Nostalgia with kingship

The description of Mr Bilawal Bhutto Zardari as the next king on the horizon in a section of the press betrays a nostalgia with the worn out kingship of bygone days of Moghul and English kings and emperors that ruled us, including Mahraja Ranjit Singh. This is certainly in bad taste since the democracy has dawned upon Pakistan. The very idea of displaying our democratic rulers as kings and queens feeds a wrong idea to the population that Pakistan, born out of an epic struggle by the Muslims of the subcontinent under the historic leadership of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, is to have kings now in the 21st century.
This shows that we have not shed the hangover of English emperors like George the fifth who called himself King of England and Emperor of India. We ought to move away from the shadows of “Zilley Illahis” that adorned the titles of Moghul kings and move into the glorious period of democratic rule.
A section of press ought not be carried away by the personal charm of a would-be-ruler to belittle the people at large whose votes will decide the future leadership. As such our press must be people oriented rather than personality worshippers. The drama of life operates on a much broader screen rather than the moustached generals in decorated uniforms or civilian dictators who pose as “gurus” of politics but are incapable of improving the lot of poor masses. The people’s needs have moved further than “roti kapra and makaan”. They also need shoes, clean water, basic education as also basic health care and social justice to dispel the notion of rich rulers and abject poverty of masses that are destined to remain forever so. The “welfare state” concept of Islam needs to be observed at all times, instead of encouraging rulers to become kings and the people as downtrodden subjects being mired in sloth and hunger.