From KP: lessons in humility

A lesson in humility was long overdue for the PTI and its infallible supremo, Imran Khan; it has finally come in the shape of the local government elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. No one expected the elections managed by the PTI government in the province to be so rowdy, noisy, violent and flawed, mainly because of the hundreds of sermons on high moral and administrative ideals delivered from above the dharna container.
The main problem, perhaps, does not lie in the elections but in the PTI’s arrogance and its venomous narrative used to de-legitimise the 2013 elections and to attack everyone left, right and centre. However, the adoption of this narrative by other political parties to repay the PTI in its own currency would only add to our woes, condemning us to forever bicker over legitimacy of elections rather than focusing on reforms and making governments accountable for their governance.
The PTI’s discomfort in the wake of the rigging allegations has created a spectacle of its own. The party first tried to shift responsibility to the Election Commission and then responded with its usual brashness and bravado, expressing its willingness to hold new elections. On both counts it fell many miles short of the standards it has set for its opponents. If a caretaker chief minister in Punjab has to bear the responsibility for 35 punctures, real or imagined, how can an elected chief minister, in saddle for more than two years, not be culpable for all the mayhem in his chiefdom?
Similarly, if the government rigged the elections as opponents and even one coalition partner have accused, or it failed to stop it as the PTI itself admits, how can it be trusted to hold free and fair elections second time round? The PTI’s own standards demand that the provincial government should resign to clear the way for fresh elections under a neutral setup. That is the logic adopted by the three-party alliance, including the PPP, PTI and JUI-F, which has embarked upon a series of protests to force the PTI to resign from the KP government.
However, mainstreaming the PTI’s logic is extremely dangerous. Democracy is a messy business – and more so in a developing country with limited financial and administrative resources. Let me quote from an interview of a former Indian chief election commissioner, M S Gill: “I told the foreign minister of Denmark …. that it was very easy to talk about perfect elections when you had a per capita income of $20,000. Try even attempting it when you have a per capita income of $300.” When we were getting sermons on the welfare state and electoral systems in Western countries, did anyone remind us that Pakistan’s per capita income is $1300 while Denmark’s is $60,000.
Politics is the art of the possible. It is not amoral or immoral but – unlike religion – you cannot trample others under the hooves of your high moral horse. Politicians can get away with their Socratic wisdom as long as they are in opposition but once they are in power they may be demanded to put some of their great ideals into practice. In one sermon, for example, Imran Khan had elaborated how a British cabinet minister, Peter Mandelson to be specific, had resigned from his position after he was accused of using his position to influence a passport application in support of a party donor in 2001.
Hasn’t the time come for the chief minister in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to be the first Peter Mandelson of this country? He has admitted on media that he influenced the process of selection of police officers, though he refuses to accept the charge of bribery. Haven’t we heard one hundred and thirty times from his boss that Karachi is so rotten because the police in the city have been appointed for political considerations?
A critical lesson lurks behind most of these events: those who happen to be one of us or join our tribe do not automatically become paragons of goodness and those who remain aliens are not necessarily the beasts that deserve to be locked in subterranean chambers. In the PTI’s rhetoric whoever has refused to jump over the fence to join the party remains a half Muslim, half Pakistani and half human. The army of revolutionaries has put to good use almost all abuses available in the arsenal of Urdu, Punjabi and Pashto languages. But alas the one who was caught running away with a ballot box was not some Jhagra fellow or Bilour guy but someone who was a permanent fixture on the top of the container during the heydays of the revolution, gracing the place with his flowing hair and charming smile.
One important lesson in humility comes from re-emergence of the Awami National Party (ANP). In one of the biggest ironies in our history, ‘the traitor party’ stood up to the terrorists posing an existential threat to the country and in the process made more sacrifices than any political entity has ever done, losing more than 800 top leaders and active workers. Just when its bombed and bullet-riddled body was left for dead, it has risen up, re-enacting the scene from a science fiction thriller. Such a Phoenix-like rebirth is not good news for its opponents.
Perhaps the worst show of arrogance made by the PTI came in the form of the treatment it meted to Mian Iftekhar Hussain. It is so convenient to forget that when most of us, including yours truly and the army of his revolutionary friends, were cowering under their beds, there were some people daring the beasts in the open. For me, it is just fine to be a coward.
Cowardice is one of the greatest reflexes that nature has bestowed upon us. It saves us from the unpleasant job of carrying the coffins of our children and can give us a good push to the victory stand. But being disrespectful to the brave is worse than cowardice. And if there is anything worse than cowardice, it is arrogance – the mother of all sins and all evils. Does anyone remember the sin of the angel who was expelled from the heaven?
Email: zaighamkhan@yahoo.com
Twitter: @zaighamkhan