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Look at it again. It must be the work of a master craftsman - that picture of Imran Khan standing tall in his elegant white round-collar shalwar kameez and black coat and addressing what has been rightfully described as a ‘sea’ of people[1]. Although the night’s darkness seems to have fully encircled the sea of people, there is still a halo that shines above them. It is as though the stars have descended upon them. The night’s darkness represents the despondency that has come to afflict so many of the sensitive souls in our times. Yet, our attention drifts quite naturally to the halo of light, which represents the glimmer of hope that still remains in our people – the glimmer that at gatherings flares up so easily into a blazing fire.
From the cameraman’s well-selected vantage point, right behind the great Khan’s solid shoulders, anyone who can seep finer realities of the sort which I describe, can clearly see the coming of a new dawn. Sometimes I even wonder: how could some people be blind so as not to see it? How many eyes does one man need, before he can see the rising of the sun, and the break of a glorious dawn? No, you cannot miss the shine in the eyes of the crowd, nor the music in their souls. You cannot miss those glimpses of a new Pakistan. We will be so unfortunate if, for selfish reasons, we tried to wish it away. It’s a different Pakistan which is on its way, a project still in the making. We all have one reason or another to celebrate – and yes, it includes even those of us who, like myself, do not intend to vote for the PTI in the next elections. If we live to see those time, we will be fortunate to have lived that long.
The PTI’s memorable nightly vigil is a cause for celebration. But it shouldn’t be for the wrong reasons. No, it is not because the messiah awaited for has finally arrived on our political scene. Do I need to explain why it would be arrogant for anyone to say this? Sooner or later, you see, we Pakistanis will have to realize that this sort of exclusivist partisan thinking has no place in the politics of a constitutional democracy. Particularly where you have a first-past-the-poll system where the rule is that the winner takes it all, even by one vote. Don’t call me a cynic for saying this. But in set-ups like ours, politics is, and will remain, a rather pragmatic affair. Alliances and compromises with erstwhile political enemies, voluntarily passing the baton to them, these will all have to be a part of the game. And if the business of politics has to be run in this amicable manner, then leaders and followers alike would do well to avoid creating messianic expectations from their own parties, and to stop the demonic vilification of the other parties. Democratic regimes should know that in hard times like these, one’s survival depends upon one’s political opponents. Otherwise, we are in for another 1977. Or another 1999.
So, no, I don’t see in this rally the making of a new Pakistan because I think of Imran as our only hope. I don’t even think like this for the party and the leader whom I do vote for. I think no one should. It doesn’t’ bode well for the health of our democracy. Quite to the contrary, let me propose to to everyone a thought experiment. Imagine a party other your own finding itself in power in the coming elections. Imagine its leaders working as ministers and so on. Imagine them staying there for another five years. Try and get mentally comfortable with this idea. Think, for instance, of Altaf Hussain sitting in the presidency. Much as it revolts you, try to hold it. Or Nawaz Sharif, for that matter, if you don’t like him at all. Or Fazlur Rahman. Or even Zardari, all over again. Try this. Believe me, unless we, as a people, learn to think like this, we are calling for more trouble. Big trouble. Another 1971 of sorts. So you are free to repeat the mantra ‘Imran Khan [or substitute this with the name of any other political leader] is our only ray of hope’, but please don’t sound so damned serious about it.
Whether the kaptaan can ride this tide of enthusiasm generated by this Rally all the way to electoral victory is, for me, is a question that misses the whole point. What really deserves attention is simply all the energy and hope that the Rally has unleashed. Hope works in magical ways. It begets more hope. And it's like a self-fulfilling prophecy. The logic is simple. Hopeful people invest. Their money. Their time. Their emotions. Their lives. Their families. When the urban middle classes are hopeful about Pakistan and its political prospects, there’s a chance they’ll transfer less of our financial capital to Dubai and Malaysia and the likes. And they’ll exile less of our talent pool, leaving more behind. And talent and money are the potent mix that brings change which slogans and speeches, even rallies can’t.
Then there’s the hope that at least a few dozen of those hundreds of thousands who have suddendy turned into avid cyber-politicians and loud sloganeers will stick it through the thick and thin and mature – and sooner or later carve for themselves a niche in the big bad world of real, on-ground politics. Fresh blood could mean a solution for our long-standing bottle-neck oft exploited by the public relations machinery of the establishment: a chronic shortage of fresh, young, urbane and educated politicians.
Most importantly, in the wake of the Rally, I see Pakistan finally recovering from the debilitating impact of General Musharraf’s “Sab say pehlay Pakistan” project. It’s a little like belated de-toxification. We’ve taken a while, but finally we are recovering and coming back to being the sunny-sounding, starry-eyed, slightly megalomaniac people that we always were. Remember the people who, for decades, refused to treat their seven-times more populous neighbour as anything but an equal. Or the people who believed that their country was, like none other in the world, destiny’s own gift. People who had the glint of dreams in their eyes. That glint in the eyes was our greatest asset, not the atomic bomb, nor the fabled mineral fortunes which lie unexplored beneath our soil. Not even the demographic dividend which we are supposed to be at the cusp of; and certainly not the few hundred highly wanted individual that our armed forces have been opportunistically selling to foreign hunters for prize money. These assets may count greatly in other countries of the world, but our Pakistan was never about all this. The promise of Pakistan was always about its collective ideals and dreams. Dream of a collective reality that is better – not just materially, but in a host of ways – than what we have ever had. The greatest and damnest theft committed by General Musharraf and his powerful liberal fascist lobby was that they stole all this from us. They were a corrupt lot which stole things which cannot be valuated in dollars or rupees. Things which were, and remain, Pakistan’s greatest national asset, our promise. When the general, with all his talk of realpolik and utilitarianism-based public policy, drove our urban middle classes, particularly the younger generation, into the crazy rat races of individual consumerism, that is what he robbed us of. It made us self-hating, sad, and later, cynical.
Fortunately, the great kaptaan seems to be slowly undoing just this. His achievement (and such things I believe are achievable only by the dint of divine grace) is to bring those same people back into the collective life of the country, who had successfully seceded in the General’s era into the sad world of short-run private plenty. The young ones from amongst the middle classes of urban Pakistan, particularly in the Punjab. That was the kind of people who were the pride of the Rally. The kind of people whom you would other see together and excited only on musical concerts with pricey tickets. Or in the enclaves of private colleges and schools. People whose dreams has collapsed into images of private cars, villas, iPods, foreign university degrees and jobs abroad. They are few in number but they count.
A passionate concern for Pakistan, and the collective destiny of its people including the working classes, seems to be back on their mental map. I consider this the harbinger of historic change. Perhaps, the greatest change that the rally which surprised us all, promises to bring about in its wake.
Of course, this change remains very much an unfinished project. Imran Khan and his army of sincere and well-meaning, though politically untrained enthusiasts now have an historic opportunity in front of them. But they need to be extremely careful as they proceed from here onwards, if they are ever to realize their chances. They need to remember that the shadowy forces which have haunted so much of our history are still around, although they seem to have temporarily withdrawn. But for the historical courage shown by the superior judiciary backed by the legal fraternity, civil society and students, and the equally staunch stand taken by Nawaz Sharif and his party-men for over a decade, those forces would still have been here. These were the same forces which hijacked the political process in the first decade of Pakistan, and which have never since ceased to hold sway. From behind the curtains, they are still watching things closely. And they don’t like the air of it.
For instance, they do not like the idea of an emerging cadre of Imran Khan attracting and training a cadre of popular politicians whom Pakistan’s urban middle classes can truly affiliate with. Because this means that when they do another Kargil, or another 1999, hoping to get another decade-long lease for power, they won’t have the tacit backing which counts at such moments. Instead, the politicians will. These are forces which don’t like the idea of you and me keeping a close eye on how we are governed, and dreaming up change. They’ve been in their comfy positions ever since the colonizers bequeathed us this system of governance where the people’s elected representatives are, at best, mediators between the bureaucratic administrator-rulers and the subjugated-ruled. They will try to jump back into the game at the first chance. Instead of casting other politicians as hate-figures, it is they who should be considered as the PTI’s enemy number one – an enemy which it shares equally with all the other political forces in the country, even those whom it considers incorrigibly corrupted. True that politics is all about alliances; but an alliance with the common enemy would be fatal. It would take the PTI down – and with it, all the democratic forces.
For now though, in the grips of the current euphoria, we can brush these concerns aside. Think about it. A few months back, none of these cynical, alarmist TV anchors (or their blogosphere analogues) who seem to know all, could have possible predicted that this day was coming. These pundits who build themselves lucrative careers feasting upon our hope, will dismiss me for a hopeless dreamer when I say this next thing. But I tell you that I see a brighter day coming. It’s already on its way. I’ve been saying this for a while now[2]. And now I have yet more reason to stick to it. To see what I see, you need look no further than that picture of Imran Khan at the Minar-e-Pakistan standing tall above his sea of supporter. Look at it again. Amidst the darkness of the night there’s a halo of light which surrounds the crowd. It’s the glimmer of hope is their eyes. Hope which is back. And which will help us pass the darkest hour of night, after which it’s going to be dawn. A glorious dawn, I tell you.
[1] The PML-N Senator Pervez Rashid’s statement in which he tried to undermine the scale of the gathering is a classic case of trying to spread disinformation, which is an unfair tactic by any standard, and the party would do well to avoid such silly things in the future. Such behavior is a far cry from the party’s avowed slogan of principled politics. That the picture has been photo-shopped is also an allegation which remains to be confirmed; doctored or not, either way, it is a beautiful picture and lavishly deserves the compliments heaped on it.
[2] Referring to my earlier post titled “The Roaring of the Lion and Glimpses into the Future” http://riseofpakistan.net/umergilani/2011/05/17/the-roaring-of-the-lion-and-glimpses-into-the-future/
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