ULTIMATELY it has got everything to do with how you want to implement your wish.

The Punjab higher education minister caused a mini storm this week when he suggested that girls who wore hijab to colleges may be given additional marks. The ‘proposal’ as it was dubbed drew a stream of reactions before the Punjab firefighting squad launched their rescue operation led by Rana Sanaullah.

The government has disowned the remarks by Minister Syed Ali Raza Gilani. This has caused consternation in the camp of those who had been already quite appalled by the media’s ‘anti’ response to the modest and mild attempt at reformation. 

There is a growing tendency among persons in authority to use their powers to push for objectives outside their official brief.

A day later, the chief minister provided a positive internal riposte to the officially withdrawn line emanating from one of his more educated colleagues in the cabinet. Mr Shahbaz Sharif is frequently sentimental about the subjects he speaks on. On this particular occasion he was at his most passionate.

He announced an increase in the scholarships for girl students and launched his ‘Khadim-i-Punjab Zewar-i-Taleem Programme’. This is how he addressed the girls for whom the scholarship is meant:

“…move forward with energy and vigour and break the status quo to change the destiny of the country…

“…The glitter of wealth has made the aristocracy blind and they criticise provision of billions of rupees for the girl students. If the criticism regarding the provision of education and medical aid for the 90 per cent population is continued, the country will witness a revolution that will destroy everything and nothing will survive.”

And with the hijab debate providing the immediate context to his words he said: “We have to destroy this [the existing] economic system and make Pakistan an Islamic and welfare state in true terms where everybody gets equal opportunity through honesty and hard work.”

The chief minister’s speech was perfectly timed. It was as if the statement by the minister a day earlier was meant to add greater purpose to Mr Sharif’s vows to facilitate the girls in their pursuit of education, and some knowledge and freedom. There may even be calls that would now advocate an early closure of the hijab discussion initiated by Mr Gilani for fear of it degenerating into an unwanted, potentially dangerous altercation.

At the same time, this is just too tempting an opportunity for sounding a reminder and a warning of a growing tendency among persons in authority in Pakistan to use the powers at their disposal to push for objectives that are outside their official brief.

Mr Gilani seems to be a man bestowed with considerable. He is the son of the unassailable Syed Afzaal Ali Shah Gilani; between them they have won all provincial assembly elections in their Hujra Shah Muqeem constituency since 1985.

They are the scions of the most influential pir family of the area. Minister sahib’s uncle is the gaddi nashin of the most respectable Hujra dynasty.  Politically, the family has been strong enough to shrug off challenges from formidable opponents such as Manzoor Ahmed Wattoo in local politics. And that was before Wattoo Sahib was stigmatised because of his friendship with Mr Asif Ali Zardari.

According to a sketch of his, Mr Gilani has been to some of the best schools and is still young in a society increasingly in the habit of making fun of members it believes are getting on in years. He has been to the best institutions in Lahore — Aitchison College and Government College, following it up with a degree in textile marketing from Philadelphia.

In politics, Mr Gilani has graduated from being a union council nazim, and as member of the Punjab Assembly since 2002, has held various ministerial portfolios, including housing and public health engineering.

The sketch says he “has extensively travelled abroad and visited Germany, USA, Australia, UK, Turkey, and UAE and has attended various national & international” meets.

Now clearly who we have here is in a sound position from where to rationalise his choices and his approach to various issues he wishes to resolve. He would appear to be deeply rooted in the old tradition that places him perfectly to feel the pulse of the people in need of reform, to use a term in vogue, at the ‘grass roots’ where he belongs.

At the same time, the gentleman has been exposed to the modern world via education and the privileges extended to him by virtue of his success as a politician — which should again inform his opinion and his choice of issues and method. Further casual inquiries with those who have watched him grow from a close distance indicate that he has been a very proactive representative of the people. One source of information about him in his area provides a measure of his availability to ‘his people’ by saying ‘you can always expect a reply from him even when using social media routes such as WhatsApp etc’.

In the context of a Punjab whose chief minister is desperate for change to thwart a revolution, Mr Gilani’s has to be a profile of a man born of necessary fusion. It is perfectly made to inspire a large-scale following in the circumstances. He has to be the agent of change and willing to rebuild internally and aware of his ability to influence the proceedings around him in aid of the (chief minister’s) vision for the future.

It does little to lift the spirit of those willing to learn from the experience of the current set of rulers if yet one more minister seems to want to follow the routine of bringing change by using official authority outside his domain where it encroaches upon individual freedoms. He should sometimes be content with just inspiring and allowing the people to make their choice.

The writer is Dawn’s resident editor in Lahore.

Published in Dawn, March 17th, 2017