IT is a sad fact of this country’s political life that we reinvent the wheel on an almost daily basis. Conflicts of a bygone era re-emerge in the present almost as if by design, evidence that the powers that be not only refuse to learn from history but are in fact hell-bent on propping up a decrepit structure of power that will only ever be exclusionary and exploitative.

It is not as if significant aspects of this reality are not regularly exposed. Yet little changes. Take the example of the Bahria town housing scheme, about which ‘revelations’ have come to the fore for the umpteenth time in recent days.

We have been reminded again that the gated communities, which have sprung up all over the country due to the untiring efforts of retired military personnel and their choice business partners, come into being only after the loot and plunder of working people whose lack of wealth and influence dooms them to mass displacement.

Thoughtful people are acceding to draconian acts.

Court cases against the brazen practices of Bahria Town and other such schemes have been ongoing for years. But each time a new scandal is uncovered it becomes obvious just how futile it is to expect accountability through the criminal justice system. The truth is that money speaks louder than anything else — the middle-class buyers of DHA and Bahria Town plots who otherwise distance themselves from the rich and powerful conveniently neglect that they are in fact providing the material justification for the gated community ‘revolution’ to proceed without impediment.

It is perhaps symptomatic of the contradictory tendencies of this middle class that segments of it occasionally support popular movements. One such movement which captured (at least part of) the public imagination during the Musharraf dictatorship was that of landless tenant farmers who famously resisted attempts to resist them from the so-called Okara military.

The struggle of the Okara tenants has been documented before, and I noted at the outset just how unfortunate it is that such issues continue to rear their head instead of being resolved in favour of those who deserve justice. Over the past few days the men in khaki have demonstrated that justice will not be done in Okara.

Perhaps more problematic is the manner in which otherwise thoughtful and critical Pakistanis are acceding to draconian acts in the name of security. The same middle class that once stood up in support of the Okara tenants has, in more recent times, been clamouring for operations against ‘terrorists’. It is startling how so many people are choosing to ignore the manner in which working-class activists are being targeted in ‘counter-terrorist’ initiatives as part of the National Action Plan.

It would appear as if there is indeed some credence to the establishment’s claim that there is now a zero-tolerance policy towards terrorism in Punjab; it is another matter altogether that working people struggling peacefully for their rights are being depicted as bigger threats to society than the right-wing zealots who continue to roam freely preaching hate in the name of religion.

Even where a case could ostensibly be made for strong intervention against retrograde militants, the entirely opaque manner in which the security apparatus conducts ‘operations’ is disturbing. The deployment of army personnel in Rajanpur to take on what have been depicted as ‘gangs’, for instance, should raise eyebrows. Who are these ‘gangs’, and why has the civil administration tolerated their existence for years? Most importantly, how did the impetus generated to take on militants in Punjab after the gruesome attack in Lahore on Easter culminate in the sending of regular army units into Rajanpur on a mission without any clear end?

One cannot help but feel sceptical about the army chief’s pronouncement that countering terrorism includes a war on ‘corruption’ and just about everything else. The brouhaha being created about so-called ‘no-go’ areas has to be weighed up against the militarisation of society from Swat to Gwadar. Indeed assuming that all that is presently unfolding has nothing to do with the substantial political and economic interests of the security establishment is supremely naive.

The corporate media cannot be relied on to ask these sorts of critical questions. It is therefore political forces that must come to the fore if the democratic gains of the past are to be protected. It has been said that mainstream political parties are becoming increasingly mature in the face of khaki hegemony. Certainly there is some evidence to support this claim but one cannot get carried away, and progress is in any case slow.

The Pakistani security establishment has successfully fused state and corporate power — with ideological hegemony to boot — in a way that democratic forces cannot afford to ignore. While direct confrontation is not the order of the day, something has to give. Otherwise what is already a steady retreat could end in complete surrender.

The writer teaches at Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad.

Published in Dawn, April 22nd, 2016