No To Revolution!
Last year February was electoral month in Pakistan. Those were the days when youngsters had gone maniac about PTI and its fascinating slogans of Naya Pakistan. They called it an unstoppable tsunami after its Lahore gathering had taken this frenzy to an endearing level.
However, I was always skeptical about his unpragmatic agenda. Okay, I know other parties, participating in elections, deserved no admiration either, but they were not that overrated.
Anyway, like all the other young minds, the idea of Naya Pakistan, itself, fascinated me, but how Imran Khan would achieve that with same venal faces transiting from other parties, after they had been apparently subsided by their previous leaders while dispensing powerful positions, was beyond my wits.
I had always appreciated the political position managed by former captain in a short time span, but my trust in his abilities fell apart when some of the oldest members of his party, like Sheeren Mazari, got cold feet displaying lack of confidence, among party workers, and leadership failure.
Social media was the biggest source of PTI’s electoral campaign, but to my disappointment, unabashed vitriol of PTI supporters, was appalling, making them no different from others. Apart from this, I had some ideological clashes with our beloved captain as he held a soft corner for TTP and all in all, I had convinced myself that PTI was not as flawless as it was being portrayed.
Anyhow, Imran Khan managed to secure enough vote bank to come out as second biggest party along with whole of KPK province in his pocket, and it was appreciable considering his competition with influential parties but, somehow, he seemed utterly dissatisfied with this victory because his claims regarding clean sweep in Punjab couldn’t get real.
Like majority past elections, these have also suffered from rigging allegations and PTI supporters lamented for quite a long time criticizing victor party, election commission, and even the supreme court for ill-organized elections but all of this couldn’t restrain PMLN from claiming its mandate and establishing central government. More than a year has passed, but PTI just couldn’t move on and now an Azadi march is being conducted against the government and Imran Khan has even demanded a resignation of prime minister. I wouldn’t say that the elections were completely transparent, but there are few logical facts Imran Khan never appear to register and one of them is the difference between supporters and voters. PTI’s major support league contained youngsters who were ambitious to see their captain becoming Prime minister but sadly considerable number among them was not eligible to vote. Moreover, he was fervently supported by urban community who had access to social media, which made him and his candidates vehemently underestimating PMLN’s popularity. Contrarily, PML-N’s vote saturation laid in older age groups, business community and rural inhabitants, who constitute a larger fraction of Pakistan’s population. These, combined with the fact that PTI’s candidates were new faces for the nation, were sufficient to predict Imran Khan wasn’t going to get it in a single hit anyway and election result proved it. However, ignoring this, he decided to stick to his element of doubt which has not only put capability of ECP and victory of PML-N questionable, but can also lead to invalidation of results and another round of elections.
I’m not an ardent supporter of PML-N but I care about democracy. There are so many issues which need government’s dire attention and things will take time to get settled, but it seems like our jammed, paralyzed state has at least begun a tread. In any case, we cannot afford PM’s resignation or midterms when the country is passing through a phase where our armed forces are engaged in crucial military operation against Taliban in none other than Imran Khan’s own province. IDPs are suffering from this civil war, minorities are facing oppression and killed every other day, Thar hasn’t completely recovered from the drought crisis, Balochistan issue is getting out of hands, but our beloved captain is busy in arranging a pointless march only because his hopes of being a prime minister in a single blow, got hurt. I mean what a political madness, it is? Despite prevailing security threats, enraging young blood, and closing all the doors for negotiations when we have just started witnessing a bit of stability is not a revolution. It is plain saddening that our public is too blind to see this power obsession. Right now, our economy is too frail for midterms and country cannot endure another dissolution of the assembly. Plus we need to understand that our state is in acute need of steadiness, not revolution, because no sensible mind would wish for another martial law as a consequence of chaos caused by retaliation from government to restrain this process which is very likely to happen, considering the current political crisis.
To protest is our democratic right, but disturbing civilian lives for an undefined time period, and refusing negotiation offers stubbornly in a time when the country needs support for uprooting deep infestations, is totally unjustified and I have no appreciation for it. Set a protest rally against injustice, poor law and order situation, oppression faced by minorities, better health and education facilities and I would be glad to join because these are the real problems we are facing right now and deserve eminent attention, but no, Imran Khan will think about these once given a license to rule. Quite superficial, Ain’t it?
If Imran Khan was as dedicated to state as his supporters claim him to be, he would have considered KPK his golden chance and proved to the Pakistani people that he indeed deserved highest majority in parliament. He would have acted as a strong opposition and participated in stabilizing democratic process instead of wasting his time on jamming business and trade by conducting an Azaadi march without a defined timeline. My message to PTI’s chairperson is that he quit his stubborn disposition, letting present government focus on its parliamentary duties and deliver promised output, for the sake of democracy and his fidelity to the people of Pakistan. He should learn something from example of Narindra Modi, who was given a province to rule and led it well enough to prove that he deserved to be prime minister of state. I request him to avoid any kind of violence and anarchy, such political moves can induce, resulting in a military take over. But still, our dear tsunami leader, if you are so obsessed with setting marches to show your manpower, better use it to push the government to act in the best interests of Pakistani nation. Trust me, it would be a real help and we will be thankful to you!