And you either make it through, or allow it to break all you’ve ever made
Tsk, it reminds me of same time last year, when we were on a similar junction, talking about same things and imagining multiple possible scenarios. Who’ll stay. Who’ll go. Who’ll howl. Who’ll roll. Remember?
The more things change in our land, the more they resemble all we’ve already seen and lived through. So, once again, dearest sirs and ma’ams, we have to undertake the arduous task of sifting the saints from the scoundrels. Once again, we have to be on the right side of history. Once again, we stand befuddled at the same crossroads, gaping at the same Cheshire Cat and making sense of its same signature grin. Tsk, it reminds me of same time last year, when we were on a similar junction, talking about same things and imagining multiple possible scenarios. Who’ll stay. Who’ll go. Who’ll howl. Who’ll roll. Remember?
So, without further ado, let us do what we do best: make predictions and then remember only ones that turn out to be true. Will we or won’t we boot PM out for good this time? The query leers at many of us bored to death blokes who have lost all interest due to the abundance of all-engulfing sameness and monotony.
Our fingers are crossed. The believers among us are murmuring prayers for either the downfall or the survival of the same House of Sharif (depending strictly on their like and dislike). The ambitious, adventurous ones are desperate to break free of and experience anything else than this tedious, messy, good-for-nothing democracy.
And to the masses at large, it makes little difference whether they are ruled by force and coercion or consent and accord. The things that really, actually, seriously matter to them, I can assure you are that they are neither lofty ideas nor eternal ideals.
Since our lot is easily bored and prone to experience deadly ennui towards our elected governments even in their first year of power, however, willy-nilly we were enduring the same people for third consecutive year and then finally we had a godsend, Panama Leaks. We had our raison d’etre to feel alive and kicking once again. And voila, we’ve been alive and kicking and beating war drums and celebrating and preparing to send another master to the gallows.
It’s been almost a decade that the see-saw of authoritarian regimes and democratic governments is stuck on the latter’s side. Those who are in power are loathed the world over, but many have learned that it is better to endure and tolerate the governments for the terms they have been voted in for. We haven’t. And resultantly, every time we wake up the very day after revolution, we see our lofty ideas, tall claims and the hymns about all things nice and good dashed to the ground and dead.
Whether you laugh or remain thoughtful, whether you applaud or don’t, whether you are over-awed when see a daft sleight of hand or see a clever trick for what it is, one thing is certain: things are a changin’, brethren
We have ourselves a bogeyman along with its cryptic tales. Alhamdulillah, now we can pinpoint the power responsible for our suffering and misery. The few, dignified, Lordships in their robes did put up with the antics and acrobatics, tricks and illusions, arguments and opinions of performers and magicians and then tasked six gentlemen to unearth the truth, nothing but the truth and the whole truth.
Whether you laugh or remain thoughtful, whether you applaud or don’t, whether you are over-awed when see a daft sleight of hand or see a clever trick for what it is, one thing is certain: things are a changin’, brethren.
From tomorrow onwards, outside ‘Big Marble Palace’ we will witness again the sight of hundreds of policemen holding sleek batons and dressed to deter any nuisance, then the familiar and welcoming sound of generators installed in scores of DSNG vans, and lastly a galaxy of mics and cameras strategically placed before two separate podiums to make sure that defenders of ‘defendants’ and sepoys of ‘petitioners’ don’t have to vye for the screen time on prime time telly. Feels like Deja vu, well, it indeed has happened barely months ago.
The Honourable Lordships will hear the momentous case, this time with input from JIT, and seal the future of sitting prime minister of Pakistan (Mian Nawaz Sharif) , future of a man who wants to become prime minister of Pakistan in the future (Imran Ahmed Khan Niazi) , future of the children of present prime minister of Pakistan (one of whom also happens to be the primary candidate for premiership in future) and, well, to cut a long story short, will decide an abundance of ‘futures’.
Inside the courtroom, lordships will preside, counsels will argue, journos will scribble away important (and witty or sensational or angry) points, loyalists from both treasury and opposition will pretend to listen attentively, some of them will fidget while others will look around blankly, waiting for the much-anticipated dawn of revolution, the day when their struggle will bear them fruit, the promised day when even the most radical among them will become a conservative.
PS: They say when push comes to shove, it is better that you give in or give up. Or else fight the odds with all the might, main and mind, as if there ain’t no tomorrow. PM sahab, the push has come to shove, and everything you have depends on how you wriggle out this time around. Wish you grand luck, sire.