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HOW time flies! This hybrid set-up, despite its controversial mandate, is near its midway mark. Given this anomaly, I must adjust the usual lens I use for judging all set-ups via the causal team-policies-outcomes chain.
Its standout aspect is the large gap between the immense powers it has — arguably more than any civilian dispensation’s since Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s era — and the very poor governance results it has yielded so far. There is wisdom in the maxim that absolute power corrupts absolutely. It is clear that our current rulers have eroded the division of state power by taming the judiciary, parliament, autonomous bodies and provincial set-ups and even the media and civil society. With civilians at the centre appearing to be mere figureheads, power flows from the non-civilian core, whose influence serves only selected interests including its own.
There is insecurity in many parts of the country as the TTP and BLA grow increasingly audacious and step up their attacks. Unrest in Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Kashmir and high crime figures across Sindh are contributing to the arc of instability, perhaps leaving only Punjab stable. The focus is on the number of terrorists killed; unfortunately, what is ignored is the fact that new recruits are born when the state exceeds its authority. Force does not end terrorism unless the root causes of real grievances that unleash violence are also addressed.
