TODAY we shall all be one.

Never thought you would see this day? Well now you have it. The power of unanimity will trump all cleavages of diversity as the men and women of parliament stand up this day of the new year and pledge a fresh pledge to be better than they were in the years gone by. Together, one peoples of one nation under one flag, will thump their desks today and in an act of glorious togetherness, release a thunderous vocal endorsement: ‘Aye, Aye, and Aye.’

The deed then shall stand done.

And perhaps for the better. Three separate bills will transform into laws — in all likelihood — codifying the procedure for the appointment and (if the prime minister of the day desires) reappointment of the chiefs of the army, navy, air force as well as the chairman, joint chiefs of staff committee. As per these laws, all the four gentlemen (and hopefully one day ladies too) will now be able to enjoy six years as the head of their services if the prime minister accords them the extension in service. Such an extension would mean that the officers will now be able to serve the nation in uniform till the maximum age of 64. The new law also states that the extension “shall not be called into question before any court on any ground whatsoever”.

Why be a spoilsport on a day that has brought Fawad Chaudhry and Mushahidullah together?

So, oh joy?

Depends, actually. The new law may have its genesis in Prime Minister Imran Khan’s desire to give a three-year extension to the present chief of the army staff Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa, but it will grace our statute books for near perpetuity. Who dare repeal it? The young officers of the Pakistan Military Academy 140th Long Course who got commissioned a few months back may also benefit one day from the law. It may streamline what was an accepted but unlegislated practice and make the decision-making process more transparent. It may make it difficult for people to aim for more than two terms as head of an institution. It may, just may, mean we have seen the last of the uniformed 65-year olds.

Or it could mean some not-so-nice things. But why be a spoilsport on a day that has brought Fawad Chaudhry and Mushahidullah together; that has brought Shaikh Rasheed and Mustapha Khokhar together; and that has brought Murad Saeed and Mian Javed Lateef together? Woe unto those who think otherwise.

Those who think otherwise would think otherwise if they allowed the significance of the moment to sink in for a minute. Since everyone is now on the same page, we may just have collectively turned a page. Look at the optics of the last 48 hours. It’s all milk and honey and a few strawberries thrown in for good measure. Remember the parliament that was quasi-dysfunctional? Well guess where the bills will be whizzing by today. Remember the Election Commission that was quasi-functioning? Well guess who will have a beaming chairman and smug members very soon. Remember the mutual trading of insults, taunts and abuses? Well guess when was the last time you heard the words ‘thieves’, ‘dacoits’, ‘selected’ and ‘incompetent’. God forbid, we are sounding like a normal functioning democracy.

If this isn’t good enough, consider this: today may end all whispers about the losers and winners in the extension game; it will end whispers about who was backing whom for what ends, aims and objectives; it will end whispers about who is thinking what in which building on which avenue in Islamabad and Rawalpindi, and it may even end the countdown to the end of this government. For now.

Ok perhaps that’s pushing it a bit too far. It may not end all these whispers — for what would the republic be without delicious whispers — but it will certainly dial down the prevalent uncertainty and revert us all back to the arena that we have always played in. No more talk of paradigm shifts and game-changing events — no sirs and madams, none of that — and we all slide back into our comfort zones. PTI vs PML-N shoutfests? Sure, they will resume. PTI vs PPP slanging matches? Yep, coming soon to a parliament near you. But talk of civil-military relations and head-on collisions with the establishment to usher in ‘real democracy’? Perish the thought.

There’s a reason why comfort zones are so comfortable.

And so when the rough edges are smoothened and all talk of radical change is put away for some other decade, we can hug the new status quo like an old friend and luxuriate in the gentle warmth of familiarity. Look, there goes the PTI walking down the beaten path smiling inwardly at having acquired a new lease of life. But at what cost? Ah, there’s the rub. The PTI has to behave like a normal party which means dialling down its holier-than-thou rhetoric, scaling down its pretensions about accountability and hunkering down to do some real work that entails less of screaming and more of doing. Oh and yes, making semi-nice with the opposition. And the famed change? Well the PTI’s attitude is a change, so that should be good enough for now.

Look, there goes the PPP brandishing its bails and production orders like badges of honour. But at what cost? Ah, there’s the rub. It may get to keep Sindh without any surprising assaults by fire-breathing change-makers. And those slam-dunk fake account cases may just end up being not that slam-dunk after all. For now.

Look, there goes the PML-N sashaying across the bridge that may bring it back from the stands into the ground. Once upon a time there were two party narratives. Now there is one. And that one is the one that will now start repairing those ruptures with the establishment that had triggered the avalanche that buried the party under its own hubris. The party lives to fight again.

Things work out in the end, you see. So sit back and do not be afraid of political uniformity. It will save the day. Every time.

The writer is Dawn’s resident editor in Islamabad.

Twitter: @Fahdhusain

Published in Dawn, January 4th, 2020