08/10/2023
Imran in the wrong direction
Asher Rafique
July 31, 2019
Imran Khan is as much naive as those who have made him sit on the seat of the premiership of Pakistan. Devoid of the knowledge of the political structure our country is based on, and the way the politics is played in the country, he has his head in the clouds to bring economic stability in the country without forging an alliance to the opposition. As is the famous political dictum––without political stability, bringing economic stability is nearly impossible––making rounds in the history, the fact can’t be denied that Imran and the party behind him have no other way round except for demonstrating a leaning towards reaching a mutual consent with the opposition.
The country we live in is very complex; its state can never be stronger than its citizens in so far as our society is highly polarized in the wake of caste-based, creed-followed and feudal-led system and its citizens feel proud––it becomes their necessity––to be identified by a name attached with some influential feudal lords because if they have no identity related to them they have to endure a lot of sufferings in terms of social isolation, persecution, unfair treatment, and much more. Those who have some sort of connection with the influential person can capitalize on some impoverished segments of society and government institutions.
Pakistan’s political structure is based on kinship. Despite there is a concentration of awareness seminars and campaigns on social media about the importance of independent voting and the individual preference to opt for the representative of their choice, people are pro-kinship and they cannot deviate from their chiefs and feudal lords’ choice due to what can be projected as their dependency on the those mighty lords and because they think as society is unequal, nobody can be more beneficial and favorable than those landlords of their caste.
Lately, one of my educated friends who happened to cast vote during the re-election in his constituency owing to the death of the representative thereof, when asked, told me that he had favored his chieftain by casting vote for him without any gut instinct. According to him, his family including him every five years casts vote for the figurehead either belonging to their caste or supported by their chieftains gave the caste and kinship system. Who else would be available there for their help if they happened to be in some kind of perilous situation, he emphasized why his family had voted as per the order of their landlords. It is an undeniable fact for this affiliation with their chief, for their sake they can even be ready to risk and sometimes sacrifice their life.
Now, Imran’s such stern and puritanical attitude with the opposition is more than surprising given the fact there is no other solution to economic stability barring his slight inclination towards carrying the carrot and the stick approach with the opposition. Imagine what if the ardent followers of the opposition leaders elected on the basis of the caste system gathering on one platform with the big stick, setting agenda to dent the government policies lock down the red zone of Islamabad what would the government be doing to ditch them. It is the fact that nobody can better assimilate than the incumbent government that once was the opposition with a little number of seats and that has exposure to containers.
Imran believed to the paragon of honesty and his straightforward speech against his rivals in domestic politics, is lacking political maturity. In his tirades since the beginning of 2013 election, he has talked of the corruption and bringing those who have a streak of corruptible personality cult behind the bars. And so far whether his wish after becoming the prime minister of Pakistan has to be filled by hook or by crook by making up the purported cases against their rivals or their apprehensions are reality-based, one thing is crystal clear that he is short of political tactics to use them for the mileage of his government and Pakistan and that is the reason for reaching a big following amid the progressive, educated societies.
Whatsoever, he speaks his mind and taking the sentiments of the opposition into consideration and harsh ramifications that can result from his stubbornness. His candid speech against the opposition aside, what is the way and plan, he has, to get the country out of chaos it is blundered into if there is on the streets the ardent proponents of the opposition along with the general masses demotivated by high inflation and increased unemployment, as they are already on the road to staging rallies. And as already said, in Pakistan people can risk their life for the sake of their leader given there is highly-orthodox leaning towards the caste system. If Imran without inheriting a kinship can stage a long sit-in, how it is impossible for the opposition, the Nawaz and Bhutto dynasties, to bring the country to a halt. The sooner the better this though should hit the Imran’s mind.
In the starting months of 2014, Imran staged a long 124-day sit-in in the downtown of Islamabad. Every time he came to the stage he lacerated the then government, disparaged the politics duo the Nawaz and Bhutto for their continuously and abundantly looting the money of Pakistan and above all promised with the masses a lot of things when coming in power. But failing miserably during the period of twelve months after holding the reigns of the country to measure up to the masses’ expectations and hopes they had from him and dreams that he had shown to them, he had to breach his promises and shun the lofty political ideals. Though his realization of the country is mired in a number of quagmires as yet and requiring huge investment, whooping income tax and highly-imposed goods and services tax (GST) is staring us in the face, yet he has the unchanged political anti-opposition underpinning of the country’s worst condition.
Now that it is manifested the opposition is getting furious and beginning to take to the streets it is of vital importance for the country to the government and those at the helm to take the opposition’s stance under consideration in a try to concentrate advancement in all realms and prosperity in the country before the situated could escalate. It is in the best interest of Pakistan for the current government to stay away from waging a political skirmish and the confrontation with the opposition. As long as it is wished for Pakistan to be economically stable it is necessitated to harbor in mind that it is a distant dream without political instability.
