No party can command respect on rhetoric alone
What the Karachi corps commander said in a sanitised phraseology about the ‘vested interest’, ‘political expediencies’, ‘sponsored militancy’, ‘patronage’ and ‘ills in political and administrative spheres’ was being pointed out by sections of the media more candidly. There can be no two opinions about there being a failure of institutions and governance in Sindh that led to the creation of an institutional vacuum which has been filled by criminals and vested interest. Few would disagree that the “boundaries between political activism, terrorism, assassination, land mafia, extortion and drug dealing criminality have become blurred and at times intersect”. Sindh has suffered badly from the bad governance of the ruling party.
A couple of days before the diatribe, Nawaz Sharif met Asif Ali Zardari. Hopefully they also discussed the sad state of affairs in the province. What remains to be seen is whether there is any sense of urgency in the PPP leadership to improve the situation on ground. The PPP is now confined to Sindh only and if the electorate in the province gets fed up with the party’s failure to deliver, the last bastion of its power too might fall in days to come. PPP has to realise that nowhere in the world has any party continued to retain its hold over the electorate merely on account of the sacrifices rendered by its leaders in the past.
Other parties too need to realise that democracy can succeed only if the elected parties are able to raise the people’s standard of living, reduce poverty, increase jobs and improve the county’s standing in the world. They should also understand that in a federation there is a need to take on board smaller provinces and opposition parties when taking decisions of national import. Successful democracies pay special attention to neglected groups that include working class, minorities, and women.
The politicians have to realise that there is a limit to their goofing around. The army too needs to be reminded that it can command people’s respect only by supporting the system.
