May the force be with you
IRSHAD SALIM — Khan Sahib’s biggest support base has been the Diaspora. It was kept out from voting despite the country’s apex court verdict — for logistical reasons apparently is the official spin. The overseas Pakistanis’ families back home however supported him along with the huge youth bulge within the country. But electables carried him to the top — a necessary ingredient of parliamentary form of government, not a presidential form of government. The calculus therefore remains short of the moral wrap Khan sahib needed and needs to deliver what he wants and maintain connected with his base: the diaspora + the youth + the women, etc. (read non-status quo community).
There’s another community of wannabes — a huge one which remains unhinged: the professionals who otherwise ride the crest in governance and institutional dispensations abroad. They deliver. They are not a “political family” in the sense we have here. This marginalized community of professionals I fear will remain on the fringe and away from governance until sun sets on the generation that gerrymandered everything.
That may not happen so easily, as dying empty is not a currency here, nor the practice of passing the baton to the sunshine generation.
Here’s the downside nonetheless: when electables quarantine themselves and social distancing is not needed — as they belong from political families, the room starts to stink which outsiders can however smell. The talks and walks lead to noises and cacophonies as if these are from “beyond the last mountain” (back in the 70s Javed Jabbar made an English movie with this title).
Such recent talks I fear echo to me from beyond the last mountain:
“Such things (documents) are leaked and this happens in politics”. Not so my dear friend. That’s a no no when one is playing on high moral pitch.
“…non-elected persons…were unaware of the basic aims and objectives of the party”. Not so again my dear friend. They all are aware consciously, competently.
“We are not answerable to any…adviser.” Again, not so my dear friend. Advisors are there to “strengthen” not to “weaken”.
If so, it’s a sign of pandemic. I rather watch this oldie then. We may have moved backward, not forward, and shouting from beyond the last mountain:
Take a deep breathe and bowl a bouncer or hit a sixer. Your millions of supporters here and overseas (non-status quo) are watching Khan sahib. They’ve been wearing the pandemic mask for over 20 years without quarantining or social distancing themselves from you.
May the force be with you (Star Wars).
The writer is Editor/Publisher of DesPardes and PKonweb
