Compare and contrast

Parliament is set to once again become the pivotal point of national political life, and if the events of Friday 18^th August are anything to go by it is going to be the stage for both high and low drama — with more of the latter than the former. Having by general consensus acquitted himself well in the speech he made after his electoral victory which was almost a model of its kind Imran Khan turned the chamber into a dharna that did himself and the institution no good. By contrast a maiden speech by Bilawal Bhutto Zardari was measured, almost eloquent and tightly scripted. It quickly won the approval of the Twitterati and some entirely inappropriate accolades.

Imran Khan needs to understand that the floor of the house is not a slightly more civilised version of the top of a container, that he is the leader of the government and not of the opposition. The new opposition made a disgrace of itself as well, and it was not difficult for the Bhutto followers and acolytes to make any number of unfavourable comparisons. The danger therein is that Bhutto comes to believe his own publicity. He is in fact little more than a puppet on the end of paternal strings, and his performance hardly the stuff of legend.

The cast are now all in place but beyond a few opening lines the script remains a mystery. The plot is there in outline — the PTI will govern with dignity, nobility and civility whilst the opposition will rollock about in the stables and throw the furniture around. The stagehands have been warned not to get up to any monkey business and to play with a straight-ish bat, though with a long history of chicanery and two-faced deception deeply embedded that might be a challenge.

Pakistani politics needed to change. The new generation of net-savvy voters with minds of their own are not so slavish or so easily fooled. The politicians need to make the step change that takes them to political adolescence, and if they do not then arrested development beckons.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 19^th, 2018.

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