Another civilisation

One thing that I have been telling young people is that the coronavirus has come to stay. So, deal with it. Yes, its intensity will fluctuate, but we will never be able to find a cure for it, leave alone how to manage it.

This is how civilisations change – in the blink of an eye. One day we were all fine and then Covid-19 hit us all over the world, changing habits that we are now landed with. There was a time only yesterday when I would not contemplate meeting somebody while wearing a mask, while now, it’s become a matter of habit and no one finds it odd. In fact, most people think that I am being a good citizen; this is how cultures change and societies mutate.

Just like Mohenjodaro, people go and see those millennia-old ruins and cannot understand how it all finished off suddenly. Some think it was the river changing course but that would not cause people to run, as it seems that they did – the inevitable theory that it must have been a nuclear bomb of those days. It could have been a meteor – it may have been so many things – but it could not have been a slow decay. So, until we know more, and we may never know more, it is futile to go on conjecturing.

Great civilisations have, apparently, vanished in the past, like the Egyptians did. First there was the time of the Pharaohs and now the Pharaohs are a relic of the past. What the world now needs is someone to bring it on track.

Talking about coincidences, the UK’s prime minister, Boris Johnson, seems to be in the same boat as Prime Minister Imran Khan of Pakistan – Johnson’s predicament because of his own unmitigated stupidity. But both are facing revolts in their parliaments, with Johnson apparently more stuck than Imran. Imran is not in such great danger, barring another stupidity, because there seems to be no credible alternative – unless, the ubiquitous hand gets placed on some head. That will be an untold misfortune. Imran should be given a clear five-year term to implement his programme in which accountability is central. But it seems that some ‘powerful forces’ stopped him from pursuing the corrupt. Johnson is lucky that he does not have as callous an opposition as Imran does.

Our opposition is hell-bent in sending Imran home and grabbing power. If things go according to plan, Pakistan will face another local bodies election in Punjab in about a month’s time. If Imran’s PTI does badly in the elections, the guns will be re-loaded against him and he might yet face a vote of no-confidence.

On and on and on –- this tamasha will go on until we face a real revolution or get consigned to the trash heap of history. It will then be judged that Pakistan in its hypocritical quest for fake democracy committed suicide. Please God, let it not be so.

The writer is a veteran journalist, political analyst and author.

Email: humayun.gauhar786@gmail.com