• The old lot uniting again to produce the sequel to the same flop movie which they have been producing since day one
• Out of 180 million Pakistanis, 25 are playing musical chairs with this great nation

 

All of them deserve 21 gun salutes for being in their late 60s and 70s with hardly any level of energy left in them but still obsessed with the self-exaggerated notion that they are the only ones who can lead this brave nation out of crises.

 

HARRISS KHAN | Tuesday | 2 November 2010
WWW.PAKNATIONALISTS.COM

 

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan—Leadership has to be a blend of mental stamina and zeal. If we search for leaders from history who led their people out of despondency and into glory, one striking commonality to all of them is that they were passionate about their causes and mature enough to transform them into reality.

Adolf Hitler says, ‘There are two types of people in politics: political philosophers and practical politicians. Former the marathon runners of history and latter the brow of a dying hero.”

Millions of Pakistanis saw old, dejected, time-tested and failed politicians or ‘leaders’ a few days ago trying to create yet another Muslim League named, Muttahida Muslim League, MML, under the chairmanship of Syed Ali Mardan Shah, known as Pir Sahib Pagara. Not surprisingly they repeated the same rhetoric as they have been doing throughout their lives, namely, ‘Let’s join hands to steer Pakistan out of crises and bring prosperity to our motherland.’

If one does the anatomy of each one of the upbeat leading members of MML, a horrifying conclusion pops up. And that is: They’re all in to save their political careers. It’s a marriage of convenience.

They all have been clinging to prominent posts in Pakistan throughout our 63 years of Independence and hardly have they come up with anything workable in the fields of domestic politics, economy, foreign and defense policy.

All of them deserve 21 gun salutes for being in their late 60s and 70s with hardly any level of energy left in them but still having the obsession with the self-exaggerated notion that they are the only ones who can lead this brave nation out of crises. Reading their minds, I can’t help but compare them to former U.S president Ronald Reagan. When Reagan became the president at the age of 71, he said, ‘Life starts after 70.’  But we know what Reagan did to the US.

One wonders who is responsible for the mess we are in at this critical juncture of time. If not them, then who? The youth of Pakistan, which comprises 70% of the population, is bewildered as there is no one to answer the aforementioned question. They see this League as the old lot uniting again to produce the sequel to the same flop movie which they have been producing since day one.

If these prominent figures were so serious about Pakistan then they should have unleashed some new faces [not their sons and daughters, please] and said, “Here are some of the new guns who would be leading from the front, and we would support them with our experience.”

It’s so strange that out of 180 million people we come across only 25 politicians who play musical chairs with one another and befool the ordinary people like us again and again. Why?

We see them every day, sitting with some ‘TV pseudo intellectuals’, where they utter such disjointed thoughts that one can hardly hold back laughter.

Are we short of upright, inspiring and level-head-over-the-shoulder type of lot?  Or such compatriots of ours have given up? Sigh!

To sum it up, Pakistani nationalists have to come forward to apply breaks to this lot that enters into marriages of convenience when it suits them and parts ways when their pity personal interests collide.

Pakistan Paindabad.

 

Mr. Harriss Ali Khan is a columnist for PakNationalists.com He hails from Nowshera, Khyber-Pukhtoonkuwa Province. See his biography on the right sidebar of this page. Reach him at

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