STATEMENTS of various political leaders blaming the establishment for political engineering are not new in Pakistan. The question is why is this happening? This is simply due to the inability of politicians of all parties to tolerate each other and manage state affairs when in power. While blaming each other, politicians usually cross all boundaries.
Our institutions do not decide assertively and keep issues pending to arm-twist, when in need. Consider the rivalry between the PPP and the PML-N.
Since 1988 the two parties had gone to extremes to oust each other from power.
Since 2013, the PTI has been quarrelling with the PML-N and has been trying to remove it from power.
If the PTI comes to power in 2018, the PML-N and the PPP will then not let the former run the government for perhaps more than a year. Instead the PTI should have used its influence to have judicial, civil service and electoral reforms to make the system fool-proof to stop incompetent and dishonest politicians from coming to power.
The review of the political system during the last 70 years shows that it is all a zero-sum game. Politicians failed to manage Karachi and when the Rangers started to do that, it is called political engineering. However, the National Reconciliation Ordinance with Musharraf and the Charter of Democracy are also manifestations of political engineering.
The result is a colossal loss of national resources while the people suffer.
