What we have witnessed recently is a complete disconnect between the ruling political elite and the people.
LAHORE: In America, a tradition has been kept alive where the president and his wife make it a point to serve food and celebrate Christmas among the poor in a shelter for homeless people. Such traditions continue to be followed in other European countries. In Pakistan, our elected political leaders would normally be seen in the past, visiting their constituencies celebrating Eid with their constituents, or making other symbolic gestures like sitting down for food with the poor and needy. What we have witnessed during the past decade is a complete and ever-widening disconnect between the ruling political elite and the people whose votes put them in parliament.
Millions of homeless displaced by the flood continue to suffer in Sindh, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan and parts of Punjab and nobody, except Edhi and some other individuals, seem to be bothered by their sufferings and misery.
The president either goes abroad on a foreign visit, or goes to Dubai to spend Eid with his family. Would it not serve to project their public image if the president and the prime minister were to be seen serving food to the homeless in an Edhi centre, or to their poor constituents?
Can we imagine the public outcry if President Barack Obama were to visit Canada on Christmas and Easter? Even the heads of major opposition parties are not seen celebrating Eid in Pakistan, because they seem to prefer to use this time to visit Makkah to seek forgiveness.
Malik Tariq Ali
Published in The Express Tribune, September 4th, 2011.
