For the past one-week, both Shehbaz Sharif and Bilawal Bhutto Zardari have been trying hard to inject some energy among parliamentarians representing the opposition parties in both the houses of our Parliament. Their efforts seemed delivering, somewhat Tuesday when the government failed to affirm its majority, not once but twice in the national assembly.

Throughout Wednesday’s sitting, the opposition sustained the offensive mood and often put the government on the defensive. Maleeka Bokhari, the parliamentary secretary, had no answers for most questions some members had posted many weeks ago. Yet she preferred to protest like a famous character of ‘Hamlet’ and pleaded to the chair that opposition members should be checked for what she perceived, “indulging in derogatory behaviour.”

Her protest furnished ample space for Abdul Qadir Patel of Pakistan Peoples’ Party to react with street hardened humour. He was totally justified in worryingly wondering why the government was yet not able to get the exact amount of money, Saqib Nisar, a former Chief Justice had collected from people while wailing over the need of building a mega dam. And, how the collected amount was being used these days?

It indeed was an interesting coincidence that Patel felt forced to mock the messianic-sounding zeal of a former Chief Justice, precisely on a day when the incumbent one also decided to summon Prime Minister Imran Khan to his court.

 

By suddenly ordering the personal presence of Imran Khan, the Supreme Court had excited our thrill seeking media. It feverishly began reporting the same like an unfolding drama.

 

Nawaz Sharif was the first prime minister that the Supreme Court had summoned for personal appearance soon after his assuming power for the second time in 1997. In the end, though, he vigorously employed the ‘historic mandate’ to get even with the then Chief Justice, Sajjad Ali Shah. Prevailing against him, Nawaz Sharif also generated the feel as if the office of the prime minister had finally become unassailable vis-à-vis extra-parliamentary forces for the decades to come in Pakistan. But the illusion was set to prove short-lived.  

 

By the end of 2010, Yousaf Raza Gilani felt forced to appear, too meekly, when summoned by Iftikhar Chaudhry, who had returned to head the Supreme Court thanks to a massively populist wave, triggered during the folding months of General Musharraf’s rule. Prime minister Gilani was asked to write a letter to a foreign government, officially seeking support for locating millions of US dollars, the then President of Pakistan, Asif Ali Zardari, was alleged to have stashed in various Swiss banks. Invoking the constitutional immunity available to a sitting President, Gilani expressed hesitance to comply and this was taken as defiance amounting to serious contempt of the court. He had to leave the Prime Minister’s Office for committing it.

 

After returning to power for the third time, Nawaz Sharif was again summoned by the Supreme Court to explain his connection with the Panama Papers, which revealed offshore companies of many top ranking politicians of various countries with a bang in April 2016.

 

After many twists and turns, the Supreme Court finally felt the need of forming a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) to locate the allegedly hidden wealth of Nawaz Sharif. Its findings eventually persuaded the Supreme Court to declare Nawaz Sharif a compulsive liar not qualified for holding any public office of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan for the rest of his life.

 

Visibly swayed by the summoning of another prime minister by the superior court, most journalists naively imagined as if the history was eagerly fluttering to repeat itself. In the end, though, the whole episode simply produced short-lived excitement.

 

In late 2014, all Pakistanis felt completely shocked and vulnerable, when a group of zealous terrorists sneaked into the Army Public School in Peshawar. The savage killing of many children by intruders shook the whole nation and the then government of Nawaz Sharif felt forced to react with vigour and utmost resolve.

 

With determined intent of combating terrorism, Armed Forces were empowered with extraordinary powers. Soon, we were made to believe that focused operations by dedicated professionals, many of whom were also martyred while leading from the front, Pakistan had finally succeeded to defeat the menace of terrorism. A large number of extremists were reported killed. No safe havens were left for them in Pakistan and many had to flee to Afghanistan.

 

From there, some of their deadly operators desperately kept trying to instill fear and chaos among our people. India was often found financing, training and arming them, while the US-propped Afghan governments kept acting deaf and dumb regarding their presence and nefarious activities. The feeling of restored calm also forced many of us to forget the huge tragedy that had occurred in Army Public School of Peshawar in 2014.

 

Parents of the unfortunate victims refused to forget and forgive, however. They kept diligently pleading before the courts that naming the terrorists responsible for the said tragedy and killing, capturing and punishing some of them were not enough. They should also be told how the terrorists conveniently sneaked into an area, visibly considered highly secured and fully protected. The victims’ parents also believed, strongly, that only the top ranking civil and military officers of that period could provide satisfactory answers to the questions perpetually agitating their hearts and minds.

 

Feeling abandoned by the state, they kept pressing that high ranking civil and military officials should rather be tried for committing serious acts of the dereliction of duty. And to ensure this, appropriate cases should be initiated against them.

 

The Supreme Court visibly felt their pain and tried to assuage it by finding out from the Prime Minister how he intended to go about the matter being the Chief Executive of Pakistan. Prime Minister Imran Khan displayed no reluctance. He rather reached the Supreme Court quickly to face questions and politely but firmly affirm the intent to proceed with the matter, exactly according to the directions given by the Superior Court. The court also behaved generously by granting him a full month for sorting out a highly complicated and sensitive matter.

Yet, the sudden resurrection of memories related to an unbearable tragedy of 2014 could still lead to many complications for the Imran government. Of late, it had been trying to engage with the groups, once held responsible for triggering chaos in Pakistan while planning and executing incidents of terrorism from the safe havens in Afghanistan.

The government feels motivated to feel that the victorious return of the Taliban rule in Afghanistan can also lead to permanent peace in Pakistan. With active assistance of Taliban leaders, it can persuade viciously alienated extremists from Pakistan to forget the past and move on to a peaceful future. The effort seems to be delivering because the umbrella organization of such groups had announced a month-long ceasefire, soon after a high profile briefing on national security affairs for an extended parliamentary committee early this week.

But the resurrection of painful memories related to APS tragedy could send the message that most people of Pakistan, and especially the highest court of Pakistan, are yet not willing to forget and forgive the past acts of terrorism, responsible for thousands of deaths during more than a decade, including the martyrdom of our brave soldiers and their officers.