“Big Brother is watching you.” — George Orwell, 1984

Every dictatorship consolidates itself by fixing those who think, speak, and act independently. This is the central machinery of fascist rule: a slow and calculated campaign against dissent, aimed at those who dare to think beyond the sanctioned script. Such regimes do not govern by law or principle; they rule by whim, caprice, and appetite, enforcing obedience through censorship, intimidation, enforced disappearances, torture, and arbitrary punishment.

By crushing independence at its root, they ensure that no voice, no institution, and no conscience survives with the strength to question power. The result is a totalitarian order sealed against scrutiny—unchallenged, unanswerable, and insulated from accountability. At the heart of this system lies a deeply embedded philosophy: rule by fixation, i.e., the deliberate targeting, breaking, and subjugation of individuals and institutions alike.

The current regime in Pakistan, installed through brazen electoral theft and judicial manipulation, is the very embodiment of this rule by fixation. Today, Pakistan languishes under a system that does not merely wield authority but seeks to reshape reality itself, bending the world to its desire by extinguishing every independent spark until obedience becomes instinct.

This phenomenon is rampant in Pakistan; it is a method, a mode, and a manner of governance that acknowledges no law and no Constitution. It follows a relentless pattern of targeting those who question, whether through word or deed. Such fixation is not chaos; it is a meticulously planned architecture of suppression. It is neither accidental nor impetuous but premeditated, deliberate, and precise. It does not rely on argument, debate, or persuasion but on unilateral decree.

One is left with the unsettling impression that, in warm and insulated drawing rooms, unseen arbiters sit in quiet vigilance,........

© The Friday Times