In simple words, “Martial law involves the temporary substitution of military authority for civilian rule and is usually invoked in time of war, rebellion, or natural disaster. When martial law is in effect, the military commander of an area or country has unlimited authority to make and enforce laws”. In this article, I am going to analyze a few points about how martial law is destructive for the country.
How Martial Law Disastrous for the Country
It is clear and straightforward that if the current situation is made more dire, then God willing martial law will arise. Our history has not been good with regard to martial law because first martial law weakened Pakistan, second one separated East Pakistan.
The third gave Siachen to India, created jihadists and introduced Kalashnikov culture, while the fourth handed over martial law to the Taliban and damaged the country by heating up the Kargil front.
Well, let’s talk about it later, but right now the country is going through a critical situation. The country’s economy is collapsing, the dollar has reached 233, the stock market has worsened from the position of five years ago.
Political experts are predicting that the country is moving towards martial law, if this happens at all, then it will not come for a couple of years but for 10, 20 years. And then if you talk about the past, this cycle has been going on in Pakistan since 1958.
In order to extend their power, military dictators get the legality certificate from the judiciary and strengthen their power by getting political support from politicians. is deprived.
They have no commitment and passion to improve the system. Accountability and impeachment were used as pressure to change political allegiances in the country. Between July 5, 1977 and April 4, 1979, thousands of PPP workers and most of the leaders were subjected to worst atrocities, hanged, flogged and tortured.
Some parties in the PNA soon realized that they were being used by Zia-ul-Haq and his associates to get rid of Bhutto. The “fruit” of Zia-ul-Haq’s 11-year rule came in the form of gun culture, jihad, insecurity and the entry of non-political figures into politics, the effects of which can be seen even today.
Then you talk about Musharraf martial law which was imposed in 1999 and lasted till 2008. I consider the coup of October 12, 1999 as a tragedy because the military dictator General Pervez Musharraf, who overthrew an elected civilian government and seized power, confused the country in more problems.
The 9/11 incident happened during them, in which Pakistan became a “front line” ally across the world. And then Musharraf brought the Afghan war home by justifying the US invasion of Afghanistan by chanting “Pakistan first”, the former FATA and Swat became Taliban strongholds.
There was a time when Swat became a state within a state. Then there were explosions all over the country, not a day passed without a suicide attack in some district of Pakistan. Due to this martial law, Pakistan sacrificed more than 70 thousand precious lives and suffered billions of dollars in losses.
Long story short, all the martial laws that have come so far, none of them have improved the country. In martial law, the news is tampered with and conveyed to the public, strict censorship is imposed.
Corruption increases, lawlessness increases, government institutions begin to impose on the people at will, the world is afraid of you, investors run away, the country’s economy is in shambles, national decisions are made by one person go into the hands of That is why it is said that even the worst democratic government is a thousand times better than martial law.
However, this time if such situations happen and martial law is imposed, it will have bad consequences and these consequences will have to be borne by the three major political parties of the country, and are they ready for it?
If yes then Bismillah and then forget politics for 20 years and if no then everyone’s mandate will have to be respected. Mian Nawaz Sharif, Zardari and Imran Khan have to have a dialogue, this is the last chance for democracy, if we lose this too, then we have a long way to go back. So let me just remember that martial law is not a system, only force and coercion.
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