Why American political rivals can meet with civility and ours meet with handcuffs.
In Washington last week, an unusual scene unfolded inside the Oval Office. Donald Trump, a politician known for his combative style and long memory for slights, welcomed New York’s mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, a man who had spent years criticising him as authoritarian and racially divisive. Trump, in turn, had publicly mocked Mamdani as a “radical”.
Yet when they met, the hostility evaporated. Trump praised Mamdani’s “rational approach”. Mamdani emphasised “areas of cooperation”. Their conversation was cordial, grounded in policy, and almost studiously civil.
This moment was not a triumph of personality but of political culture. American institutions, for all their chaos and imperfections, allow rivals to sit across from each other without fear of arrest, character assassination, or sudden erasure. The system absorbs dissent; it does not equate disagreement with disloyalty.
For Pakistan, the contrast is striking and deeply uncomfortable.
A Fall From Power, Pakistani Style
In Pakistan, the end of a prime minister’s tenure rarely marks a democratic transition. It marks the beginning of a descent. The machinery of political retaliation clicks into place with unsettling speed.
Former premiers face media blackouts, endless investigations, disqualification drives, and aggressive criminal cases. Some are hounded into exile. Others wind up in prison. The tradition is depressingly consistent: Imran Khan in Adiala, Nawaz Sharif in exile and back again, Yousuf Raza Gilani disqualified mid-term, Benazir Bhutto entangled in cases for years, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto executed after a trial still questioned by historians.
Our politics does not simply change hands; it devours its former occupants.
No U.S. president, not even Richard Nixon, who resigned in disgrace, faced the kind of punitive onslaught routinely unleashed in Pakistan after a change of guard. The American system, imperfect as it is, refuses to criminalise political loss.
Why Rivals Shake Hands in the U.S. and Not Here
The Trump–Mamdani meeting captured something central to the American model: the ability to compete fiercely without seeking to destroy the opponent. This resilience stems not from personal goodwill but from institutional safeguards.
In the United States:
The opposition is structurally protected through congressional rules, funding and visibility.
Media access is unconditional; even defeated leaders remain part of national debate.
Courts, though political, do not serve as tools of humiliation.
Criticism is normalised rather than treated as sedition.
These guardrails ensure that rivalry does not morph into existential threat.
Pakistan lacks such buffers. Our institutions often inflame political tension instead of managing it. Every critique becomes treason; every opponent becomes a potential conspirator. Power is treated as a zero-sum commodity and losing it becomes synonymous with personal annihilation.
Under such conditions, reconciliation becomes nearly impossible. Political actors do not compromise when they fear disappearing after defeat.
The Lesson Pakistan Refuses to Learn
The civility in the Oval Office was not an endorsement of either man’s politics. It was a reflection of institutional confidence the assurance that a system can survive disagreement, dissent and ideological distance.
Trump did not fear Mamdani’s criticism.
Mamdani did not fear retribution for his opposition.
Both understood their political identities would remain intact after the meeting.
This is precisely what Pakistan lacks: a sense of stability that transcends individual officeholders.
Until Pakistan moves away from treating criticism as defiance, and opposition as sabotage, it will remain trapped in a cycle where political transitions are indistinguishable from political vendettas.
A Way Forward
Reform begins with changing political instinct. Pakistan must:
Stop equating loss of office with criminality.
Ensure legal proceedings are transparent rather than targeted.
Restore media access to all political actors.
Accept opposition as part of governance rather than an obstacle to it.
Strengthen institutions so they arbitrate conflict rather than participate in it.
Without these shifts, the country will continue to create leaders who fear leaving office more than they fear failing in it.
In Washington, two adversaries walked into a room and emerged with dignity. In Pakistan, political rivals rarely leave such encounters unscathed. The handshake between Trump and Mamdani lasted seconds but it illustrated a political maturity Pakistan still struggles to cultivate.
Democracies grow when opponents coexist. Ours weakens every time opponents are crushed.
