General Abdel Fattah El-Sisi finally landed as President of Egypt straight from the Army House to the Presidency of one of the most important countries in the Middle East. He is the sixth head of state of the country that borders Israel. Before him Col. Jamal Abdel Nasser the second President led the resistance against the Jewish state. His support for the Palestinians was unflinching. After his defeat in the six-day war with Israel in 1967, he resigned from office. After the widespread protests in his favor, he continued to lead his country till his death in 1970. Nasser was an honest and upright leader who led a simple life, and did not build personal empires. He left a rich legacy, till today he is revered by the people of the region as a great ‘Nationalist’. He had the vision of creating the United Arab Republic (UAR).
Sisi emerged out of the mass uprising in 2010 called the ‘Arab Spring. Protestors demanded; democracy, free and fair elections, economic freedom, human rights, employment and regime change. As Commander of the Armed Forces, he was called to quash the movement. Hosni Mubarak had been the President of Egypt for over three decades. Under him corruption was rampant. He was a friend of Israel and acted as an ‘American Poodle’ in the region, a role that was earlier assigned to the Shah of Iran after the ouster of the elected Prime Minister (PM) Muhammad Musadiq in the decade of the sixties.
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The siege had started with the murder of Liaquat Ali Khan followed by the ouster of the Iranian PM. While Pakistan was the first Islamic republic, Iran was second. Pakistan came under the boots while Iran had to endure third-rate royalty who declared themselves the ‘Arya Mehr’ (Light of the Aryans) which in reality proved to be their night.
Elections were held in 2012 in which Muhammad Morsi Al-Ayat was elected President
In July 2013 he was removed and replaced by Sisi after staged street protests. Morsi held his ground. He was imprisoned for his resistance and died under detention in June 2019. It did not end here;Â his son Abdullah Morsi died of a heart attack a year later at the age of 25 years. Today Egypt remains under Sisi’s boots who get elected like his predecessor Honi Mubarak by manipulating the ballot process. Today there are only two democratic states in the region, the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) which is fiercely Anti-US and Israel which behaves like a Super Power riding on the shoulders of the USA.
Today the Islamic Republic of Pakistan (IRP) faces maneuvered political instability similar to Egypt. The coalition in power stands fully exposed. Imran Khan (IK) has emerged as the national force of resistance with solid public support which Morsi had lost during his short rule. IK too had a dip in his popularity but placing the ‘Thugs’ into power through the ‘Vote of No Confidence’ resulted in public anger and uproar which Sisi did not have to face. Today IK stands tall with masses solidly behind him. Free and fair elections are the only way forward.
]There is no room for adventurism of any kind
While resistance is building up against the Sisi’s of the Islamic World as the people continue to suffer. This continuous decline has to be reversed. While Egypt faced the first ‘Arab Spring’ in 2010 which had started in Tunisia, IRP has seen several such movements. In the words of ‘Bhutto’, the Indian Subcontinent has long traditions of resistance which started with the arrival of the ‘Colonists’. The demands remain the same; democracy, free and fair elections, economic freedom, human rights, employment and regime change for which Sisi stands in the way of their emancipation.
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As the first-born free generation of Pakistan, we have already toppled four ‘Sisi Rulers’, and there is no chance for the fifth to succeed. Pakistan was envisioned as a republic and is destined to be the same. While PDM and its leaders will perish, democracy will survive and flourish.
The writer is Ex-Chairman Pakistan Science Foundation. He can be reached at fmaliks@hotmail.com. The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Global Village Space.