From ‘47 to Form 47

Since the emergence of Pakistan as a newly founded nation-state in 1947, the whole sequence of events in the country alludes to the most common by-default error inherited by the newbie Muslim state despite the best intentions of its founding fathers.

As ill luck would have it, Pakistan has been reduced into a star-crossed nation-state where the state has been pitted against the nation since day one. From the mysterious death of its founding father, Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the middle of the road, a criminally delayed promulgation of the Constitution to the country’s breakup in 1971, and from the recurrent overthrowing of elected governments to the repeated rise of military regimes in the guise of catering the national interest, the retrogressive journey has now landed the country in a spot with its back against the wall.

At this crucial phase, when the country now has almost all the characteristics of a failed state, Pakistan is rapidly emerging as a textbook example of misplaced priorities and loss of direction from its beginning.

What went down in Pakistan on and after February 08 best described the 77-year journey embarked by the nation in the opposite direction, marred by misdirection, disorientation, and erratic course. Most of us blame the shadows of corruption looming large over the corridors of power, however, even the most corrupt nations desist from putting their own country at stake in pursuance of vested interests.

In our case, though the prima facie evidence alone may not be sufficient to single out the underlying factors behind the wretched state of affairs that introduce Pakistan to the comity of nations, one must not waste a single moment to call things by their proper names, or at least, hover along the red line to delineate the truth lurking between the lines.

To cut a long story short, it would not be an overblown exaggeration to say that Pakistan is a hostage nation at the hands of the hidden yet well-known operatives euphemistically identified as the powers that be, the ruling establishment, or the system’s most celebrated movers and shakers, along with civil-military bureaucracy and feudal landlords, not to exclude their opportunist cohorts found a plenty in the country’s business and political elite eagerly working in tandem to hoodwink the whole nation, time and again.

Over and above institutional tussles, what fails the country is the most misperceived notion among the holier-than-thou ruling establishment is that they have better decision-making abilities, they are well-equipped to lead the country than their elected counterparts, and thus have a birth-right to keep intervening into the state affairs at the expense of constitutional principles and legal provisions.

Making things more complicated, the real wielders of power are erroneously trapped in the grasp of narcissism as they consider themselves not subject to the law compared to the rest of the masses accountable to every clause of the statutory rulebook.

As things currently stand in the name of the doctrine of necessity, there exists quite a fine line drawn between law-abiding citizens and law-breaking institutions, albeit the last-mentioned can not only breach, contravene, and violate well-established code of conduct but can also tamper with the predefined law to accommodate their interests as and when appropriate.

What went down in Pakistan on and after February 08 best described the 77-year journey embarked by the nation in the opposite direction, marred by misdirection, disorientation, and erratic course.

Not yet enough, the judicial institution, on the face of it, is left with no other recourse than to pander to the directives it regularly receives from those who are beyond legal reach and are absolved from any legal responsibilities and constitutional confinements.

In light of some key points mentioned above, ‘Form 47’ should not be perceived as a plain piece of ordinary paper that was rigorously doctored in the wee hours of February 09 by the lot of political engineers to turn the majoritarian decision into the self-imposed verdict released by the top brass of unelected forces.

If truth be told, this time, ‘Form 47’ depicts in black and white a deep-seated phenomenon plaguing the nation since its inception in 1947. Being the most accessible instrument of electoral manipulation, ‘Form 47’ succinctly describes the never-ending plight of a captive nation, and the significance of an otherwise just another single-page official document overshadows the bulky statute books and weighty constitution volumes. Elections or no elections, what we see in the name of good governance is mafia-like stewardship that heavily relies on expediency and improvisation by fair means or foul.

Thanks to the General Elections 2024, the intended message has been well delivered to the electorate, as described by Sir Tom Stoppard, a Czech-born British screenwriter and playwright. He says, “It’s not the voting that’s democracy; it’s the counting.”

No doubt, it is an indisputable truth that rings true in the case of Pakistan, too.