Institutional Disintegration in Pakistan

Bahawalnagar is the center of attention for all the news distribution centers of Pakistan today. A city located in Punjab, famous for its rich tradition and a home to many diverse societies and segments of a community, has been under discussion for none of the above-stated reasons for the past two days.

This might come off as something shocking, however after the revelation of the six senior-level judges from the working community of the Islamabad High Court, nothing should come off as a surprise in the political landscape of Pakistan.

Pakistan has faced and overcome internal disintegration of all sorts many times in its not-so-fortunate history. Internal disintegration has many types, from communal disintegration to political disintegration, from social disintegration to policy disintegration, and from religious disintegration to welfare disintegration, we have seen it all, even witnessing the eventual federation disintegration with the freedom of Bangladesh as a separate state. But one of the worst forms of disintegration in a fragile country like Pakistan is institutional degeneration and disintegration.

In what world would your imagination direct you towards considering institutes especially created, managed, and funded for the protection of the citizens, finding themselves in a situation where both would come off battling with each other? The odds are very low with the shouting oxymoronic sounds. But nothing is strange in a land of possibilities, even though bad but yes the world of possibilities.

Almost two days ago, the Punjab Police and the Pakistan Army faced off against each other in the Bahawalnagar district. According to the news sources, members of the Punjab Police raided the house of an Army officer a day before and the security officials from the Pakistan Army raided a Police Station and held the Police officials over their hostage. They were tortured and insulted, made to sit on hot sand, and beaten brutally. All this was unfortunately recorded in mobile cameras as well. What followed was more hurting than the entire incident. Senior officials from both forces emerged onto the scene and supposedly had a dialogue over the matter, eventually a clip came out showing officials and personnel of the Punjab Police chanting slogans for the encouragement of the Pakistan Army. Thinking of utilizing PR to become victorious over such a bizarre incident, the stakeholders expected the diaspora to forget about it all and move on.

But such is the age of social media, the nation and the relevant stakeholders did not move on, they started analyzing the situation and ended up commenting on it. While many people used satire to explain this chaotic situation, some demanded serious accountability for the ill issue.

The truth is, that nothing will happen and people who were insulted, beaten, or raided are not going to get any justice. Instead of backing the demand for a free investigation into the matter, Inspector General Punjab (IG Police) Dr Usman has hinted at letting go of the matter and has encouraged forces to operate in harmony against the common enemy.

The question is, who is that 'Common enemy' then? And is the push towards maintaining harmony for the nation or to give a hideaway on the crimes and illegal transgression of both the security agencies? The answer is pretty evident. Reports suggest many people in the Punjab Police are unhappy with the response of the upper-tier leadership of the institute, some agencies have also hinted at people resigning over this issue. The main question isn't about celebrating two institutes taking a dig at each other, but it is about discovering one simple fact, why didn't the same institute feel the need to protest or resign or resent when illegal orders were being downscaled by the mighty to raid the houses of common citizens, or to arrest political workers across the country? Why are both the institutes silent over the fact that six High Court judges stated security and well-being concerns and no institution has come forward to give those judges a secure bubble? If you think this entire fiasco is a matter of two institutes only then you are living in a delusion.

It is a blatant display of a power struggle. Pakistan's military has been accused (and proven) to be the ones behind the political persecution of workers, missing persons, intelligence cannibalization, and murders of citizens since 1947. Punjab Police on the other hand has a very unfortunate and inhumane history of extrajudicial killings, encounters, and many other crimes. The Military or its Public response departments arent concerned when houses of common citizens are raided, and the Police are also not concerned when businesses of common people are destroyed and raided just to turn over the political allegiances, both enablers of powerhouse fascism are normally silent, and in compliance with each other's contributions towards empowering fascism in the state, however when the same thing happened to them, a response was triggered.

It wasn't a case of "How could you do this to me?", it was the case of "How could you do this to me? Weren't we supposed to do this to the people?"

The ruling elite can manipulate as much as they want, but institutes will eventually fall out with each other. The Bahawalnagar incident is a clear indication that the fire is often set up to burn the opponent, but if you teach people how to light up a fire, they will one day light it up to burn everything to the ground.

The police's raid was its natural act since they do it often and the Army's response was also its natural response because they are also seen abducting and raiding common people. The thing to notice is, that the fire caught both of them sparking a a battle of ego and pride amongst the soldiers belonging to both the institutions. In reality, though, both of the perpetrators of this and the fascism since 1947 should be put behind bars and held accountable.

This is just a start, no management system in the world can be sustained based on force and torture, intimidation and fear come with an expiry date, and awareness and courage do not. Two groups stood up for their selves against the oppressive like-mindedness of each other, tomorrow the groups will turn into power sectors, and ultimately the seeds of hate for others are going to sprout from within.

This is the start of institutional disintegration in Pakistan, and believe it or not, this is here to stay.