Not another Egypt, please!

Egypt, like Pakistan, is a recipient of IMF loan and holds external debts and liabilities of $155 billion. Pakistan's external debt is also huge, amounting closer to $126 billion. Today, over 30 per cent of Egypt's population lives under the poverty line. In Pakistan, poverty is graded somewhere between 35 to 40 per cent. These figures are important to share, as twelve years ago a story began in Egypt - a story which is quite similar to what is happening in Pakistan today. Why must this story be told? It must be told because it's a story in which the will of the people was subdued and what transpired was the creation of a political system that was a continuation of the old one in which anti status quo forces were defeated and status quo prevailed. From this story of recent past, we must draw some lessons, the biggest of them all is that despite the removal of the only civilian President in 2013 (Mohammed Morsi ruled Egypt for one year from 2012 to 2013) and his replacement by another military President Fattah El Sisi, Egypt has continued to go down the path of external borrowing, poverty and external debt. Should we choose to take the same path?

In 2013 in Egypt, it was the military versus the Muslim Brotherhood. Just a year earlier, Morsi became a candidate for Presidency on people's support having defeated a military candidate for presidency on a narrow but decisive margin. Hardly six months into his presidency Morsi made constitutional amendments that showcased him as power seeking, power accumulating President, a bad president who was becoming authoritative and dictatorial. The military responded by opposing him and broadcasting a message on state television giving Morsi 48 hours to respond to military and people's demand and step down as President. The military propagated that if Morsi was left in office, Egypt will become another Somalia and experience a civil war. To add pressure, the Headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood was burnt and looted within hours of this military announcement.

President Morsi rejected the offer and posted a message on YouTube that he was ready to sit and engage and talk with anyone. That message was also taken off the YouTube. His supporters turned out in numbers to conduct marches and arrange large sit-ins to support him; they pitched tents, blocked roads and vouched to stay put until military went back to barracks and President Morsi's government was restored. Then came one of the blackest days of modern...