Daily Times

Travelling can be a great learning experience for anyone; on that we all agree. However, it can be an experience of a lifetime if it is sponsored by the state. Everything, in that case, comes free and handy: private jets, exclusive cuisines, luxury palaces, official dinners, security protocol, upscale shopping and at least one meeting with the head of the host country to discuss matters of ‘mutual interest’. That is why their critics object that the Prime Minister (PM) and his brother, the Chief Minister (CM) of Punjab, are busy travelling around the world: two visits to the US, one to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), one to China, then to England, to Thailand, to Afghanistan, to Turkey and to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in less than six months. Both of them have spent so much time outside Pakistan that last month, when the PM was returning home from Bangkok, President Mamnoon Hussain was ready — it is rumoured — to receive him at the airport as a foreign dignitary!

Nonetheless, the real confusion is witnessed at the provincial level. In Punjab, the CM has made so many trips to Turkey in the last few months and has met with their government officials so many times that an ordinary Turk, it is debated, considers him as a part of his country’s federal cabinet nowadays, especially after they saw him wearing the Jinnah cap on several occasions, which is very similar to the cap worn by Mustafa Kamal Ata Turk — they could not believe that Shahbaz Sharif was Pakistani in origin! Also based on his overall appearance, including his mustache, they thought he looked more like the baby brother of Tayyip Erdogan, the PM of Turkey, or Abdullah Gul, the president, than the younger brother of Mian Nawaz Sharif.

The CM has not helped to alleviate this confusion in Punjab either. During a cabinet meeting in Punjab, which included two provincial ministers and 36 bureaucrats, it is reported that CM Shahbaz Sharif — while virtually presiding from Istanbul through videoconference — spoke to them in a foreign language (probably Turkish or English) for about one hour. Every member listened to him intently for that long and agreed with his plan 100 percent in the end, without understanding a single word of his speech. They thought they should not embarrass their leader for not choosing the official language (Punjabi) of the meeting, and so they just let him finish, and did exactly what they would have done even if they understood the speech: agree and obey.

Compared to Turkey, the relationship between the People’s Republic of China and the government of Punjab could not be built as strongly. One major hurdle that the people of Punjab are facing in establishing a deeper connection with China is that the Chinese do not aspire to grow a mustache. A mustache, in our part of the world, however, is traditionally considered as a sign of integrity, virility and authority of a man — every man, even Chinese! In the most populated country in the world though, the growth of facial hair in any form, be it a beard or a mustache, is not considered religious or noble, nor is it taken as a sign of masculinity. It seems that overcoming this hurdle will be a challenge for us and educating them more about ‘gender differences’ is going to take a while.

However, the real reason, on a serious note, behind their opposition to strengthen their relationship with Pakistan is that China, as a nation, does not believe in democracy (like we do!). In their opinion, the system of a government of the people, for the people and by the people is too unpredictable and can lead to unforeseen complications like Imran Khan and MaulanaTahir Qadri, which can impede their growth and slow down the economy, an unacceptable price to pay for the freedom of ‘unnecessary’ speech, and ‘bogus’ human rights.

Regarding Mian Nawaz Sharif, his one-on-one meeting with US President Barack Obama did not go very well according to the supporters of the PTI. They, out of pure jealousy, found the incident at the declaration of the joint statement amusing, if not totally embarrassing. While President Obama, after the meeting, spoke to the press extemporaneously, our PM, nonetheless, was fully ‘prepared’. Mr Sharif was holding a thick notebook in his hands like a middle school boy waiting for his turn to stand up and read his portion of the book aloud to the class. It is said that the PM did exactly that without uttering a single word not written in the ‘holy book’ of cheat sheets!

Anyhow, we wish both of them the best of luck in achieving their goals of learning and education in the next five years since there will be many more opportunities for self enlightenment — after all, the total number of countries still to visit is more than 200. Then, there are countries that need much more attention; some of them need to be visited every month (UAE and Turkey), a few that can be toured every three months (KSA and the UK); some, of course, can wait a year (the US) while the rest of the world would do well with just one trip during their tenure.

When it comes to election time by the end of their tenure, we also wish they receive a break from years of diligent learning and save some time to translate their education into a business empire, much bigger, much more diversified and much more profitable for their family. We also hope that, by that time the ordinary people of Pakistan, who have been quarantined within the premises of their land, also learn to vote more wisely and enthusiastically.

The writer is a US-based freelance columnist. He tweets at @KaamranHashmi and can be reached at skamranhashmi@gmail.com