- Leaders should realise how much people look to them
By Parvez Jamil
So much has been said and done on and by leaders and leadership with imminent results that calls for something beyond repetition and monotony. Political leadership is commonly understood as the ability of the government and opposition to guide and support the vote bank to desired results, but in practical reality it is a different story which calls for something beyond leadership. Beyond leadership is statesmanship when a nation looks for statesmen with the acumen to address local, national and international issues beyond set, standard and stereotyped leadership through innovative ideas, insights and initiatives and with better emotional maturity, seriousness of purpose and penetrative thinking.
Most of our leaders with leadership, or statesmen with statesmanship and public with expectations, think, feel and believe there is something so indispensable, so concealed and at the bottom line of our nagging woes, which is not to be sidelined in the best personal, public and national interest. Sharing humble little but ground-breaking and problem-solving tips for our leadership and statesmanship is to rise over and above die-hard ego, vanity, (ana), self and party interests, sit, stand and work together with gifted vim, vigour and vitality to seek national consensus on core issues pertaining to our hyper sensitivities in national and international security, and challenging national financial, social and economic issues.
Our dear leaders, trend-setters, role models and rays of hope, we the teeming millions of Pakistan, our envisioned land of purity, promise and potential, beg you to please rise over and above self, banish diehard egos, stand and sit together, sink your lethal differences and address core national issues by coexisting with conflicting views and interests amid mutual respect, tolerance and shared happiness
Leadership or statesmanship needs to rise over and above self and ego to prioritise result-oriented development plans and projects that basically enable masses to learn and live with self-confidence and self- reliance through job- and trade-related skills for decent and respectable life and livelihood. It is the public who need to be familiarised and acclimatised with the habit and spirit of self-reliance through leadership and statesmanship, and by an enlightened and responsible print and electronic media. Envisioned is an indispensable, enlightened and harmonious blend of leadership, media and public.
Leaders are loved because they are our leaders. People respect them because they are their trend-setters and cherish them because they are their role models. People relish them because they are a ray of hope where such rays are few and far between. But our dear leaders, trend-setters, role models and rays of hope, we bleed our hearts out when we see you fight so viciously, so wildly and so horribly with each other. We are so shell-shocked and so deadly stunned to see you locked in the round-the-clock shouting and abusing bouts of leg-pulling and mud-slinging at the very cost of national grace, dignity and honour!
True, we all are deeply concerned about our problems-turned-woes of inflation, unemployment, education, health, environment, public utilities, roads, traffic and transportation looming precariously large over the national horizon. Indeed incomprehensibly horrendous are our hidden and exposed teething troubles of internal and external security and international status, standing, character and repute. Indeed we have full trust and confidence in the custodians of Pakistan who always rise to our internal and external security challenges with exemplary vision and valour second to none.
Our dear leaders, trend-setters, role models and rays of hope, we the teeming millions of Pakistan, our envisioned land of purity, promise and potential, beg you to please rise over and above self, banish diehard egos, stand and sit together, sink your lethal differences and address core national issues by coexisting with conflicting views and interests amid mutual respect, tolerance and shared happiness. Let fortune smile on Pakistan when our political leaders rise over and above self and banish die-hard ego or vanity and when our economic leaders practically work on Gross National Happiness rather than merely lamenting on the falling Gross National Product. Easier said than done, but where there is a will there is a way.
The writer is a freelance writer.
