And its democrats
What’s a PM to do about the people really when he can scarcely find time to save his own government? For months now the government has been neck deep in the Panama Leaks spillover. And it’s not as if the opposition has had much time to care for the people either. They have spent this time trying to pressure the government on the same matter. And now that the ToR thing has effectively broken down, we have protests, etc, to look forward to. Once again, with the government running for its life, and the opposition out to get it by hook or by crook, the fate of the people, naturally, does not figure too high on either’s priority list.
Then there is the foreign front. Pakistan has been increasingly isolated over the last couple of years. And since we are perhaps the only country without a full-time foreign minister, the PM also has to look into the foreign portfolio. And, once again, with survival taking most of his time, and the foreign component of governance also weighing down heavily, where and when does the PM find time for his constituents? Of course, he cannot forget national security either, especially when the enemy can still cause large-scale damage, even after the many successes of Zarb-e-Azb.
That is why last week’s biggest news was not the MQM shock but that the PM was finally going through a string of meaningful meetings on NAP. And, of course, the MQM drama quickly diverted attention from the security huddle to the kind of politics that has precious little to do with common people. That, pretty much, is the kind of democracy and democrats that Pakistanis enjoy at the moment. And unless the common man sees his position rising in the official priority list, some of these democrats might be in for a rude awakening come election time.
