I dont think I am letting the cat out of the bag as this is now more common knowledge than it was months ago. This was something I was told months ago - during the tenure of Bajwa (and early months of the new man). Plan has always been to build a new system of constitutional governance. A single party system along the lines of the Chinese model (a politburo style setup). This obviously requires a ton of maneuvering and not sure if the Establishment will be able to make it happen. But the original plan was a single part system, with a changed system of governance, and stronger central control. My initial reaction was astonishment at the boldness and the stupidity of the plan that I disregarded that insight. With each passing day I see that seems more and more likely. At least the intention has become clearer. Whether they succeed or not is another story.
I feel the weight of poor governance, systemic rot, lack of fiscal space and poor decision making will make Pakistan less governable, and the entire experiment will come crashing down into a system of chaos. As that happens and the power of the center erodes in will walk the hyenas (from within, the East, the West and the real WEST) - and then all bets are off. And we can only speculate what will be left.
I believe we discussed something along these lines a while back on some other thread as well.
But I do not see this succeeding due to a few reasons:
1- The people of Pakistan right now are too aware of things, they won't let it go that easily. Those systems of single party rule and poltiburo style authority flourished in the mid 1900's, information could be easily suppressed, people could be silenced, and dissent could be quashed. If you have the people already living in a democracy, however much of a sham, it was still something, it is hard to coerce those people into a single party system in 2023. Had this been the 90's, I would have agreed. Especially since you consider that the bulk of the Pakistani population is young.
2- The estab would still need support of the politicians. Musharraf tried doing something similar (although not exactly along these lines), and he also had to take support of politicians. Moreover, Nawaz Sharif has been promised alot, and I do not believe for one second that Maryam or Nawaz will let this happen, unless they get a piece of the pie. While the industralists of Pakistan (Dedhi, Tabba, unions etc.) can suck Asim Munir's balls happily, the politicians work on quid pro quo.
Conversely though, I can also see this succeeding, BUT, and that is a huge but, the experiment will need to yield good results very soon. If people get major reliefs in a year, get their problems sorted out, get inflation under control, then the people would support this system and kick out politicians. But will that happen? I doubt it. Reason being, the political class in Pakistan is too entrenched in everything, and you need their support. This brings us back to point 2. China was different in this regard.
Anyways, interesting times ahead.
I dont think I am letting the cat out of the bag as this is now more common knowledge than it was months ago. This was something I was told months ago - during the tenure of Bajwa (and early months of the new man). Plan has always been to build a new system of constitutional governance. A single party system along the lines of the Chinese model (a politburo style setup).
Also for the other people, remember, PPP and PML crying foul that Faiz wanted a presidential system and wanted to rule for 10 years?
THIS was what they were crying about.
But as always, the fancy plans that the estab made had roadblocks and thinsg went sideways. Now they are somewhat back on track, but I don't think for long.