On television or perhaps for a few of us in person, we have heard the prime minister lash out in rage at political opponents, in some cases mimicking their accents or their mannerism. This has happened more than once.
Many are already asking if it is becoming for a head of government who represents all the people of the party to ask in this manner or to restrict himself to catering to the innermost circle of PTI activists. Others outside that circle, including those who support the party, are themselves beginning to ask this question.
One of the primary reasons for their concern is the performance of the government in key areas of life. The resurgence of polio, with over 80 cases reported in 2019 compared to 12 during the previous year; the dengue cases coming into hospitals even in Punjab from where it had been largely controlled in previous years; the situation where police are apparently able to shoot families down and go without punishment as happened early this year in the Sahiwal case involving the gunning down of four persons including a woman and a 13-year-old girl while leaving three small children orphans raise in people’s minds many questions. This is not the ‘new’ Pakistan we had been told about. Those stories, those promises are beginning to look like myths to many.
The tunnel vision approach focusing on corruption, combined with unprecedented venom for political opponents leaves a bitter aftertaste. The attacks on Nawaz Sharif, simply because he walked out of hospital and onto the plane hired to fly him abroad for overseas treatment is an example. In the mind of some PTI members, Nawaz Sharif, if he was so critically ill, should have been on a stretcher, a wheelchair or at least clutching a cane.
The truth is that this is a mere cliché; the kind of image put out in Lollywood films. Many illnesses have no visible symptoms. The fact that the former prime minister chose to walk does not mean he is not ill. Perhaps a basic education in platelet counts and what they mean needs to be delivered to those in power.
These men and women should also be thinking of matters that really make a difference to the lives of people. Within the last few months, whenever the opportunity arises, ordinary citizens, some of them based overseas, have made accusations of being defrauded by real-estate tycoons or being deprived of large amounts of money by fraudulent housing schemes. Others talk about the denial of pensions due to them from major organisations. Their situation is miserable. Some have died waiting for justice. Children still go to schools which lack even the most basic facilities.
Yet it appears that the government and its leadership is so wrapped up in matter of corruption and jibes directed against the opposition that they forget that the main purpose why people elected them was not to fling a large number of individuals behind bars, whether with or without adequate proof, but to improve their lives.
Cases such as the LNG terminal case involving ex prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Miftah Ismail and Sheikh Imran ul Haq, against whom no evidence has been produced by the NAB administration, creates even greater doubts in the minds of people. Are we truly so vindictive in nature? Is there any reason to jail individuals, in some cases in the grimmest of conditions until there is some solid proof of guilt?
No matter what the past record of ex-Punjab home minister Rana Sanaullah may be, the same holds true in his case. If he was truly smuggling drugs in his car, of course he should be brought to trial. But the key word here is trial, proof, evidence and inquiry. We need to see this in order to back the government and the hardcore PTI supporters who still judge others, sometimes in the harshest language, even when the evidence seems trivial.
There is no doubt that corruption exists in the country. There is no doubt that politicians are corrupt. Many of them have engaged in terrible acts involving the theft of public money. But there are also other issues which have an effect on the lives of people on a daily basis. Prices of course are one of these. The rate of inflation has left people literally crippled. So has the cost of medication and the issues that arise from the lack of availability of vaccines such as the anti-rabies injection. This used to come in, at least for public-sector hospitals, from India. It no longer does.
The result is a terrible shortage, notably in Sindh, where at least 22 people this year have died the horrible death the disease causes. In Sindh alone, over 150,000 dog bite cases have been reported to date. Most public hospitals even in Karachi simply do not have the vaccine that can save the lives of people afflicted by the bite of a rabid dog. Country-wide, something needs to be done to deal with the vaccine shortage. Solutions need to be found. There are also dog bite cases reported from the Punjab and other places. For the victims, it is a traumatic event. Culling dogs cannot be the solution alone. These are the kinds of issues the government needs to work on.
There have also been no major successes on the economic or foreign policy fronts. The deadlock with India continues. Yes, the Kartarpur Corridor has been opened, but this appears to have brought no change in Indian hostility. The result is further shortage of essential edibles and consequent misery for the people. From nowhere in the country are there reports of any real change in their lives.
The prices of higher education have risen so sharply that most citizens can no longer afford to send their children to colleges and universities. Students have launched a campaign against the fee rises, the lack of student unions and the other problems afflicting those enrolled at educational institutions. But aside from harsh attacks on various groups, the government seems largely indifferent.
So, when will change come? Will we see it at all? There is doubt in more and more people’s minds. Even those who strongly backed Imran Khan are not necessarily impressed by his attempts to impersonate opponents or use derogatory language against them. There was a time statesmanship was expected of political leaders, particularly those who headed the country.
The failure to rise up to such expectations is disappointing. Still more disappointing is the lack of success in providing employment, offering safe water, enabling people to buy food or making any other change which can truly benefit people living on the edge of life and struggling at every minute to sustain themselves and their families.
The writer is a freelancecolumnist and formernewspaper editor.
Email: kamilahyathotmail.com