by Azam Saeed

“I did not sign Official Secrets Amendment Bill 2023 & Pakistan Army Amendment Bill 2023 as I disagreed with these laws.”

So the President of Pakistan goes public declaring that his signatures of approval were forged.

I find the reaction to be equally instructive. Rana Sanaullah says that the president has shown contempt for his position by his tweet. Ishaq Dar demanded the president’s resignation!

Farhatullah Babar said that Arif Alvi “did what no one could do in the past decade.” In other words, this has been a common practice. It is just that no previous president had the integrity to expose it.

The most interesting comment comes from the Ministry of Law: “If the President had any observations … he could have issued a press release to that effect.”

That makes sense!

You see, since the presidential staff and the media are fully controlled by the generals, the press release would have gone nowhere. The crisis would have been averted. Obviously, the president failed to follow the best option!

We shouldn’t be surprised if the generals now create some controls on the president’s ability to tweet.

For a year and a half, I have been thinking of a word that captures the System’s name (indicating the principal ill the country faces): Tortureistan, Fraudistan, Pornographistan, Prostitutionistan, Blackmailistan, Inhumanistan, Corruptionistan, Badmaashistan …

No, this System can just be called Generalistan. That word alone captures all the ills the state faces. This is the real disease that has grotesquely defaced and crippled our society.

The nation needs to rise up against the crooks who have been behind its devastation for so long.