WORRYING as it is for a major political party and the military leadership to be at odds with each other, the reaction of the PML-N government and other mainstream political parties has been disturbing too. In cancelling a meeting with PPP boss Asif Ali Zardari on Wednesday, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has sent the wrong signal on the civil-military front. Similarly, words of condemnation by PML-N and PTI leaders in particular of Mr Zardari’s fulminations against the military appear to have unfortunately aligned major political parties closer to the military than to the democratic system. Clearly, the swirl of corruption allegations around the PPP and repeated accusations of epic mis-governance in Sindh have at least some basis in fact. The PPP is in need of serious and urgent internal reorganisation and repurposing. But set that issue aside and consider what it is that Mr Zardari really said earlier this week. His words may have been impolitic, his accusations blunt and none of it good for political stability in Sindh — but were any of the former president’s claims entirely unheard of or not made by other major political figures at various junctures in history?

By condemning Mr Zardari and making a show of distancing themselves from the PPP, are the PML-N and PTI claiming that blunt and direct criticism of the army is outside the democratic realm? If so, why? Consider that just yesterday a strident attack against the PTI was made from the floor of the National Assembly by a PML-N MNA, Talal Chaudhry. The PTI routinely attacks its political opponents using language that is indecorous and cringe-inducing. So, why is there one set of rules for politicians attacking politicians and another for politicians criticising the political role of constitutionally apolitical state institutions? What Mr Zardari said earlier this week amounted to a political speech against a deepening intrusion into the political realm by the military leadership — can a politician not criticise what he perceives to be a political opponent?

Perhaps Prime Minister Sharif and some of his sharp-tongued senior ministers should reflect on a recent mistake by the PPP itself. Before the PPP found itself in the military’s cross hairs yet again this year, the party had backed the security establishment’s crackdown against the MQM. Now, with the PML-N rushing to defend the military leadership in its struggle against the PPP leaders, perhaps the party should consider the possibility of the precedent in Sindh being repeated at the centre in the not-too-distant future? It is entirely possible for politicians to disagree with and even be condemnatory of the PPP’s misrule in Sindh without having to align themselves with the military. In the civil-military domain, civilians crossing over to the wrong side of the equation has historically never worked out well for the latter. Surely, the PML-N should not need to be reminded of that.

Published in Dawn, June 19th, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play