Mar
14
2009

Same old script!

Categories:

Pakistan,
Politics

The shenanigans of our political stalwarts are no different than Indian soaps, boring and predictable. I found myself amused by the adulatory tone of their speeches reminding me of a hit number by Def & Leppard ‘When Love and Hate Collide’. Ah! What maturity of thoughts and sorts we are experiencing, a new political dimension and dialect. The eloquence of word selection is both educating and enlightening the likes of which are unheard of.

So effectively, since Feb 25th, 2009 Pakistani democracy finally came home exactly after one year and one week when people mistakenly sent it to the parliament but it decided to go back on the streets instead. Now the same people, after their chosen ones, are beating the drums of waging another struggle to show their love for an elected government, all in the name of justice. They’ll be on their way marching towards the constitution avenue on the 16th of this month to pay their last respects to what’s remaining of the constitution of Pakistan and the institution of Supreme Court.

Well if my memory works better than that of the civil society and the legal fraternity, I still remember the SC was once before mauled in the name of justice and its CJ manhandled too. So should one expect of a re-telecast? Amidst such political camaraderie, the map of reconciliation is effectively re-drawn by both parties citing their own reasons in the interest of the nation and the state [though, I doubt this co-existence].

The role of media has raised quite a many eye-brows. Many wonder is media becoming a political entourage of dancers and backing singers, dancing and singing on politically infested tunes? The promotions they are running on their channels in disguise of ‘A Public Message’ are directly making them a party. Speculation about certain individuals being financed and influenced by certain political corners has been making news for sometime now. Surely our media cannot ensure 100% objectivity, they don’t have to tell us, we can see it already. Recently, Rupert Murdoch’s Twentieth Century FOX admitted to the fact that they were planting political brainwashing within its globally popular TV shows. Our media is certainly not immune to such phenomenon. [I like their song selection by the way]

With such widespread goodwill all around us I was wondering, if the attitude of our politicians is any different than that of a dictator? Chairman Mao Tse-tung had once said that the ‘power comes from the barrel of the gun’. In our case well everyone knows both political parties did come from the barrel of some dictator’s gun, so they should be grateful to dictators, had there been no dictatorships there wouldn’t have been anyone of them. By donning shalwar kameez, waist coat, and a three piece suite cannot make anyone any better, the mindset remains the same.

And all this while, I silently admire the patience, tolerance and the resilience of our people, you won’t find such an obedient crowd anywhere in the world, they move after every few years only to dance and celebrate when some new comes to power and then they go back to their spectator mode. So, they deserve the most of what’s going around, it’s their elected people so let them have a full chance to savor every episode of this political soap. In the meanwhile, let the country suffer.