February 29, 2008

Short-Term Gain, Long-Term Pain

The story about Pakistan politics is a tale, oft repeated, of short-term gain and long-term pain. 
The 60-year history of Pakistan is quite a “Who’s Who” list of those who once were serenaded into the corridors of power with drumbeats, fireworks, and distribution of sweets, and who departed with the humiliation of a public shoe-beating. Common to their fate has been one single failing: not knowing when to quit. 
So many public figures in Pakistan face humiliation, which is avoidable, because they perceive power in terms of eternity and seek to perpetuate it by launching their progeny. 
A survey of the last 30 years of Pakistan history will reveal that the pain of today is, to a large extent, a karma and consequence of yesterday’s blinding fixation with short-term gain. It is a continuation of the inglorious tradition of office-holders making ungraceful exits. Elections, historically, have undermined incumbents. 
Because the existing set-up lost so resoundingly, it may lessen the velocity of violence, in that there is a palpable sense that popular grievances have been vented and a message has been sent. 
The rising burdens of daily living, combined with fatigue with things as is, pushed the electorate to vote for the ouster of the status quo. 
This election also underlines the yearning for democratic empowerment as well as a rejection of invasive obscurantism. Also, it has been a wake-up call to those who were indifferent to other warning signals. 
But just because there is a united reaction against an object of hate does not necessarily mean that this coming together endures for a meaningful period. Marriages of convenience tend to have a short expiry date. 
Apart from inflation, food shortages, power outages, and insecurity, the broader national issues – which impel the nation to stumble from crisis to crisis – remain as is.
It is tempting to overly romanticize the parties which have prevailed. Yet, it is a pertinent reminder that it was the over-clever decision-making of their leadership in the past that opened the doors for praetorian rule. Time will tell whether key lessons have been learned and whether they have it in them to change the way the system works. 
There is now a rising awareness of the salience of fair play and common concerns in society. The investment in the human product is zero, but the expectation is for it to become a hero. 
As in America – emerging from a mood of despair and frustration – Pakistan, too, in the words of Arif Nizami, needs an “Obama-like fresh breeze of hope and change.”
What next? What Pakistan requires now is a vigorous instilling of a shared community ethic which transcends parochial pulls. Never before has there been so compelling a need for the nation to forge a new moral direction. This is what shall give hope that tomorrow may be better than today.