Economic challenges, security issues and a chaotic political environment, that’s what Pakistan represents today. With the regional strategic landscape in flux and new vistas of peace visible on the horizon, Pakistan cannot afford to be consumed by internal political discourse and become fossilized. Counting the total number of MPs (MNAs, MPAs, Senators) and their collusion with other pillars of the state, especially media, it appears that these one thousand ladies and gentlemen have created a virtual universe, which revolves around their less than a dozen leaders, and they want the 230 million hapless Pakistanis to remain focused on their leaders’ daily routine and hope for a bright future. Looking around, major changes are taking place in the region and beyond. The Saudi-Iran reproachment brokered by China has shaken the very foundation of the divide-and-rule policy of the Western hegemonic powers, a new era of peace is being ushered next door; West Asia is likely to open up after bringing down the walls across the Persian Gulf, what opportunities lie here for Pakistan? Is our political elite deliberately keeping us occupied with their daily shenanigans and injecting hopelessness in our collective psyche?
The next major shift is de-dollarization. After Western sanctions against the Russian Federation and blocking Russia out of SWIFT, President Putin decided to work around this hegemonic financial system created by the Bretton Woods head honchos. His quest for financial lebensraum led him to the realm of de-dollarization. Since the Western financial hegemony is maintained through the weaponization of the dollar, many developing countries joined the bandwagon and started trading in other currencies, this has created a snowballing effect in the global financial market. Today Saudis are thinking of the sale and purchase of oil and gas outside the concept of the petrodollar, India is already buying cheap oil from Russia in local currency and BRICS countries are coming up with an alternate currency. What happens to the greenback in the next few months and years and how it could ease Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves? No one is discussing it seriously, apparently, our elite living in the logic bubble of McWorld doesn’t want Pakistani people to get benefit from these epoch-making changes taking place in our backyard, they still want us to believe that we are beggars with no choices but to bow down to the ossified western financial system. Amidst all these challenges and opportunities, the political parties have started targeting the state institutions to achieve two objectives, consolidate their vote bank by abusing the establishment, they know it works, and blame the institutions for the failure of the bankrupt political leadership.
In the backdrop of these happenings, the presser by a military spokesman came at the appropriate time. It highlighted the efforts put in by the Army and its affiliated agencies in fighting the terror networks, especially in Balochistan and KP and how thousands of intelligence-based operations are conducted by LEAs every month. The arrest of the top gun of a sub-nationalist group, Gulzar Imam Shambay, was especially mentioned. The spokesperson also shed the perception about ill-preparedness of the defence forces vis a vis India, the mischief created by so-called seasoned journalists to demoralize the rank and file was put to rest. Defence Forces of Pakistan and their affiliated intelligence agencies have proven in the recent past that they are not only ready to defend the territorial integrity of Pakistan but also ready to take the battle into IIOJK or even the Indian mainland, if the situation warrants. Despite his best efforts, the reporters belonging to different media groups tried hard to drag DG ISPR into the trivia of political debate. His response was measured and blunt, please avoid dragging us into the muck of poisonous political debate, the defence forces respect all political leaders and the state institutions have a constitutional relationship and duty vis a vis the government of the day.
Then there is the case of so-called freelance vloggers operating from foreign lands and driving a poisonous agenda against state institutions. Have we ever seen a Pakistani blogger operating against our state institutions from China, Russia, South Africa, Iran, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Turkey, Qatar or even Jordan? These questions need some research. The countries mentioned in the first category, like China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Turkey etc are Pakistan’s well-wishers as their system won’t allow a Pakistani dissident to spit venom against Pakistan. These vloggers and dissidents are hypocrites, they live in the West, eat in the West, breathe in the West but they will always criticize Pakistani state institutions for having working relations with the West, isn’t it hypocrisy?
Four, the venom spitted by these so-called vloggers and dissidents is conveniently being used by Indian Media to settle their scores against Pakistan Army and state intelligence agencies. So, practically these vloggers are becoming facilitators of the Indian media and its agencies. While the debate on these dissidents needs more objective analysis, our political leadership needs to come out of their arrogant schizophrenia and shed narcissistic tendencies and tell the public how they can lead Pakistan into a bright future. Leadership is for the people, not self-aggrandizement.