A treason has been filed against Nawaz Sharif and other party leaders for provocative speeches against state institutions. In an interesting turn of events, the government has distanced itself from the sedition case and maintained that it was filed by a private citizen.
Federal Minister Fawad Chaudhry claimed that the prime minister was unaware and displeased with the registration of the case. Nawaz Sharif is now being labelled a traitor after he heaped criticism on the security establishment. Several ministers have even accused Sharif of supporting India’s narrative and being in cohorts with Modi.
The PML-N had taken exception to declaring Nawaz Sharif a traitor and filing sedition cases against them. Since the past two weeks, both sides have hurled accusations against each other and have often crossed the lines of decency. Yet, the government maintains that is not in favour of registering treason cases against politicians which was a tactic of the PML-N era.
It is also unclear where the citizen who filed the sedition case was pushed by someone in doing so. It has been revealed that he has a criminal record and several cases against him at the same police station. Political temperatures have risen but they have spiraled out of control as both sides continue the diatribe against one another.
Nawaz Sharif’s verbal onslaught should be condemned in the strongest terms but politicians should not stoop to any level that is overly personal and unparliamentary. Pakistan has a long history when dissidents and those who held a different view than the state narrative were labelled as traitors. This is a long list of such individuals who had to prove their patriotism and loyalty to the state.
We have come a long way ever since and the trend of handing out certificates of loyalty and declaring others as traitors should be buried. Politicians should not lose sight of the bigger picture as nothing will be achieved with such blame game as it will only weaken democracy. The nation had suffered enough with such politics and the focus should be on constructive criticism.
The PML-N should tone down its rhetoric against state institutions and extend an olive branch for its political survival. Most importantly, both sides should resort to civility rather than questioning other loyalty to the state.
