A MONUMENTAL verdict given by the Supreme Court in the case related to reserved women’s seats has altered the dynamics on the political chessboard. Many have been left wondering how a verdict can be announced in favour of a political party whose main objective has always been to destabilise the country for its own vested interests.

The verdict in the case was announced with an 8-5 majority. With as many as five judges on the bench arriving at a different conclusion on the basis of the same set of constitutional and legal provisions that were available to the other eight, the judgement, many believe, sounds more like a ‘democratic verdict’ than ‘legal’. Others believe it indicated a ‘victory’ of the political cult that has been destabilising the country for a while now, and there is no apparent sign of change in its plans.

Is this political cult not waging a war against state institutions, and maligning the security establishment for its petty political gains? Is this political cult not sowing the seeds of hatred and dissent in society, further polarising an already polarised nation? Is this political cult not putting the national and security interests at stake by lobbying through foreign firms for mounting pressure on the government in Pakistan? Did the followers of this political cult not vandalise and ransack state and security installations? There are many more such questions that are agitating many a mind.

I would suggest that accountability must be held without any fear and favour, and whoever has been involved in destabilising the state must be tried in the courts of the law and taken to task.

Sajjad Khattak
Peshawar

Published in Dawn, August 1st, 2024