Worth another shot?

• Will Qadri-Imran-Zardari-Chaudhary-Sheikh quintet make it this time?

The lion is down but not out, he is cornered but still in the arena. The player along with his groupies is out and about doing what they do best. They have condemned, ridiculed, abstained from attending assembly and of late shed all guises and fired the last arrow in their quiver. Mere months from elections, the restless gang has resorted to curses.

It takes guts, and sheer wanton, to curse the body one is part of. Khan and Co has both. Knowing that his only chance to grab the premiership, promised by his present and former peers and peernis, demands that he become leader of the ‘accursed’ Parliament. May sound strange yet befitting of Khan, who has boycotted an entire election in 2008 and sat in protest in front of the present one for good 120 days. The fiery speeches from the pulpit and the euphoric joy among the faithful was put to end by the gory incident of APS, Peshawar where scores of innocent children lost their lives. And then he had a godsend in shape of mana from Panama in his lap.

‘Do I contradict myself? Very well, then, I contradict myself; I am large — I contain multitudes’. No, dearest sirs and ma’ams, Imran Khan didn’t say this. Walt Whitman, American poet and essayist, did. What was an apt justification for Whitman is a way of life for Khan.

Back in the summer of 2014 both cousins Imran Khan and Tahir-ul-Qadri laid Islamabad under siege. The city came to a grinding halt and remained so for days. Imran Khan and Qadri were on a divine mission to avenge the grievances of electoral malpractices

Once again, the ‘have-nots’ of power are ganging up on the ‘have-and-holders’. United against a common foe, the Qadri-Imran-Zardari-Chaudhary-Sheikh quintet fumed against the wholly imperilled yet holding on to power N-league. Aiming for good riddance, the motley group of gentlemen seek to dethrone the incumbent mere months before its term ends. What is their rallying cry? Well, the same old, same old rhetoric studded with allegations of misgovernance, accusations of corruption and ‘proof’ of evil deeds. What horrible future they want to avoid that warrants the restlessness they exhibit. Is it once again the greater good mantra or the good old grinding of axes at the flintstone called opportunism.

Mr Zardari, who has joined the chorus of late, recalls vividly what was done to his hand-picked prime minister almost half a decade back. Mr Zardari has an idea how his near and dear ones were hounded and hunted when former PM Nawaz was not former. Mr Zardari knows that now is the time to hit back and salvage whatever respect and benefits he could before the frenzy of election takes over. Mr Zardari is testing the waters.

And as for Farzand-e-Rawalpindi Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed of Awami Muslim League, it seems that nowadays everyone is sick and tired of one’s job and wants to burn his or her office down. Be it corporate sector employees or legislators, the anguish is intense.

What the Khan and Co are toiling under is a persistent illusion that has weakened our body politic since inception ie the politician-eat-politician charade. Mirages, dearest sirs and ma’ams, seem real from a long distance away. They entice their believer with promise, tire him with fatigue, and eat him when he doesn’t have a jot of strength left. I believe you have an ample idea who are the ‘Mirage-Makers’ in this land.

Back in the summer of 2014 both cousins Imran Khan and Tahir-ul-Qadri laid Islamabad under siege. The city came to a grinding halt and remained so for days. Imran Khan and Qadri were on a divine mission to avenge the grievances of electoral malpractices. One packed up some time later and left for Canada, the stubborn one felt duped but still carried on. This time around, however, they’ve brought their uncle, former President Asif Ali Zardari, along to bell the cornered, bruised lion. Who said hatred burns the cauldron that holds it. What we see it doing here is uniting people who have nothing in common other than a shared object of derision and envy. They don’t want to bell the lion, no sir that won’t cut it. They want to hang him, mummify it and exhibit it for all those who fail to fall in line.

All of the gentlemen from opposition vie to hold the moral high ground. What they forget is that it belongs to the untainted, upright statesmen. The volatile, foul-mouthed, cursing politician has no claim whatsoever on it. For those who’ve faltered, they may be forgiven by God, their fellow mortals, however, don’t forget them. Their followers and supporters may keep their lips tight and look the other way, their adversaries are bound to advertise, sensationalise, and propagate their not-so-sanitised doings and dealings.

It is said of Shakespeare that there is nothing in the world of man that escaped The Great Bard’s observant eye. I couldn’t think of a better way to conclude this piece than these lines from his play ‘Measure for Measure’.

But man, proud man,

Drest in a little brief authority,

Most ignorant of what he’s most assur’d;

His glassy essence, like an angry ape,

Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven,

As make the angels weep.