By Saroop Ijaz

The election season brings with it objective analysis, neutral critiques and assessments and other such clichés with an increasing use of hollow terms such as ‘moral equivalence’ etc. It is silly in most cases to attempt to draw a parallel between two merits or flaws and to give one preference over the other. Yet, in the most striking cases the equation has value. The TTP has declared war on the ANP, the PPP and the MQM. The ANP is quite clearly the most severely affected; it is partially because of geography and partially because the ANP has consistently produced men and women possessing incredible courage. Yet, the condemnations are hard to come by. In most cases, it is the other two parties (who mind you, also have their people killed) who condemn the killings. There remains deadly silence from the parties not on the hit list.

The argument for not condemning the murderous attacks is that these parties were in power for the past five years, and had they not been corrupt and incompetent, such a situation would not have arisen in the first place. The obvious point is, regardless of their shortcomings, would the preferred parties not display spine and condemn terrorist attacks of murder for the simple reason that murder in the name of religion is inherently condemnable. How do the ANP, the PPP and the MQM weaknesses, whatever they might be, provide an excuse for cowardice of the PML-N and the PTI, etc? Never mind, let us hypothetically accept the reasons given in the argument for the silence. To put it at its harshest, it says that the ANP has been corrupt and incompetent, although no specific evidence is available to suggest that they are more corrupt and incompetent than the other political parties, on the hit list or not. On the flip side, only someone being disingenuous would question the bravery and courage of the ANP and its leadership. The TTP has certainly not made its list based on tax returns and corruption records.

The comparison to be made then is; is it more desirable to have unimpeachable financial integrity or courage? No marks for answering; both. In an ideal world, we would have both. However, if the PML -N and the PTI are to be believed, then that is not possible, and they propose to us surrender and appeasement, however, with flawless accounting; and they do it without a trace of irony or embarrassment. The ANP offers us not only courage but a clear-eyed stance in the face of the assault that we face. The ANP has volunteered itself to the frontline and are putting up a damn impressive fight.

An evaluation, if any needs to be done, should be between terrorism and corruption as the major challenges that we face. It is not much of a parallel. The threat to our state posed by theocratic fanatics cannot be equated to the generic structural problems of corruption, nepotism, inefficiency, etc. And anybody who undertakes this equation is either ignorant or dishonest. If taken to its logical end, would a Taliban regime which is not financially corrupt be preferable to a democratically-elected government, which is bound to be imperfect regardless of which party is in power? There is only one answer to this question that has any place in a civilised society. All of this does not mean that the governance record and financial transparency, etc. be ignored. Yet, the efficiency and good governance that comes with fascism is something that we can do without. We should prefer those with minor blemishes in professional records who are willing to fight for the rights of our children to go to school over dead honest suicide bombers destroying girl’s schools. It seems a bit fatuous to point out that the punishment for murder and theft not meant to be the same.

Anyone who dares to suggest that BB, Mian Iftikhar Husain’s only son and Bashir Bilour were martyred because of the desire for money, deserves to have the door shut on their face by every decent individual. No resort to religious interpretations or intricate calculation is required. The blood of the martyr, whatever its exact worth may be, is certainly more valuable than empty, cheap, craven rhetoric.

Listening to Mr Asfandyar Wali Khan on television recently gave both hope and hopelessness. He does not avert his gaze from the challenge we face. Yet, he was also a man who has been abandoned by the state, political parties and perhaps even by the people of this country. “Free and Fair election” is a farce when candidates are killed and people told to stay away from rallies or else they will be killed. Still, the ANP fights, like our gallant soldiers in Tirah who fight for our lives by laying down their own, there is honour that, and the sort of honour that cannot be replicated by fancy, invigorating campaign songs. There is honour in fighting even while being ignored by a media and society preoccupied with tomfoolery of the lowest order. It is a shame that the ANP has to even explain what the conflict is about at this stage. The upright response is to say thank you and stand by their side.

No election anywhere is ever single issue. Yet, we now have an election which is as close to being single issue as it gets. That issue is not perceived corruption. It is survival and self-respect. The parties which lead the pack in the campaign are not even promising this, not even weakly or unconvincingly. The parties which offer this unfortunately are not allowed to campaign, at least not without the very real risk of getting killed. The TTP has made this election into a two-party contest. Unless the PML-N and the PTI come out with strong, unequivocal condemnations and express their desire to stand with the ANP, the PPP and the MQM, they are squarely in the TTP party, and are there by conscious choice. This seems too simple a binary and so it is. The ANP is absolutely on the right side of this divide, and deserves our support and vote for this general principle.

Picking a Side