As some sort of comparison, in the same way that my good old friend, columnist Ayaz Amir, bangs on and on (of course with no result) about the ubiquitous plastic ‘shoppers’ that, for far too long, have littered this country from end to end, north to south, east to west, up and down, clogging up sewers, drains and streets, this column tends to bang on about the political beings who, for far too long, have littered the ‘system’, clogging up all available means of 21st century progress.
Circulating on the net is a list of eight beings, probably just the tip of the heap, who in their own way, are relics of what undeniably and universally acknowledged was the worst of the worst eras Pakistan has seen. From 1985 to 1988 — count, we are now in 2014 — whilst General Ziaul Haq was president and CMLA, Shah Mahmood Qureshi’s father, Makhdoom Sajjad Qureshi, was governor of Punjab; Nawaz Sharif was chief minister of that same province; Javed Hashmi was an honourable member of ZuH’s ‘shura’; minister Khwaja Asif’s father, Khwaja Safdar, was speaker of the ‘shura’; Senator and PML-N chairman Raja Zafarul Haq was ZuH’s ‘opening batsman’ and his information minister; minister Khurram Dastigir’s father, Dastigir Khan, was a minister; minister Iqbal Ahsan’s mother, Aapa Nisar Fatima, sat in the ‘shura’; and Tahirul Qadri was khateeb of the Ittefaq mosque and the Sharif family’s pir.
Most readers have probably seen this and laughed. The point is that like the plastic ‘shopper’, it is no cause for mirth; it is just an indication of how stagnant is politics and how the stagnation grows from strength to strength, literally getting us nowhere. The PML-N and the PPP (Zardari dates back to 1988) are brothers-in-arms; they would be quite content to produce the same jaded faces over and over again and play their twosome game of musical chairs for as long as they remain standing. How the PPP can manage to do so is another question, broken and down as it is, vainly (so far) seeking revival.
Something has to give, there must be some way of breaking out, of clearing up the clogging. Military takeovers are not the answer as we have seen with Pervez Musharraf; they merely perpetuate the mess by turning to old politicos as a means of propping up and attempting to legitimise military rule. So what is needed? The most popular solution now put forth by those who realise that the constant revival of old and failed ‘has-beens’ must be stemmed if the country is to move onwards is massive, all encompassing electoral reforms in the hope that they will usher in new, fresh, untainted blood.
Imran Khan, and to a lesser extent, the former Sharif pir, had their chance but lacking political nous and downright common sense, they fluffed up. Rather than getting a vital message over to the highly numbered supporters Imran had, and to the flailing government, that electoral reforms were vital and must be implemented, he strayed into ridiculous territory and lost the plot. But all is not over, if he could sit down and think, shed the old termite-ridden wood around him, rally himself and his forces, there may be a way.
Why are we where we are? Well, think back to the appointment of Justice Fakhruddin Ebrahim as chief election commissioner, and to that ludicrous caretaker government installed to oversee the 2013 elections. Who put them where they were and why? They were there simply because their capabilities and incapabilities were known and recognised. We knew the result of the elections long before they took place. It was not a fair and level playing field.
The crimes committed in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan in the name of democracy tempered with religiosity are multiple, divisive and destructive. For as long as the relics of the 1980s remain, so will it be.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 22nd, 2014.
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COMMENTS (4)
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Only One God, One Messenger, One Book, One way of Praying is permitted.
And you want to 'Change' all that?
Provincial and national assembly elections are too expensive for new persons to risk their money. Only the super rich families can afford it and keep seats for generations. Local bodies are the only affordable way of letting new people to enter politics. Only then will middle class enter politics. But no party of rich MNA/MPA will ever allow this.
Things must improve but this repeated reference to 'musical chairs' is without any foundation. Zardari was jailed by NS. Last time I heard 'Go Zardari go' and start of long march by NS against the government. If people, however. keep on voting for them, you cannot say that they are taking turns. You can blame the people of Pakistan, not any party. IK is popular but another demagogue who wants to derail the system unless he wins. And yet another guy, who to his credit is liberal, but his appeal is limited to one community and lives in London. Then you associate this with plastic bags being used, as if that is a Pakistan related phenomenon. Only yesterday, German statistics department revealed that an average German uses at least 200 such bags in a year and with a rich population of over 80 million, that is a lot. In fact the government is thinking of imposing fine to anybody using more than 40 a year. I have started using cloth bags which can be used for years.
Pakistan was made by politicians and will be saved by politicians. It's creation was then opposed by clergy and the same class together with establishment is hellbent to maligne politicians in public eyes.They failed yesterday they will fail tomorrow again.Pl stop rhetoric of politicians bashing which serves ,as we all of us know,none but anti democratic forces.When will we learn to give respect to our elected representative. They are certainly not angels but also not Devils.