IT seems that the PML-N and PPP need to be reminded again that they are doing themselves a considerable disservice by either directing or quietly endorsing the ongoing victimisation of the PTI. The police and FIA raid on the party’s offices in Islamabad on Monday, linked to alleged ‘anti-state activities’, and the subsequent arrest of ailing septuagenarian Raoof Hasan should have been unacceptable to any party that claims to be democratically inclined. The ransacking of party offices and hounding of political opponents are dictatorial traditions that should have remained buried in the past. And they serve little purpose: it may be recalled that the PTI, after being installed, had gradually lost its goodwill because it chose to focus on jailing opponents rather than delivering good governance. Instead of learning a lesson, its opponents, when they came to power, continued to expand the scale of political victimisation to the point where they have now lost their moral high ground.

Indeed, the scale of political repression and the number of political prisoners in custody today seems unprecedented for any elected government in the country’s history. If this trend continues and if history is any guide, the PML-N and PPP can expect to suffer that which they are failing to prevent today. When the PTI was ousted, there had been high hopes that these two parties would herald the revival of democratic values and traditions. Instead, they have ruled rather complacently through one of the darkest chapters in the country’s political history. Their leaders should remember that the Pakistani people have a proud history of rejecting oppressive rulers, be they the uniformed or the civilian kind. For the sake of their legacy and future, the two ruling parties must stop and reassess. They ought to be leading by setting better examples. The decisions they have made so far have hurt them more than they have hurt the PTI.

Published in Dawn, July 24th, 2024