Nawal Amjad |
Too much is happening everywhere or should I say had long been?The PM’s disqualified and the new one has sworn in long ago (not really by the way).The New Cabinet, the New Trump Policy on Afghanistan and the new entrance of North Korea to another phase of (wanting to confront) but isn’t all old?The Rohingya Muslims again paying the price of being Muslims and a lot of us fulfilling our religious responsibilities by signing up petitions against a ‘Nobel Peace Laureate’ thinking that this entire thing would probably end with that.
The same us and the same them.But forget it because who cares?Firstly, because you’re a LEDC and secondly because you’re Muslim and thirdly because you got to fix yourself before trying to empathize with others.In a land of ‘Ours’ (As Defense Day is round the corner), some things just don’t change and remain awkwardly similar till infinity.
For instance, the political hues of cries that all our ‘Saviors’ raise against one another, all end at the power of not their cries, but at the power of the ballots and the polls.The ‘electoral legitimacy’ which paves a way for what we’ve long quenched for – Democracy is much bigger a ‘Game-changer’ than some consider CPEC or some the PM’s disqualification by the highest court of the Land for that matter.
Just have a look at the NA 120 by-elections!Maryam Nawaz (New daughter of Democracy) holding her father’s photo in her hands and leading a battle in Lahore, Dr.Yasmin Rashid carrying on her door-to-door campaign to help Khan make us get rid of the Sharif Dynasty once and for all. Bilawal is everywhere to revive the Jiyalas in us of (God knows whom) his father or that of his grandfather…
In a nutshell, the history again rhyming and once again in the making!The irony is: Churches are not even been spared of political banners and slogans and we think that Pakistan’s changed?
You got to get votes. You got to win to win it.This is ironic that people have realized it or should I say they had realized it long ago?
The Supreme Court gave a decision and we think Pakistan’s changed?Another daughter of another father asking for votes with her father’s picture and we think Pakistan’s changed?Khan puts aside his philanthropic history in Pakistan and ignores those affected by Dengue in KPK (his own province mandate-wise) but addresses rallies for the seat emptied by the former PM and we dare think again that Pakistan’s changed?The truth is: Pakistan hasn’t changed. It is just that noise is now supplanted by silence, a silence that’s both screaming and awkward at the same time. A silence that’s basically deafened us of what had been happening all four years, leaving us with the only ability to hear the former PM’s left seat wait anxiously to be filled in and that of the next five years’ eventual (possibly eventual) PM ‘s seat to be filled in by 2018 as well.Street marches or rallying can get people out of office, but to get in: it isn’t enough.
Read more:What if Kulsoom Nawaz doesn’t win from NA-120?
You got to get votes. You got to win to win it.This is ironic that people have realized it or should I say they had realized it long ago?Street power, wars on media and those outside courts were just the warm-up exercise or like they say ‘part of the war’…That probably was never the war, at least not the actual one.Because the actual’s always electoral – at least in democracies.This new one is yet to begin – the ‘new old one’.But it isn’t that simple. You and I won’t get rid of the awkward silence easily.
They’ll win if they get votes, but one doesn’t just get votes on pictures and protests, but agendas, Strong agendas. But what about Khan accepting that the model he’s been all bragging about in KPK was just a fantasy?
Read more:hoices for the foes and saviors of the system
They’ll win if they get votes, but one doesn’t just get votes on pictures and protests, but agendas, Strong agendas. But what about Khan accepting that the model he’s been all bragging about in KPK was just a fantasy? Or in rather simpler words that he accepts that he couldn’t deliver the ideal KPK he had envisioned or had at least made his voters envision (even potential voters).
So what’s the point?
Even if hadn’t hit himself recently by being ‘honest’ enough to accept his infectivity( in terms of governance), there still had been quite a many corruption scams that his KPK government itself is alleged to be involved in.
It is admirable that Khan had the audacity to accept where he went wrong, but is it acceptable to those who look up to him as the new face of PM? Khan’s all strong, in fact precisely a winner in gathering the people on streets and mobilizing them, but can he convince them to vote for him, especially when he despite being an apparent symbol of change has failed to be new?!Is he too the ‘New Old One’?
Read more:Sinners judging Sinners for Sinning differently
Even if hadn’t hit himself recently by being ‘honest’ enough to accept his infectivity( in terms of governance), there still had been quite a many corruption scams that his KPK government itself is alleged to be involved in.In this whole air of the ‘Old ones’ and the ‘New Old ones’, it is yet to see who wins.But whoever wins, the silence will continue to scream and get awkward-err.
Nawal Amjad is a student of Politics and International Relations at the University of London International Program. The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Global Village Space’s editorial policy.