effectively already a cantonment and governor’s rule was imposed in Balochistan on orders from Islamabad in the face of increasing public pressure.

As Qadri bellowed belligerently and orders for the PM's arrest came through from the SC, one must be forgiven for asking questions about the linkages between these events and a possible pre-planned attack on civilian rule in Pakistan. With just two to three months to go before assemblies completed their term, the timing of the SC decision just as Qadri finished his speech makes even less sense if seen as mere (unfortunate) coincidence. This is especially pertinent considering the fact that in several other instances (including the Gilani contempt case and negotiations with regards to the Swiss letter), the SC has shown restraint and patience so as not to allow space to the usual suspects. Surely, similar restraint and patience could have been shown in this case. Para-military forces even surrounded the Balochistan Assembly for about three to four hours as legislators were meeting inside giving strong indications that some sort of coup d'état was underway.

Usual scenes of lawyers dancing on the streets, garlanding and congratulating each other were relayed on the electronic media in an echo of previous summary dismissals of elected governments. It seems, for now, that the Deep State is striking back in the face of the first impending civilian transition of power in the history of Pakistan. The flux in the corridors of (real) power in Pakistan is evident in how quickly Qadri's demands morphed from electoral reform when he started his long march to dismissal of assemblies by the time he had reached Islamabad. That a crowd of, by most estimates, around seventy to eighty thousand people (just enough to win a single national assembly constituency) can cause such a crisis of legitimacy for the elected government, is testament to the enduring power of the security establishment and its various lackeys in the state machinery and polity. That persons with zero representation in the Parliament, can hold the democratic process at gunpoint should be cause for alarm for those who believe in civilian supremacy in Pakistan.

Moreover, most political parties have shied away from publicly pinpointing the hegemonic machinations of the security state at work here. While the establishment seems united on its agenda of forcing assemblies to resign and installing a 'neutral' caretaker setup in consultation with all 'stakeholders', popular civilian leaders are divided on the issue with some demanding that the Election Commission be revamped (even though it has been constituted, for the first time in the country's history, through a constitutionally mandated process). However, until major players like the PML-N and the judiciary do not agree to play ball on the question of direct military intervention, boots on the ground and another round of 'Mere Aziz Humwatno' on television remains an unlikely, though not remote, possibility.

The challenges for the Left and progressive forces in this situation are numerous and complex. We need to do an honest analysis of the situation whereby reactionary demagogues like Qadri can draw out hundreds of thousands onto the street over, at best, ambiguous slogans of 'change' and 'revolution'. That the monumental incompetence and anti-people bias of the current setup has, to a large extent, given space for such demagoguery is without doubt. The detachment of mainstream parties from their own constituencies and the continuing grip of the security establishment on the popular narrative makes the environment particularly amenable to the hegemonic machinations of the Deep State. However, it also represents a complete failure on the part of progressive forces to build a popular movement around the discourse of class, social justice and equitable distribution of wealth. As such while pockets of support for the Left forces do exist, not least in places such as Okara and Hashtnagar, a widespread movement of the Left seems far from the horizon. In this regard, the seething ethno-nationalist movements, which in contemporary circumstances seem to be the most effective avenue of opposition to the hegemony of Pakistan's over-developed state, must be natural allies for any hopes of reviving a popular progressive response. The recent mass outpouring of resistance seen in countrywide protests against Shia and Hazara killings points to a deep well of discontent among various different ethno-religious communities of Pakistan. It is through tapping into such movements and connecting them in a broader struggle of workers, peasants and other oppressed classes and communities that we can build a popular front against reactionary saviours which legitimises and perpetuates the hegemony of the neoliberal, security state in the garb of 'change', 'revolution' and 'true democracy'.

As the latest drama of rhetoric and revolutionary idiom unfolds, it is imperative that all progressive forces pool in their organisational resources to defend the latest bout of civilian rule against khaaki (and assorted) conspiracies. While the anti-people character of the current elected setup is beyond doubt, and we should harbour no illusions as to its radical or transformative potential, we should nevertheless refrain from maintaining neutrality in a situation which threatens to set us back by many years. If this is indeed a conspiracy to wrap up civilian rule and/or install a technocrat (read: IMF) government for the next couple of years, its success will not only give a new lease of life to the wholly incompetent and degenerated PPP but also be a blow to the recently initiated process of left unity in the form of Awami Workers party (AWP). As I write this (on Jan 16), Qadri is declaring that the assemblies will have to go in a day and elections be held within 90 days after electoral reforms (surprise surprise!). It is imperative that different left, progressive forces activate their organisational structures and set aside their difference for at least this moment so as to give as big a popular response as possible to this reactionary demagoguery. The pockets of support that left parties have cultivated over so many years in different parts of Pakistan should be mobilised to come out onto the streets in a concerted manner to protest against this latest move by the establishment. This will, hopefully, also present a counter narrative in the mainstream discourse which is stuck on a false dichotomy between military autocracy and bourgeoisie democracy.

To even have the chance to implement our project for political and economic emancipation, it is vital that the space for politics itself is not constricted, or even eliminated, as would be the case if there was any kind of direct or indirect military rule. In his treatise on the events leading up to Napoleon Bonaparte's coup d'etat in 1851, Karl Marx famously said that history repeats itself, "the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce". Pakistan has already had its fair share of repeating history and assorted tragedies. It is upon us to ensure that this latest bout of sponsored 'revolution' does not descend into a farce, to the detriment of us all.