The party that will form the government after May 11 will be the one that successfully wooed the hearts and minds of millions of eligible new young voters. Nobody has been able to capture the youth vote in Pakistan the way Zulfikar Ali Bhutto did in the 1970 elections. Perhaps, the fact that he was educated made him realise the importance of giving jobs on merit to qualified youth.
It is ironic how the PPP has massively lost out in attracting this vote bank since it came into power after the 2008 elections. Appointment of incompetent, corrupt cronies to head state corporations not only drove these organisations to insolvency, but created frustration and anger amongst those who came fresh out of universities, only to find that jobs are either being sold, or given on political recommendations. Even the PTI has not been able to captivate the imagination of millions of young voters, who only recently became eligible for voting, although it has the advantage of never being in power, which means that it can start off with a clean slate.
What these political parties don’t realise is that the same old faces, who have been part of every government in power for the past two decades, will be unable to inspire millions of young people, who are desperately seeking a change for the better in Pakistan. Their trust has been betrayed so often by tall claims of reforms in election manifestos or slogans, that winning them over is no more a piece of cake.
Malik Tariq Ali
Published in The Express Tribune, April 24th, 2013.
