“I would have kissed her
feet in sleep, but
With such a move that
infidel will become distrustful”
(Ghalib)
In
fairly recent times when the national stage of collective wisdom of the people
was set to deliberate and ponder over the continuing seizure of our capital by
a retired cricketer and a Canadian priest, the Mickey Mouse also found its way
in the Parliament. Its story has now formally entered the dusty archives of the
old building that boasts the real power of the country. So there was this grey
hair old lawyer who lambasted that always suspiciously stoned face Minister on
the floor of the house for accusing him of corruption. A day earlier, abrasive
remarks of the liability of a sort Minister also made the Premier personally
apologize to the lawyer from opposition benches. These are politically heated
moments – not that there is ever a low frequency of such in the state. However,
this time when the democracy flight apparently looked smooth there came a
sudden turbulence and a near nosedive situation with sounds of Mayday being
heard all over. The condition at several occasions looked so much out of
control that the western capitals had to respond to these emitted distress
signals. It all seemed to have been gradually returning to normalcy after one
rainy night when the drums were beaten in the garrisons of Rawalpindi and the
top man from the control tower assured the cockpit that the plane is
functioning normally and staying right on track. Nonetheless, the aftershock
effects are still tremendous and an apprehension of stalling of this democracy
jet can up till now be felt. Perhaps, what needs to be done immediately is that
all the excess baggage should be unloaded pronto, off the flight, from the flight
and without any qualms - for this flight is still long, heavy and scary.
Whether it will really be done? Actually, sadly, No!
The
theater that has been going on the roads of Islamabad for nearly three weeks is
now losing its oomph. The rants echoing live on air every evening sounds
repetitive and without much solid credence. The cricketing super hero of the
nation has used similar jargon and musical tracks over and over again. The
audience is shrinking and the little that remains is lethargic display of
political poverty hand in hand with ugly cult display by the garrulous pope.
The charismatic crowd puller is now losing the grip of his fans, in particular
the pretty and gorgeous ones. The old captain may be given all the credit for
wonderfully developing this niche of attracting urban men and women of all ages
and shades together without any segregation and offering them a political
agenda and message, which otherwise such apolitical creatures dismissed all
life. This trait is none that any of his contemporaries or political
adversaries could nearly accomplish or claim to possess. However, he didn’t
turn out to be a good thespian of the political drama. His container
performance is beginning to look utterly monotonous and all the tricks he has
mastered, stand revealed. Another miscalculation was his inability to seize the
moment. Perchance, there will be many from within his ranks that may condemn
him in private and public over his lack of political acumen and understanding
to the fact that the maximalist price to sell is only for the purposes of
bargain and not the actual one. Too long insistence on the maximal one and you
also lose the best value in process.
With
both political and natural calamities hitting the republic, its nauseating
impact could be felt across. The persistent questioning of legitimacy of
electoral process and the government has created a strong political rift across
and petty rivalries at personal levels particularly in the plains of Punjab.
The urban centers of the province have been hit with flood of venom over
political affiliations. Who to blame and who not to blame? The patience with
government and arguably with democracy is running out and the pent up feelings
of marginalized groups from the resource pool has been exploded. As a result,
the government that took charge of this country, more than a year ago, with
much fervor and confidence of gaining majority has now been crippled to stay
ultra diligent all the times. It may now live for the rest of times on clutches
of relatively small opposition and patronage of the old masters of puppet
shows. The presence of usual suspects on the Container along with the Captain
points the finger at those who are hidden but would always pull strings to
insinuate that they are always in charge. This is a classic civilian retreat
like all the past times and in no manner the follies of incumbents could be
disregarded by a chance. The basic root predicament of the crises and what
needs to be rectified soon is the insecure and centrally guarded structure of
decision making, which is a relic practice of the past but still stands in
place to run the affairs. A bold move towards holding of local government
elections in near future would be a great step in the right way. The modern world
doesn’t assume but presume a functional democracy for effective citizens
engagement and progress. If a political order shies away from resolving
conflicts and doesn’t promote inclusiveness of marginalized, the dissent
against the system naturally becomes prominent. The consensus will always serve
and protect the collective interests in a powerful way more than the
majoritarian ones.
The
gavel of the people for the time being has hit the floor. The khakis have also
decided to offer a fresh lease of life to the civilians in charge. So be it
known to all that it is better to voice dissent from within the structures than
without. An individual has to give in for the sake of system. Mickey could be a
man, a mouse or a dirty rat by a margin of day of the consummation. His
marriage nonetheless is inevitable.
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