Jinnah’s legacy or Zia’s?

Bilawal asks the question

Politics was never a stale game in our part of the world. However, with almost every party fielding candidates from the younger generation, it was bound to become even more interesting. The youth somehow makes you more connected with the time and the society you are living in. Both PPP and PML-N introduced young leaders in their cadres. In PPP’s case, Bilawal Bhutto, who has been mocked for his accent which in itself should not be an issue – the Quaid and Benazir Bhutto, two of country’s decidedly most influential leaders did have the same problem, yet managed to do a lot more than many others – has made a comeback, with a bang this time.

Bilawal has put forth a question that should have been addressed at least two and a half decades ago: are we going to follow Jinnah’s legacy or Ziaul Haq’s? The former leads to a progressive, modern country with equal rights to all, while the latter leads to regressive policies, culminating in a hatred-filled society, ready to draw daggers at each other at any given time. His question is not mere introspection; it is indeed a question for the country’s survival. But his plea might be sacrificed at the altar of politics, for his rivals won’t see this as an attempt at bringing a real change to the policies that have not worked so far for the country. They would rather see it as an attempt at maligning their name. Addressing a gathering at Karachi, he touched many sensitive topics, including as important as preserving archaeologically important sites and as simple as having some fun by celebrating Basant and such. He even went ahead and invited PML-N supremo and country’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his family to the Sindh Festival, going to be held in February in Karachi.

Whether the speech of this young leader in the making makes any difference in securing him and his party some votes is doubtful, but mere courage to speak about the figurative elephant in the room is a breath of fresh air. Ours is a lot that is extremely adept at brushing everything under the carpet for as long as they have to. We never take charge of our destiny, and just let things drift, or worse let others take care of us. It is time we put a stop to this approach. Starting with answering Bilawal’s question would be a good start.