phew!
An election!
A General Election at that!
Not, however, a General’s Election. At least not to the extent that all of us priggish pettifoggers had predicted.
Shaheed Benazir and Ghazi Nawaz have won a significant (but perhaps not significant enough) majority of parliamentary seats. Apart from the terrifying spectre of sorry Brother Asif as First Minister, that’s a good thing, no? The King is dead. Long live the King!
So what are we, or rather they going to do now? Perhaps consult navigational charts to see what needs to be done to correct the direction of the ship of state? Yeah, right!
More likely stiffen their right index fingers with a heavy dose of 100mg Viagra and wag them at villains past. Wow! i can’t wait for the orgasmic catharsis of yet newly formed accountability bureaus to work their cleansing magic.
When are we going to stop looking back in anger? When are our poilticains [sic] going to stop basing their manifestos on the philosophy of rooting out evils past and start focusing on what needs to be done in the future?
The biggest problem, bar none, with military intervention in our affairs of state is that it has the effect of fucking up the electoral process to the extent that all anybody has to do to win an election is to promise the ouster of the military from the political sphere.
Ok.Then what???
i don’t hear anybody talking about “education of the masses” as a cure for our ills. About widening the tax net. About providing a safe, healthy economic environment as a way to nullify the lure of quasi-religious extremism.
The election is over. In my humble opinion those who boycotted it deserve to be consigned to some form of Dantean hell. Cos the only thing that will pull us out of the morass of political purgatory is the participation in the electoral process of all parties who wish to see democracy take root in Pakistan. This process will take ten, twenty, thirty years… if the process is allowed to continue unimpeded by our so-called uniformed saviours.
Having said that, i still retain warm feelings towards the erstwhile General. Don’t ask me why. i don’t know. Perhaps the result should speak for itself.
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cross posted up at Pak Tea House
5 comments:
I agree that this election has thrown up a huge opportunity for those elected to work towards development in crucial sectors like education, healthcare and infrastructure.
Let's hope they can devote at least some of their energies towards that.
:)
siddhusaab, aap ke munh mein ghee/shakr
Hear, hear. Don't look back in anger indeed. Even if they aren't standing on the shoulders of any giants except the late honourable Qaid-e-Azam. Which was quite some time ago.
And Kinky saheb, wah wah, aapke mere khayaalaat kitne milte-julte hain. I too will miss Busharraf, the little bugger. He had panache! But good riddance nevertheless. About time he moved onwards [though never upwards, ha ha, joke in poor taste etc...]
Minos - as always, you do have a way of seeing through the mess of politics clearly. What a hopeful outlook in the midst of a problematic situation. I confess that in my part of the planet I am often guilty of being a cynic - I applaud you for your forward looking vision. It's hard to let go of anger productively - may your wishes come true.
@saab: i'm not sure we'll be seeing ex-gen-mush's cute li'l tush anytime soon. though i hope he isn't planning some kind of rearguard kommando ackshun (if you'll pardon the typically appalling pun).
@anna: ha ha. cynicism is good in my book. i'm regularly accused (yes, accused) of being too much of a cynic. but it's good that not everyong is one. then this mixed-up muddled-up world of ours would be in even bigger trouble.
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