Old lamps for new

Like the fads involving silicon wrist bands, rainbow nail-polish or other bits and pieces sold for commercial gain, we inevitably have political fads too. Catch phrases, slogans and schemes of various kinds all make up a part of these.
It is tempting, perhaps even inevitable, that political parties too should have adopted essentially the same tactics. This has been a trend in the past and has grown in times when it seems to be becoming harder and harder to offer anything concrete.
Even the budget consists essentially of dreams we know will be hard to transfer into reality. Most of those listening to Finance Minister Ishaq Dar’s words in parliament realised this almost immediately. Dreams are nebulous things, they slip away before they can be grasped, and the slogans raised by political parties often promise only dreams. Very rarely have these dreams been transformed into reality. This is true around the world; but it is truer still in our country.
The slogan of ‘Naya Pakistan’ raised by the PTI and quickly caught on, especially among those who had previously remained away from politics in urban areas, seemed to genuinely offer something that was new. Many were caught up with this hope, for hope is all that we can cling on to in the times we live in. The slogan, repeated again and again by the PTI even as it stumbles from one misjudged move to another has been picked up by other parties with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif stating in Islamabad as he inaugurated the new 23 kilometre metro linking the capital and Rawalpindi that it was his party that was creating the ‘real’ new Pakistan.
This is a matter up for debate. But the real question also is what kind of ‘new’ Pakistan we are creating and whether we really need such an entity.
The metro lines built along oddly elevated tracks in both Lahore and the twin cities have been constructed at the cost of billions. Experts argue that the crucial task of providing quality public transport to people could simply have been offered by setting up separate bus lanes with stops along them. This is hardly a novel idea. Such bus lanes exist in many cities. But then of course, they are not as dramatic or as costly as the raised stretches of concrete which now hang over Lahore and Islamabad altering so much that is integral to these cities. This is not the new Pakistan that we want.
Neither is the ‘Niya Pakistan’ vision of the PTI turning into anything very savoury, despite the claims of the party. The violence seen during local government polls in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa essentially exposed the party as being no different to others. In some ways, its actions were worse – even more underhanded and unethical. These included the arrest of Mian Iftikhar Hussain of the ANP, one of the province’s most respected politicians with an impeccable reputation for both honesty and good manners.
The soft spoken Mian Iftikhar was accused of being involved in the killing of a young PTI worker during a celebration rally held by that party after its victory in Nowshera. The father of the victim, displaying more honour and uprightness than PTI office bearers admitted within a day that he had been pressurized into naming Mian Iftikhar who had nothing to with the unfortunate death apparently cause by aerial firing coming from guns fired by the PTI’s woman supporters.
Mian Iftikhar has been released on bail. He maintained his dignity throughout, refusing to talk about his own arrest while denying guilt and sending out a message of sympathy to the parents who had lost a son, just as Iftikhar had himself in 2010 when his own son was felled in a terrorist attack. The PTI has not really explained how this act of blatant victimisation came around.
But what we do know is that the promised new Pakistan has not been created in KP. The failure to allow women to vote in the polls – now declared null and void – in PK-95 in Lower Dir was another example of this. And the fact that while the PTI won most seats in the local government elections, opposition parties have made a strong comeback is something for Imran Khan and his advisors to think about a little more carefully.
The new Pakistan being advocated by our political parties seems to be turning into an uglier place, both metaphorically and literally. What we really need is an older Pakistan, the ‘purana’ Pakistan that has now been left behind somewhere in our past. This Pakistan was in so many ways a more decent, more peaceful, more tolerant place. The real aim should be to recover it. This can really be achieved only if we go out to protect our heritage and eradicate the newer elements that have entered society, wielding guns and words of hatred. These elements have entered the ranks of parties and also other places.
It would be sensible if the political parties moved away from the hazy world of fads and recognised that they need something far more solid. They need a vision for a country which can truly function. Rather than six-lane motorways in Lahore on roads that are already perfectly serviceable, we need to develop those areas where tiny alleys fill up with gutter water and are dotted with potholes. These streets exist not only in smaller towns but also in Lahore.
Developing these areas would of course not be as high profile a venture as the elevated metro or other ambitious projects. But it could quite possibly change the lives of a larger number of people. We need to use our funds carefully by allocating money for the public transport we badly need, but not wasting it by setting up bizarre structures that serve no purpose other than to use up more concrete, turn our cities into larger stretches of cement and destroy much of their aesthetic beauty.
Perhaps these aesthetics mean little to our rulers, but they affect the lives of people who would manage just as well if the metro buses ran at ground level rather than at metres above them. The costs would be hugely lower, and as the failures to meet last year’s budgetary targets show, we are in urgent need of a better use of our resources.
Other parties too have struggled with creating anything that is new. We do not necessarily need it. We need change, but this could be achieved also by turning back the hands of the clock rather than pushing them forward. The PTI’s obsession with the May 2013 election and rigging during it in fact holds back the hands completely. We have been unable to move forward because of these unproven charges.
Yes, our electoral system needs to improve. But whether all that has been said about rigging is accurate is something that is still in the process of being ascertained. Sadly, other parties have come up with no real vision either. Too many talk of mundane matters, and make promises we know they will not and cannot keep. The radical change we truly require is nowhere on the horizon and until such change can be ushered in, we will really not see anything that is altered within our country.
We will go around in the same circles, ending up at the same point over and over again and as a result achieve nothing at all.
The writer is a freelance columnist and former newspaper editor.
Email: kamilahyat@hotmail.com