Editorial Desk :
The Supreme Court’s verdict declaring Imran’s detention “unlawful” on Thursday evening will prevent Pakistan from further drowning in chaos and mayhem when the country is struggling hard to come out from the ongoing economic crisis. The verdict was necessary to save Pakistan that was slipping into a civil war.
Leaders of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), founded by Imran Khan, for quite some time were telling the government that the arrest of their party chairman would be a ‘red line’. They warned that the people of Pakistan would not accept this. Several times in the past weeks Pakistan police tried to arrest the former prime minister but could not succeed in this because Imran Khan’s supporters surrounded his residence.
Imran Khan, after being ousted from power on April 10 last year through a no-confidence vote, he consistently alleged that he was overthrown in a move orchestrated by the army in league with the US and was demanding for early national elections. He galvanised his supporters more than ever before by organising political rallies in major Pakistani cities. Amid this, there was a shocking attempt of assassination on Imran’s life in November last year and he accused directly the top ISI officer Major-General Faisal Naseer for this.
The Pakistan military is notoriously known for controlling the civilian power of the state from behind the scene. It was widely believed that Imran Khan was also elected to power because of the grace of the military.
But soon Imran Khan fell out of the grace of the military which is believed to have forced Imran out of power by supporting the opposition in Parliament in their no-confidence motion against him. It is also believed that the corruption cases filed against Imran Khan are politically motivated.
We expect that the Pakistan army should have learned the lesson that the political decisions are not for them to take. Pakistan got divided in 1971 because of the political role they tried to play with the encouragement of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto who was too ambitious to be the prime minister.
We do not say under no circumstance army should have a role to play. But not in party politics about which party should be in power and which not. In other words, the army should habitually become involved in day-to-day party politics. When the political leaders defy the people’s sovereignty then they cease to be political leaders. Both the political leaders and the army must know the red line they must not cross. The political leaders should play their role as defined by the people-given Constitution.
So, it is only proper that both Imran Khan and the army generals play their respective role and do not usurp the role of the other side. The judiciary has a very important to play and it should be allowed to do so.
