KARACHI: It goes without saying that on Feb 8 political pundits of many parts of the world were transfixed on Pakistan. While it’s true that more than six dozen countries go to the polls this year, Pakistan, for its geographical importance and politically charged but unstable atmosphere is special. Thankfully, the voting process took place without any major untoward incident or rumors about pre-poll shenanigans.

And yet, the doodle that Google came up with on Thursday did not depict any such thing. One expected that it was going to be colorful and symbolic piece of drawing. It did not turn out to be the case. Instead, it was the simplest of images that one could see of an election process in a major country: a black and white ballot box with a ballot half inserted into it and the Pakistani green and white flag in front.

The remarkable thing about the picture is that while it does not come across as one carrying symbols of any kind, the simplicity has a message: it delineates a process which is not at all hard to follow. In a way, what the doodle is suggesting is that the 127 million registered voters in the country should come out and cast their vote, because it’s a simple national task.

Given the more-than-expected turnout on Thursday in many pockets, it seemed that the complex Pakistani society opted to show its uncomplicated side on Election Day. If that’s the case, then it succeeded. Ever since the voting ended at 5pm on Feb 8, people have been glued to their TV sets and mobile phones to know what’s transpired and who’s going to form government. The fact that things were murky vis-à-vis the results even after 18 hours the whole exercise finished illustrates the complicatedness embedded in simplicity.

Published in Dawn, February 10th, 2024