I honestly believe that time is running out for our dear homeland. Foreign hounds lurk at our ideological and geographical borders, drooling over our natural resources and our nuclear assets. They have successfully managed to bring us on the verge of disaster, and now they wait like hyenas for us to collapse so that they can devour the spoils.
Patriotism necessitates hope; the hope that we will be saved, that someone somewhere will stand up and fight for us; a Leader. And hence we sit and wait for him but we fail to understand that if we do our part and right our own individual wrongs we do not need a hero or a messiah to save us. A leader needs to be complimented by those he leads.
Even if we do find an honest, sincere leader, who is going to vote for him? And even if he does somehow manage to find a constituency of genuinely patriotic Pakistanis who ignore all considerations of ‘biradriism’, financial well being, social stature, party affiliations etc and elect him to the assembly, will he manage to bag enough votes to be the Chief Minister, Prime Minister or President?
How many MNAs or MPAs would vote for him knowing that he will not allow corruption, that he will discourage and eliminate kickbacks and commissions, that he will not distribute licenses for prohibited bore weapons like they were cheap toys, that he will not oblige them with quotas in government jobs playing havoc with merit, that he will not allow any luxurious perks for them that our exchequer can’t afford.
Leaders are not imported; they are born amongst their people in an environment that allows them to grow as patriots. Time is of the essence and we desperately need to end our slumber, become a nation and save ourselves.
ZAFAR ZULQURNAIN SAHI
United Kingdom