PAkistan is a country endowed with great political thinkers, architects and engineers, as depicted in the dazzling glory of their magical, visionary projects, each of which surpassed the other in their ingenious brilliance.
Then why is there so much crisis in the country? primary. This flattering definition must come from their self-evaluation diaries while the rest of us clear the rubble, bury the dead and each ‘genius’ of a failed project, with the goal of the illustrious self to heal the seriously injured. We do.
We are in the middle of one. It is part of an endless cycle. In my lifetime, I’ve seen things come 360 degrees at least twice and yet we continue to take pride in our flat-lined learning curve. Would be happy to adopt a ‘this is what it is’ attitude if there were no ‘innocent spectators’.
But when millions of hardworking Pakistanis, whose hard-working days earn them heart-wrenching wealth and their lives are nothing more than climbing a slippery pole forever, they are so ruthlessly betrayed that their What should be the authority, one is filled with anger, though impotent.
Yes, impotent because there is nothing one can do. You and I are nobody. Even the love kids, or two, who produce illegal political engineering cases are helpless. They may cry out in pain, but only when they break away from their ‘padrone’ and fight to get back the lost love and comfortable umbrella.
That’s the only problem. After every failed experiment architects, engineers publicly say that ‘nation-building’ is a thing of the past and never again. Still, in the absence of ‘learning’ genes/DNA, the promises made in the twilight of a reign that will soon see the coronation of another chief architect don’t excite me much.
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As a journalist, having personally witnessed the end of General Xia’s dictatorship at the end of quasi-military rule, his death and what followed, I have come to believe that we may try the same policy over and over again. Crazy enough.
I angrily remember Nawaz Sharif, whose smooth, big rosy cheeks have turned darker, he replied: “I do not think it necessary to answer the question (I do not consider it necessary to answer that question)”.
Subsequent elections were not free enough, but there were some serious miscalculations by the engineers about the political and electoral balance in Sindh, and as a result, the building of their project soon began to crumble.
After the elections, Benazir Bhutto’s PPP may have been able to bring together a paper-thin majority, as it ensured that no numerical permutation could stop it, but it faced obstacles every step of the way. Had to do
The first was to ensure that Mr Sharif had enough support in the provincial assembly elections to deny him victory in Punjab after the National Assembly elections, from where his party won more seats for the National Assembly. And the IJI overtook the PPP in the provincial assembly.
Benazir Bhutto’s government lasted two years, three full years before it completed five, although it also survived a no-confidence vote supported by opponents of the Zia loyalists of Aiwan-i-Sadr at other important addresses in Islamabad, Rawalpindi. and Lahore.
Anyway, this history is so new that it doesn’t need to be recounted in detail. You know the point is being made. Nawaz Sharif toppled his own government long before his term and Bhutto had a similar fate with a two-thirds majority. This victory turned him into an ugly dictator.
A few decades later, like anyone else who did not even have a simple majority, he began to believe that he was the almighty leader of the country and could run the country with an iron hand and not with political consent. Before long, the rug was pulled from under him.
After being sentenced in a mock kidnapping trial, he was imprisoned and soon negotiated to go into exile. Eventually, both BB and NS realized that they were locked in a futile battle against each other, while leaving someone else free to collect the spoils.
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Ms Bhutto’s assassination, and the outcome of the 2008 elections, put a full test of the ‘Charter of Democracy’, which she concluded with Mr Sharif in London and, after a rocky relationship, the charter was struck down and both parties agreed to their – Went on your way.
After the 2013 elections, to be fair to Mr. Sharif, who secured a two-thirds majority in the National Assembly and Punjab and could also form a government with allies and independents in the KP, he demonstrated his democratic credentials and PTI ranked first. Try because it was the biggest party out there.
Of course, concerned about the implications of the FATF’s grey-listing and the potential for international isolation, he said the policy of supporting extremists should be revised. Once the story surfaced in the media, the anger he faced eventually led to his ouster from office, exile from politics, and imprisonment on dubious charges.
For years, architects were looking for a compliant alternative to strong-headed civic leaders. He bet on Mr. Sharif but later he became a democrat. Another illegal engineering case created another source of great pride for Padrone.
He was said to be clean. Then it turned out that Squeaky Clean wasn’t that spotless, incompetent and prematurely started making plans for a decade in the office. Ergo, that had to be dealt with. Interested allies emerged.
He mirrored the demeanor of a favorite kid from a few years back. The result is a veritable royal mess. Can ‘compromising’ politicians get us out of this hole? That’s a discussion for another time.
The author is a former editor of Dawn. Thoughts are personal.
Article originally appeared on the Dawn website.