The wise among us

Pakistan has seen turbulent times and will continue to do, unless we see new, young, rejuvenated faces

Elections are upon us, assuming they take place. And yet again, we all know exactly what is going to happen. It is nothing less than a spectacle that a man, who had been out of the country, despite being sentenced, has been given a hero’s return and many believe he is going to be the next prime minister.

In my years of existence, I don’t think I have seen citizens of a country more desensitised to the fact that a special someone is bound to win it again. Many say he is being forcefully imposed upon the state against people’s will. But what do you do in this situation? Do we have an alternative?

The alternative we all believed we had, the self-acclaimed messiah, did not live up to the expectations and made matters worse for us. His success was short-lived and, coupled with a dipping economy, he was shown his way out. And now, like everyone else, he faces a plethora of court cases against him from which he might never make it out.

Former PM Sharif has made his way back to save the day seems to be in high spirits. Democracy? We have a handful of naïve beings who still believe democracy was and is a thing. Good for them. We need such naivety to keep us grounded.

But on the other hand, we have those who are more in touch with reality and understand how our ‘system’ works. It works at the whims of those who want it to be run in a specific manner. Yes, there is a façade of democracy. But I don’t blame them, if I was stuck between two individuals who had nothing to show for their years of their botched-up performances, I would take the third alternative too.

Come to think of it, the Sharif brothers have had a turbulent history in politics. And by using the word turbulent, I am toning it down to a huge extent. You have a candidate who had his men enter the Supreme Court and cause an absolute chaos in there. This is the same man who unilaterally removed a sitting Chief of Army Staff and went as far as ordering the control tower at the Jinnah International Airport in Karachi to not let that man’s plane land there.

Imagine the callousness of Sharif, who jeopardised 200 souls on board by ordering a plane, short on fuel, to land in India instead of Pakistan. And yet, many think he is the best person to rule over us. Yes, Musharraf made mistakes too, but forcing one’s plane to land in enemy territory?

Because this is my opinion, I believe General Musharraf was a bigger patriot than Sharif can ever be. Musharraf did what was in the best interest of the country. A prime minister attempting a coup and failing is worse than a General declaring martial law and being truer to his country. In Musharraf’s own words from his book In The Line Of Fire, he mentioned the greatness he witnessed of the Sharif brothers after their failed coup attempt. “The PM’s brother Shahbaz Sharif was nowhere to be found. Shahid Ali forced the door open to find Shahbaz Sharif getting rid of the speech that Nawaz Sharif was to deliver after his coup had succeeded.”

Pakistan has seen turbulent times and will continue to do so unless we see new, young and rejuvenated faces in the political scene. We have been stuck with the same faces for years and they have nothing to show for it except for their own fancy properties and gold studded cars in foreign countries.

And that is what I leave you with, wise beings. The fact that we are allowing a man of such stature to take reins of this country again and lead us out of the mess our previous messiah left us in. Please, let this country progress. It is all we have before we lose it, again.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 7^th, 2023.

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