The farce that our democracy has become
With Imran Khan jumping into the fray, the battleground of NA 122 has suddenly enhanced its significance, both for the PML-N and the PTI, from a mere one of the 267 constituencies to more or less like the Battle of Waterloo was for Napoleon of France and Duke of Wellington of England.
Ayaz Sadiq, the incumbent and the former Speaker of the National Assembly, had been considered the favourite to emerge a winner in the October 11 bye-election. A High Court ruling a few days ago that overturned the ban imposed by the Election Commission on elected persons to canvass for a candidate seems to have turned the tables for his main opponent Aleem Khan of PTI. His campaign has gathered an unparalleled luster with the PTI chief committed to spearheading the election campaign along with his other stalwarts. Now, there is no safe bet to place on the win for either candidate. The contest has virtually transformed into Ayaz Sadiq versus Imran Khan.
Lahore’s Zaman Park is the ancestral home of Imran Khan where he grew up. After achieving stardom in the game of cricket, he spent much of his time during a few decades in the UK. Eventually, he returned to live permanently in Lahore as a philanthropist and later graduated to a political career. Likewise, Ayaz Sadiq is also a thoroughbred Lahori originating from Garhi Shahu and now residing in Gulberg. Either can justifiably lay a claim to be the true inheritor of the constituency.
Both had been adversaries during three elections held in 2002, 2008 and 2013. In each, Ayaz Sadiq was victorious. While Imran Khan grudgingly accepted the results of the first two elections, he found the defeat of 2013 difficult to swallow. By this time, he was already leading a party that had resurged as a huge force with a charged following of the youth, the educated middle class and the enlightened females.
Imran Khan has never been modest about his ambition to become the prime minister. He narrowly missed the chance when General Pervez Musharaf preferred the more compliant Zafarullah Jamali over the unpredictable Imran Khan. He was convinced 2013 was his year to lead the country. The province of Khyber Pukhtunkhwa that the electorate gave him was only a consolation prize that failed to console him. Since then, he appears to have targeted Punjab as the solitary route to the top. To reach there, he will have to dislodge the Sharifs. So, just after a brief interlude he put his plan B in action.
It commenced with lambasting all PML-N policies and brazen personal attacks on the Sharifs and anyone else he did not like. He called it true opposition. Others called it agitational politics. The PTI refused to accept the election results wherever it had lost and demanded opening of four key constituencies as precursor to declaring the entire 2013 elections void. The carefully selected vocal PTI spokespersons commanded prime time on television talk shows to present the negative side of all government policies with tremendous conviction.
The PTI had suffered a series of policy fiascos. It glorified the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, advocating their recognition and allowing them to open an office in Islamabad. It vociferously campaigned against the US drone attacks and organised sit-ins that blocked the NATO convoys on G T road. The grand finale came with the long march and the 126-day siege of Islamabad in August last year. However, none of these strategies worked. If anything, the country was submerged in further chaos. Instead of unity, further fragmentation and disorder has come to prevail. Various forces have become active pulling the nation in different directions. Nobody knows where we are heading.
NA 122 is an urban constituency comprising a substantial proportion of lower middle class politically aware population, struggling to find better prospects in an environment of terrorism and faltering economy. Traditionally, it has been a stronghold of PML-N, where the party has cultivated its vote bank by creating well organised basic electoral structure. This organisation has now been put to test by the PTI slogan of change that has appealed to most urban areas of the country.
The rigorous and persistent anti-PML-N campaign triggered by the PTI (joined by the PPP bandwagon) has targeted the PML-N style of government. The PML-N, on the other hand, has offered meek and ineffective resistance. It has been pushed to the back foot and has not been able to retaliate by discrediting the PTI for its less than satisfactory performance in KPK, half way through its term of office.
The mega development projects in Punjab that brought dividends during the 2013 elections have become something of a liability for the regime. The long delays in implementing the energy schemes and its low priority on the basic welfare projects of the common citizens such as clean drinking water, sewerage, primary education and health, have put the ruling party on the mat. The PTI has relentlessly and successfully capitalised on such weaknesses.
PTI is basking in the personal charisma of Imran Khan while the PML-N has been unable to present anyone to counter or come anywhere close to this phenomenon. The Sharif brothers have mostly been hibernating, not reaching out to the public in the way that Imran Khan has. Nor has PML-N been able to put any dent in the PTI chief’s popularity despite his numerous policy reversals, his negativity and his dharnas that have been disastrous for the country’s economy and have severely polarised the nation. Conversely, all efforts of the PML-N, regardless of merit, somehow appear to have come to haunt its leadership in one way or another.
The electorate and the authorities are oblivious to the millions being squandered in electioneering, flouting all rules of the game. No one cares where this money is coming from and what the candidates will gain after spending it. The nation is engrossed in the outcome of the NA 122 election, as if, it will resolve all their problems, bring jobs to the unemployed and everyone will live happily ever after.
This is the farce that our democracy has become. The leaders make exaggerated promises and the people want to believe them. Once the election is over, all is forgotten and normal life returns to go on in the same old fashion. The chosen few will continue to reap many undeserved benefits and the poor will be left on their own to combat with their miseries. True democracy will come only when people will cease to be gullible, will make better judgments, and will develop the capability to make their representatives accountable to them.