By Shaheen Sehbai

The recent events in Islamabad show Pakistan is passing through a turbulent phase of perverted politics as if the last battle of survival is being fought, where nerves are being tested and any weakness on principles and issues will lead to major disasters, on many sides.

These recent events include the release of a shady audio-video by PML-N, the strong rebuttals by the involved judge, shrieks of media persons including some known journalists/anchors, desperation in Nawaz Sharif’s family, Bilawal Zardari’s juvenile
written outbursts, his dad’s smiley antics, Maulana Fazlur Rahman’s flop APC and much more.

The complexities of the situation involve the following factors:

• The doomed Nawaz family is fighting back with illegal “Mafioso-style” acts like taping the private life of the judge, bribing and blackmailing him, forcing him to meet convicted prisoner Nawaz Sharif in his Raiwind home.
• This fight back involves daughter Maryam’s circus style media show in which she committed an open Cyber Law crime and implicated all the party’s top leaders, for which they will have to pay, sooner than later.
• The quick action of the government and top judiciary to ground the judge and summon all those involved on July 16 to sort out the mess.

This situation comes at a time when PM Imran Khan is flying off to Washington and there are strong reports that the top military brass will accompany him.

If General Bajwa and ISI Chief go to Washington and hold meetings while Imran Khan is meeting President Trump and all come out with synchronized and complementing statements, a message will be sent world-wide that Pakistan will stay stable in the coming months and years, helping Washington in its problems in Afghanistan and Iran.

One upcoming event, an important one and disturbing for some, is the issue of General Bajwa staying as the army chief in November or moving on.

If he comes to Washington and everything goes fine, the underlying message will be that US wants the same political and military setup to continue and thus an extension could be expected for Gen Bajwa.

But there are a lot of rumors and speculative reports that an extension may not be liked by the military brass, similar to the 3-year extension given to General Ashfaq Kayani.

So a third viable option is also under consideration and this could make everybody happy. This could come in the following shape:

• General Bajwa retires when he has to, on time.
• Before he does so, as the rules require, he sends his recommendations to the Prime Minister naming 3 or 5 top generals to be named as the next COAS.
• But for the essential sake of continuity and without disrupting the plans and strategies that have been put into action, General Bajwa is immediately appointed as the new National Security Advisor to the Prime Minister, who starts coordinating everything between the civilians and the generals.
• The new COAS is named as per the consensus of the PM and Gen Bajwa and no promotions and appointments get disturbed while the new civilian and military leadership implements its policies, as they are doing for the last few years.

In this scenario, the judiciary deals with the challenges that have propped up with the release of the illegally taped audios and videos and this could lead to serious consequences for many politicians.

What the recent events have shown is a shameful display of perverted politics. Imagine what has happened:

• The PML-N released a video/audio of a judge, taped secretly to blackmail him, involving the entire leadership.
• The judge reacted ferociously in two days and was fired after issuing a denial on Sunday and then writing an affidavit to the higher court telling all. He admitted his mistakes and is now heading for the dustbin, but with his head high.
• What the audio-video confessed and confirmed was that the judge was trapped, the PML-N front men were involved, the illegal video was made public involving many channels and TV technicians.
• The main PML-N complaint was that the judge was pressurized by “some forces” to give judgments against Nawaz Sharif. But the evidence showed that the PML-N guys, forced the judge to incriminate him, admit that he succumbed to blackmailand even visit Jati Umra to meet Nawaz Sharif.
• Yet in the final analysis the judge did not give in and convicted Nawaz Sharif in one case and acquitted him in another. So the blackmail and pressure from PML-N side did not work.
• There is no evidence that any other side, specially the Army and the judiciary, pressurized the judge to issue a judgment against Nawaz Sharif.
• So the case now is against PML-N leaders who have confessed everything and who have to defend against the charges that they violated Cyber Laws and entrapped a judge and were blatantly involved in obstruction of justice.
• In any scenario, Nawaz Sharif does not get any relief. At best his conviction in the lower court could be declared a mistrial and he goes before a new judge to face the trial in both the cases — one in which he was convicted and the other in which he was acquitted.
• The chances are that a new judge may find him guilty in both cases and his sentence could be enhanced.
• That is not what the PML-N leaders would be looking for, except
  Maryam Nawaz who, some say, has sadistic ambitions to dump her
  father and get control of his party.

In all this mess, Asif Ali Zardari could get a short-term relief but if Nawaz faces the reality, Zardari would hardly be allowed to get away with his billions.

Someone sent me a list of words, which, he claimed, represent the entire spectrum of Pak politics, including all the characters and their actions.

These are difficult words and I don’t know the meaning of all of them. But readers can themselves find the meaning and fit each word and associate it with any leader, as they like.

The words are: Dendrophilia, Emetophilia, Exhibitionism, Fetishism, Frotteurism, Infantalism, Klismaphilia, Masochism, Necrophilia, Sadism, Urolognia, Voyeurism, Zoophilia.

There are some others I deleted from the list. Whatever they mean, find out, do the
research and give your feedback on Who’sWho and which word fits whom, if you like.

Categories: Analysis, Current Affairs, Pakistan Armed Forces

Tags: current affairs, Democracy, Pakistan, Pakistan Army, PMLN, PPP, PTI, Shaheen Sehbai