Sugar, wheat, and veggie prices are soaring like anything. No gas, no water, no electricity, and even no hope. Unemployment, lack of quality education, and inadequate health facilities… are the quite common issues which we discuss at cafes, offices, homes, and almost everywhere. And our debate always ends up with a legend comment ‘these stupid politicians are responsible for all the mess’.
Why do we blame politicians for everything? Every one of us likes to calculate things like; what will be our home budget, how to ensure timely payment of credit card bills, or where to invest savings, but no one bothers to look at the history as analytically as we do other things. There’re few facts which would help to add some dignity to my hypothesis;
1. Pakistan was ruled by non-politicians for more than 32 out of 63 years
2. In NRO beneficiaries list, only 34 out of 8,041 people were politicians
3. Voted governments remained much more vulnerable because of other non-political elements
I am not mentioning these stats to claim that our politicians are as innocent as a lamb but there are also some other guys who are equally responsible of all the ugliness.
Development of irrepressible terrorist breeding grounds, 3 million Afghans to encourage unattended weapons & nourish illegal cross border trading, deterioration of democratic system, corrupt king’s party setups, insurgency in Baluchistan, and 1971 break-up are all gifts of non-political setups and now if we see blessings of politicians, major ones are;
§ Creation of Pakistan
§ Detonation of nuclear weapons
§ 1973 Constitution
§ Judicial movement
§ Enhance communication network (Motorway)
§ Successful and sovereign foreign policies
These steps haven’t only influenced our economical, cultural, & social infrastructure in a great manner but also provided foundation for lasting gains. Politics has given some fine leaders like Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Nawab Liaqat Ali Khan, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, Benazir Bhutto, Nawaz Sharif, Imran Khan, Aitzaz Ahsen, Mustafa Kamal, and list goes on. But can we figure out any list of Generals, Judges, Journalists, or Bureaucrats who have influenced the people as positively as the mentioned politicians.
It’s quite a routine now that in every other talk show, a man with almost ‘zero’ credits toasts a bunch of politicians by the name of 8 pm or 10 pm show. Most hosts don’t even bother to do any homework and keep on asking whatever comes in their mouth. In such scenario, we should give some respect to our politicians who ‘most’ of the times face these questions levelheadedly. Few days back, I was watching a program in which few of the most prominent Journalists were invited and was amazed to see their reaction on different questions, they were not anyway behind Fardous Aashiq Awan while answering the questions.
I am not here to defend the politicians’ fraternity but to advocate that we should learn to stop pointing fingers and take some blame. The culprits are 170 million people not 170 politicians. Do your job honestly and let them do theirs.
