THE government seems bent on committing a blunder that will have the opposite result to that which was intended. The federal cabinet has put together a special committee to determine what ‘legal action’ can be taken under Article 6 against former prime minister Imran Khan, President Arif Alvi and the former speaker and deputy speaker of the National Assembly.

The government wants to prosecute the PTI leadership for its ultimately unsuccessful attempt to thwart the vote of no-confidence against then prime minister Imran Khan and the subsequent dissolution of the assemblies by the president.

The PTI has itself to blame for matters coming to this point. It has made a habit of branding political opponents ‘traitors’, which has opened the door for the government to retaliate in kind.

However, the PTI’s immaturity does not need to be perpetuated, especially since the government cannot expect to achieve much with its chosen strategy.

Editorial: Traitor vs traitor

For starters, it should be quite clear by now that the PTI has thrived since its ouster on a narrative of victimhood fed on a craftily constructed perception that it is a lone force battling a multitude of ‘enemies’. It has successfully managed to create a situation where any move to suppress the party or its leaders forcefully only manages to boost their appeal to supporters, which are quite sizable in number. A move to label Mr Khan and company ‘traitors’ is unlikely to bear different results.

Secondly, it is exasperating to see the government pursue Article 6 when the law in question is obviously meant to be applied in very different circumstances. The text of the Constitution states that the charge of high treason will apply to “Any person who abrogates or subverts or suspends or holds in abeyance, or attempts or conspires to abrogate or subvert or suspend or hold in abeyance, the Constitution by use of force or show of force or by any other unconstitutional means”, as well as any person who aids or abets such an attempt.

While the Constitution was indeed violated in this case, it was clearly neither abrogated nor subverted nor suspended nor held in abeyance. Insisting on prosecuting the PTI leadership on these charges only betrays the government’s vindictiveness — not a desire to remedy the wrong the former had done.

High treason is a severe crime that ought not to be trivialised. It has been committed on multiple occasions in Pakistan’s history by powerful individuals aided and abetted by institutions of the state. It used to find legal sanction from the highest courts of the land. Recently, the state itself made a mockery of the severity of the crime when it said it would welcome Gen Pervez Musharraf, who stands convicted of the crime, back to the country.

In such circumstances, the government’s sanctimonious stance rings quite hollow.

Published in Dawn, July 18th, 2022