Darkness has a veritable blinding effect but too much light also causes blindness. While on one hand, the Pakistani nation has been wandering in the dark and grimacing under the painful treatment meted out by its callous, corrupt and cunning leadership, on the other, the October 30 gathering in Lahore is being termed historic and has created a euphoria that is being pumped up by all and sundry. The end effect of both, however, is the same. That is, a nation suffering from loss of direction by deliberate deceit, in the former, and misleading hype that is excessively long on semantics and acutely short on substance, in the latter situation.

The masses are genuinely sick and tired of the stinking dictatorial rule, imposed upon them repeatedly by both military and civilian governments, ever since the creation of this country. It is natural, therefore, that they dolefully search for a fresh face that could come to their rescue in a precarious situation. Theoretically, Imran Khan has emerged as one such option, which explains the mammoth rally at Minar-e-Pakistan.

It is important to pause here and objectively assess the realism of our new-born expectations. Culturally, we have been the harbingers of false hopes and the leadership has always cheated the simple, rather gullible, people of this country. Hence, before coming to fruition, the promises made to them have evaporated in thin air. For instance, in dealing with the monster of loadshedding last year, when the concerned minister announced that the government would eradicate this menace by the end of the year; he was only trying to pass the buck as there was no magic wand to do so. The present government has been promising prosperity to the people for nearly four years, while it has been busy plundering all national assets; so the results have been just the opposite. The main opposition party says that in order to support democracy, it would not derail the system, even though the current rulers may be playing havoc and taking everyone for a ride. In saying so, it is actually bluffing the public while waiting for its own turn.

The latest outpouring of infatuation with the dejected, deprived and downtrodden, in the garb of a “save the country” campaign, is driven by selfish desires to topple the government, as the forthcoming Senate elections threaten personal interests. Otherwise, the proponents of genuine amelioration would have been contemplating a well-orchestrated plan, aimed at alleviating the miseries of the common man, putting the country on the road to progress and correcting the basic flaws of our electoral system to produce true results, rather than demanding ill-conceived and hurriedly arranged re-elections, which are being presented in speeches saturated with rhetorical exaggeration and hollow slogans, as the panacea to all our troubles.

At this point in time, let us establish the need, the possibility and the appropriate timing for holding general elections. There is a near unanimity across various sections of society that the present government is incorrigible and responsible for a rapid decline of the country in all spheres, which has added exponentially to the miseries of the masses, now growing beyond tolerable limits. Hence there is a clarion call for its removal and immediate change of guards.

Nevertheless, our mechanism of elections is corrupted to the core and, unless rectified and revamped, will again produce fraudulent results. Therefore, some mandatory work is direly needed prior to re-elections, if we are to really avoid repetition of a fake exercise. A subservient Election Commission, flawed eligibility criteria resulting in the ‘Jamshed Dasti’ phenomenon, nomination of a caretaker set-up by the sitting president, which is bound to be biased in conducting elections, non-availability of credible voter lists (as determined by the SC, 35 million bogus votes were cast in the last elections amounting to nearly 50 percent of the total votes), unsatisfactory system of Senate elections and a perilous security situation in the country, are all very serious impediments to holding effective, free and fair elections in the near future.

Assuming that this argument, being based on facts, is valid, why is it that a mere rush of adrenaline in the political parties has obscured their vision, as well as mental faculties, to project a realistic scenario to the public that does not understand the intricacies of these matters? Should the so-called patriotic political clique not rise above its personal agenda, to pull out this nation from a morass, by speaking in rallies about the real problems that have marred our system of elections, and why it ought to be corrected before seeking the public verdict next time?

Aren’t these testing times for the political classes of this country, in that they need to vehemently fight their ever-persuasive instincts of hurriedly entering the corridors of power? Should they not observe a pause, if they are sincere to this country, to change the rules of the game, in order to ensure fair play and to spare this nation the repeated appearance of fake, forged and failed leadership?

Let us expect for once that the woeful cries of the besieged people of this nation are heard and heeded, and the electoral process is corrected by a team of non-partisan individuals, before going into re-elections, as this is the only sane solution to a myriad of our chronic problems.

There is a Chinese saying that the journey of a thousand miles starts with the first step. It has two inferences; one, that we should not be deterred by the hardships involved in traversing a long distance, provided it leads to the pre-determined point successfully, and two, the planning for the desired destination should be so meticulous that there are no chances of getting lost in the way. A saying in the game of golf holds that it does not matter much as to how you ‘drive’ (a term used to denote the start of struggle), what really counts is how you ‘arrive’ (signifying the culmination of a campaign). Imran Khan has certainly taken the proverbial first step well, he has been able to mobilise the masses who are the real agents of change. How well is he prepared to “arrive”? Only time will tell.

At present, he doesn’t seem to be on a sound footing in terms of planning and readiness. For example, threatening a mass agitation to force declaration of assets on his political rivals at this time is a manifestation of misplaced priorities. There is bound to be retaliation which would hurt his popularity, directly affecting the ongoing campaign. With his sights fixed on a ‘game change’, he should be using the street power now at his disposal to demand a dismissal of the failed government, through application of Rule-190 of the Constitution, to execute the SC’s forgotten and blatantly frozen decisions on the NRO cases. The second part of his immediate agenda in the same campaign should be to push for a non-partisan set-up that would take charge, amend the electoral process and create an environment that is conducive to holding free, fair and transparent elections.

There is no room for procrastination. The sitting government, through manipulation and ‘superior’ manoeuvring, is all set to win the fast approaching Senate elections in March 2012, which will give it a majority in both houses of parliament. This, in turn, would pave the way for its victory in the next general elections. We are in a ‘now or never” situation. The ball is in Imran Khan’s court, and if he falters, making the fatal mistake of losing advantage in a God-given golden opportunity, then as they say, our goose is cooked.



The writer is a former vice chief of the air staff. Email: shahidlateef57 @gmail.com