Open letter to Bilawal Bhutto Zardari

Dear Bilawal,

Congratulations on the Sindh Festival. Yes, there were some hiccups. But the fact remains that the PPP, under what appears to be your guidance, took a positive step. Music and art are always important but never more so in these dark days.

My point today is simple: no matter how many festivals you have, the PPP cannot return to national power before the next set of elections. Those elections are at least three years away. And when they come, the undecideds will vote for you based on two things: what the PPP has done during that three-year period, and what the PPP can offer for the future.

During the PPP’s last stint in power, your party’s record left, in polite terms, much to be desired. I remember in the run-up to the 2013 elections asking a well-informed jiyala if he could name one large-scale infrastructure project to the credit of the PPP. And he was silent. Yes, I know about the BISP and yes, it probably was a good thing. But if all you have to show for five years in power is one good idea, then you need to redefine your concept of ‘good governance’.

In any event, enough about the past. The purpose of this letter is not to berate you or your party for what happened earlier. Given the 2013 election results, you guys should have already figured out that you messed up. Instead, the purpose of this letter is first to get you to ask, what next? And second, to try and give you some answers.

In terms of relevance, I have good news and bad news. The good news is that so far as the political arena is concerned, there is no shortage of political space available. The currently dominant political party (i.e., the PML-N) has always pitched itself as a right of centre party. More importantly, the new entrant in Pakistani politics has chosen to attack the PML-N from the right, leaving the N-League with little option but to tack in that direction to prevent voters from being enticed by the PTI. And just as the rise of the Tea Party in the US has dragged the Republicans off into loony land, the rise of the PTI brigade has forced the Nawaz League to campaign as if the only votes which matter are those in Akora Khattak. The end result is that there is ample room for a centrist or left of centre party to present itself to the public as a reasonable and sensible alternative.

The bad news is that while there is plenty of political space for the PPP to exploit, the days of martyrdom-based campaigning are over. Speaking for myself, it all leaves me cold. Talk to me when you have a plan. Talk to me when you can convince me you can govern. Talk to me when you have policies to back up your slogans.

In most instances, what I have just said wouldn’t count as bad news: it would just be a fact of life. Pakistan, however, is different. Let me therefore spell it out. If you want people to vote for you because of your mother and your grandfather, the odds are against you.

First, most of Pakistan is now aged 25 or less — and the average age is only getting younger. If the next elections are held in 2018, almost all of your voters will have no memory of ZAB and very few will have memories of BB. I’m not saying the charisma card is useless. I’m just saying you must bring more to the table.

Second, Pakistanis have discovered that competence counts. Yes, the Sharifs play footsie with militants. But they also build roads and mass transit systems. And guess what, that was enough to get them a majority of the National Assembly in the last elections. So, if the PPP wants people to vote for them, they need to have credible evidence that they are now serious about governing.

Your problem is that I see no such evidence. Look at the way the PPP has run Sindh since May 2013. Now extend that undistinguished record another four years into the future. Unless you do something, that is what you will be running on. And that is what the PPP will be judged on.

To repeat, you have at least four years till the next election. At that time, you will need to show both a track record of good governance as well as a plan for what you will do if restored to power. As for plans, please note that I am not just talking about a manifesto. I’m talking about building an in-house technocratic arm staffed by people who actually care about policy and who can deliver when the time comes. Note, you can’t do this after getting elected. Nobody has time to think after they get power. You have to do your thinking now. You have to get your people ready now. And most importantly, you need to start caring about policies now.

This is not rocket science: this is what parties out of power do. Please understand that this is no longer the country in which your mother and your grandfather campaigned. We have an independent media now and the voters are more sophisticated. Slogans without substance are not going to cut it. At least, not anymore.

I’m not trying to be rude here, just stating a fact. If you want to be taken seriously, start by taking your responsibilities seriously. Give the voters respect and you will get respect back. Take them for granted and the loss will be yours.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 17^th,  2014.

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