YES, a changing Pakistan.... and the struggle continues!! Lets use independent lens....., 1- What does it mean to be living in this country? 2- What is happening? 3- Where are we going? 4- Do I want to be a part of this journey - or should I pack up and leave for a different world? In all this idealism, pragmatism and madness - everyone seems to be clear on one thing: this is good n bad for the country. For IK supporters, government should have resigned long ago because its an illegal government that came into power through an illegal election. For NS supporters, if we accept this principle of illegal government because I say so - it would lead us to more of the same: a never-ending cycle of illegal governments and anarchy. I like to believe that this moment in history is evolutionary, if not revolutionary. It is, like many other steps before, pushing us forward - perhaps not in the constitutional sense, but definitely in the collective consciousness sense. So lets see what is really happening............ Yes, sometime Imran Khan is the stubborn, naive leader who demands fairness without considering possibilities and practicalities. He even overlooks his own shortcomings (badly managed election, wrong choice of candidates, compromised top leadership etc) in his quest for justice. In order to bring a semblance of fairness back into the business of government that has internalised corruption and injustice, this is exactly the sort of person we need. Someone who doesnt listen. Someone stubborn. Someone crazy. Someone who goes beyond laws and politics, pragmatism and reachability - and makes what seem like outrageous and irrational demands from the owners of the status-quo just because he can. So would his stubbornness get us into trouble? Perhaps it will lead to a military takeover or a caretaker set-up of some sort. Perhaps in two years he will be leading a long march against the caretaker PM demanding immediate elections. Perhaps we will be reminding him how he fought for Ifikhar Chaudhary (and got it wrong) and fought against Nawaz Sharif (and got it wrong). The good part about being Imran Khan is that you dont work backwards from an imaginary future. You are here. Everything is now. Win or lose. Do or die. Tomorrow, well fight again while trying to skip over how we got there in the first place. At this moment of history, we need exactly what IK offers. A stubborn, naive, honest demand to build fairness into the system. All those who want continuity and democratic process - must also know that no one ever gave up power by choice. You have to force corrupt leaders to give it up. You have to rock the boat. You have to risk misadventures, and bad turns - if you really want to move forward. We have to stop being afraid of an Army take-over and in the process allow any elected government 5 years of carefree, unaccounted rule. Remembar Mr. Zardari. Lets fight for democracy, but please stop saving it all the time. Dr. Tahir-ul-Qadri is also important - without him, this would be an incomplete picture. To start with, he shows IK the mirror: youre not organized enough. But more importantly, his Charter of Demands addresses genuine issues that we should all be on the streets for. His most important demand is the creation of 23 provinces on an administrative basis. It could be 23 or 35 or 100 - but without taking this step, we cant grow socially, politically or economically. In Karachi (same goes for Lahore, Peshawar, n Queeta) , we cant solve our problems because the Sindh Government doesnt take us seriously. And people in Sukkur cant interact with the Sindh Government on a day-trip. So holding Sindh Government accountable for its Rs700 billion budget becomes impractical and impossible! His points on extremism are also equally critical. Our problem isnt that we are fighting the Taliban, our real problem is that extremism is a part of our collective psyche. Our sectarianism and anger towards pluralism - these are real world-view issues and they cant be addressed by security forces. They require a concerted educational effort on a national level. Finally, both of them have established that democracy is not just elections. The people who vote parties into power, can and should demand progress. They can even come out on the streets. They can sit on the Constitution Avenue. They can walk up to the Parliament. They are the real source of power. And in a democracy, they have a voice that cannot be ignored. We are happy for Pakistan and for democracy. What will be, will be. Pakistan Zindabad, lets help spread and build a CHANGE Pakistan :) #GoNawazGo #AzadiSquare #AzadiMarchPTI #RedZone #CivilDisobedience #Rigging #ElectionRigging2013 #AfzalKhan #ModelTown #IslamabadMassacre #StateTerrorism
Posted on: Thu, 04 Sep 2014 07:33:51 +0000
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