By the people —not ‘buy’ the people!

Our poor parlimentarians! It is not their fault that they are not well versed in English language. After all, we got rid of the British, right? So how can they be expected to know the difference between two words that sound the same? To their credit they have learnt a few new words since 1947 — democracy, dictatorship, dynasty, degree, dollars. They know that democracy is good, dictatorship is bad, dynasty makes for their birthright to power, degree is a degree no matter if it is fake and dollars are the currency that can buy Pakistan. They have learnt the definition of democracy and parrot it repeatedly as they have been taught by their political gurus — of the people, buy the people, for the people! That is their way of telling the public that ‘u’ are an important part of the democratic governance! Now let’s not hold them accountable for governance either. The poor things do not know the difference between government and governance but they do know that R comes before S, so they must Rule and the public must Serve!



The ungrateful lot that we are, we do not acknowledge their contribution in educating the masses through well-planned manipulation of history books and for updating the book of alphabets. ‘A’ for Arrogance, ‘B’ for Bahria, ‘C’ for Corruption, etc. But unfortunately for them, the public has become a little A for ‘Aware’ about their B for ‘Bad Governance’ and is now vying for C — Change! The same Change that ‘IK’ (two alphabets our rulers dislike immensely) is talking about and people are asserting their right to.

It was evident by the teacher’s protest outside Karachi’s Bilawal House that fortified walls and cordoned off roads would not serve as a deterrent for very long. Stories of members of the police refusing to become a part of the notorious ‘system’, were telling of the times to come. Yet, if the ‘elected representatives’ are unable to see the signs then let me spell it out — the public is angry! Very, very angry! And they have the right to be. They have been misled and betrayed by flags, banners, rhetoric, slogans and party abbreviations. Despite being kept illiterate and misinformed, they have seen through the Passage of Power from Papa. They have suffered at the hands of the Power for Me League — irrespective of the alphabet that follows the hyphen. They have survived the policies of More Quota for Me and the grabbing hands of All New Plots. They have suffered in silence the excesses of the Must Party Away crowd and helplessly watched the flight of their wealth into the hands of the Multi National Agents. But now they have had enough.

The season is changing and so is the mood of the public. It is unwilling to give way to the cavalcade of ‘VIP’ vehicles running citizens off the streets. It will not watch in silence as its national wealth escapes the country. It will not put up with deaths in ambulances, as a political bigwig holds up traffic to sail through. And it will not give up and go home because an FIR will not be registered. This is not civil disobedience — this is the public’s right as taxpayers and citizens of Pakistan! In the words of our only Quaid, “Democracy is in the blood of Musalmans who look upon complete equality of man fraternity, equality and liberty”.

It is now time — time for the politicians, feudal lords, fake degree holders and beneficiaries of NROs and rigged / fixed elections, to wake up and smell the coffee or chai, since both are spelt with a ‘C’ except that now the chai-pani that they are used to will have to mean just that — tea leaves and water.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 20^th, 2014.

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