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HAVING heard the news of escaped convict Adnan Rashid’s recapture, there was the obvious temptation to write him a letter listing the million and one reasons why the ideology he and others of his ilk adhere to is despicable and why they are safer behind bars than free.
But a letter from a mere mortal, a columnist, was hardly likely to have an impact where illustrious and accomplished men of letters have tried before and, from the look of it, failed. The self-righteous murderous thugs are beyond reformation.
Therefore, a letter would have been just point-scoring. And given there are many, many more so adept at that game that one can only aspire to attain such excellence, sanity demanded that the game is best left to them.
From Imran Khan to those representing the PML-N, PPP and MQM, each one has excelled in the point-scoring exercise.
Yes, from Imran Khan to the galaxy of stars representing the governing PML-N to the leaders of the erstwhile glorious PPP and Muttahida Qaumi Movement, if one thing each has excelled in is point-scoring. Come delivery time it is, of course, a different story.
Someone tweeted a picture of Imran Khan at a London event earlier this week and said when the then president Asif Zardari took off on a break with his children as floods were ravaging large swathes of the country the Imran Khan-led outrage was deafening.
But of course now that there are nearly a million IDPs seeking succour mostly in Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf-run KP, the PTI leader thinks it is acceptable to travel abroad. While I don’t entirely agree with that criticism, as the government machinery ought to be capable of dealing with the emergency, frankly, the visit does make for terrible optics.
It almost makes the leader appear insensitive and arrogantly oblivious towards the misery of a million of his compatriots. Anyone who has witnessed Imran Khan’s social work would testify that isn’t the case in reality. But reality often takes a back seat when the perception is so damning.
In fact, that Imran Khan is determined not to rethink his Aug 14 protest march/sit-in in Islamabad to press for an audit of all the votes cast in last year’s election may also arm his critics.
The critics would say the PTI leader is power-hungry, actually wants a mid-term election and isn’t willing to be patient even as soldiers are dying all across the north-western parts of the country as they attempt to reclaim land lost to the terrorists because of years of inertia.
So much for the ever-seeking-to-score points PTI leader. Exceptions in Pakistani politics are conspicuous by their absence. Recall how corruption and power cuts (load-shedding) were the undoing of the last PPP government. PML-N spared no effort to point this out.
Now that they have been in power all by themselves (coalitions do limit a government’s ability to deliver) for more than a year have they delivered in key areas? They were so good at point-scoring that most people forgot that if delivery was left wanting, their party ruled more than 50pc of the country as well.
They often couched their point-scoring in seemingly well-informed terms and they appeared so clued in. But in over a year they have been in power have we seen plans and concrete measures which inspire confidence that things are on the move, that a better tomorrow beckons?
One need only look at the fiasco that is power generation and distribution. As the mercury mounts, all we hear from ministers and leaders, who used to thump their chests and say the problem would disappear within months of PML-N coming to power, are apologies and long explanations about why the power cuts would take up to a decade to disappear.
If we hear the leading lights of the governing party today, it would seem the biggest threat to the country isn’t terrorism and the toxic ideology that fuels it; it isn’t even the economic growth rate languishing in the low single digit hamstrung as it is by the energy crisis, but Imran Khan and his party.
Now Imran Khan and his party may be seeking to dislodge the PML-N from their power perch but are they really a threat to the country and its democratic institutions? If everybody who professes to be committed to democracy conducted themselves in a democratic manner the answer would have to be in the negative.
However, when the bandwagon gets going everyone jumps aboard. Who wouldn’t recall PPP leader Asif Zardari exchanging unbelievably generous tributes with the (just-elected) prime minister and pledging to support him till the final year of the government’s term “when electioneering would commence”?
And now he is supporting the PTI’s earlier demand for a ‘recount’ of votes in four constituencies and while his party won’t join in the Aug 14 march, it’ll back it. This change of heart must have something to do with the reservations expressed by Mr Sharif at the constant changes in the Sindh police hierarchy even as a supposed operation is continuing against terror networks in Karachi.
While one was attempting to digest this, some MQM office-holders and handles on Twitter usually associated with the party started to lash out at the PPP, giving one the impression that this was the week, OK the month, when the urban Sindh party was probably in opposition in the province. But a quick check confirmed that its six members were still part of the Sindh cabinet.
Given the gamut of real issues, one wonders when informed, constructive parliamentary criticism will replace needless point-scoring. Really, there are enough areas where legitimate, constructive criticism can contribute to better governance. But will our leaders ever focus on these?
The writer is a former editor of Dawn.
Published in Dawn, July 19th, 2014
