A revolution?

These days there is a lot of talk about revolution and a change of system. I see it as a control-alt-delete button on the keyboard. A clean up action of sorts where a new benchmark of what is acceptable in politics needs to be set up. The constitution is fine. So is parliamentary democracy. The problem is that no one sticks to the system. How does one ensure zero tolerance for wavering from the system? Simple — by ensuring that when there is a wavering from set rules, people are punished according to rules.

There is a common joke going around Islamabad these days: hang a few hundred politicians and this country will be fine. What this seems to suggest is that the politicians are the core problem. I feel that the responsibility lies on the politicians to govern since they are responsible for the fate of millions.

What should one expect from politicians? That they will make good laws and implement them. That they will create an Islamic, social welfare state. That they will rule in an egalitarian way. That if they have clean water to drink themselves, they won’t sleep until they have found a way to provide each Pakistani with clean drinking water too. That if they have access to education and basic health units, they will ensure that each Pakistani has the right to education and health facilities too. And until we don’t give the basic amenities to the poor, we have no business wasting each other’s time politicking.

There is a long list of revolts, rebellions, and revolutions in world history. They happen when people reach the peak of the minimum acceptable level of humiliation and are ready to turn out those responsible for their misery.

Pakistan is waking up from its slumber. As an LSE student I hardly ever protested. As an MNA when I protested in March for the National Programme for Improvement of Watercourses, I didn’t want to break any rules and go by the book initially. But once one is lied to, one loses the inhibitions to make new rules. New rules to turn the system from unjust to just, new rulers, new everything. I am looking for some partners in crime these days. I am trying to spend maximum time with those I am supposed to serve. So I can be close to solutions.

I feel Pakistan needs to wake up completely, live and breathe without chains. We need freedom from our own low standards of acceptable limits of governance. We need to demand our rights without hesitation. It’s almost like a grand awakening, a realisation of the potential of a pure Pakistan. It’s around the corner. I can feel it.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 30^th, 2010.