KARACHI:
It is not only painful but also extremely stressful to watch and hear our politicians constantly bickering and mudslinging on allegations they are guilty of. Our country was created after a long and bloody struggle but little did we know that the authoritarian power would move from representatives of Her Majesty, the Queen of UK, to their proxies who amassed land and wealth by claiming loyalty to the very power we got freedom from. We have ended up with a system that makes the rich richer while sucking the blood out of the poor.
Since the last seven decades, it seems we are in a perpetual loop of the same episode of corrupt practices in our politics. The recent senate election is yet another example of this farce. All major parties including the ruling PTI are alleging involvement of money for trading votes. While the PTI cries foul on losing the seat of Hafeez Sheikh, it keeps mum on what happened in K-P or Balochistan where knowingly and deliberately they were involved in selling the senate seats to the highest bidder. Similarly, the PDM did what they could to prove that democracy in our country is just a sham. While our prime minister seems furious and claims he won’t tolerate any corruption or dishonesty, he does not even blink an eye on how PTI has abused the system to protect billionaires such as Faisal Vawda or Azam Sawati. On the other hand, Maryam Nawaz and Bilawal Bhutto want to give respect to the vote but at the same time openly and blatantly trade votes. It seems that our politicians only see democracy at risk when it does not favour them.
The result is that between the farce of allegations and counter-allegations, the politicians and power brokers keep getting richer and the poor keep suffering. Unfortunately, such is our fate that the same handful of rich and influential, in connivance with the power brokers, remain in power, be it a democracy, dictatorship, or an experimental hybrid system. While they thrive, the country is at the brink of destruction. I wonder what options are left?
Raja Shafaatullah
Islamabad
Published in The Express Tribune, March 9th, 2021.
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