Daily Times

May God Almighty be with
the people of our ‘Land of the Pure’, as the poor folks are in for a big surprise. True to its core, diehard fans of the melodramatic Bollywood pot boilers and musicals are getting their own demi gods in a new and improved fashion. The season of electioneering has been kick started by the stellar performance of the former skipper at the great venue of none other than the Minar-e-Pakistan. Not to mention, on the day that this sorry nation remembers as, Pakistan Day. Never mind that it was a day marked in the books of history, when a resolution called The Lahore Resolution was passed in 1940, which, of course, on our end is termed as ‘The Pakistan Resolution’. Readers are encouraged to review the text of the document to determine what the real demands made by the people on that particular day were. But that is a whole different subject parked for discussion for hopefully another day.

The nation’s one and perhaps only hope, along with some out of sync disc jockey, put on a great show trying to con the sorry nation into believing that it was a sequel to the original Pakistan Day. Hmm, a bit too little too late, one with a bit of scepticism may add. To be exact 65 and a half years late. Our lexicons were introduced to another rather stale term called ‘New Pakistan’. The flotilla of hope was launched by our rock-cum-superstar politico for his diehard fans. Needless to say, some may be too young, naive or oblivious from the fact that this term was used by a man, a former prime minister at the United Nations General Assembly in 1971. This was at a time, when the Pakistan we know was severed and truly humiliated. But I guess, rather than reflection, it is time for some celebration. The show has to be good, must pull the crowd and keep it enthralled. A very entertaining cross between a rock concert and a political rally is what our souls were yearning and that was exactly what they received.

So the ‘middle aged superhero’ drenched in his own ego got on the stage with his ‘six-point agenda’ and promised to live up to his word. Never mind again, this six-point agenda term was lifted from another former prime minister, but this time from our former wing, now known as Bangladesh. I know, very often the emotionally charged and awfully irrational fans become increasingly verbose when one brings their attention to their superhero’s shortcomings. I am afraid, I am one of those, who were only able to bear the very first promise and had to switch the hand held off after that. It was his very bold and personal pledge to never lie to his Pakistani nation.

The readers may object to my swipes, but one has to be utterly baffled by the sheer religiosity that was being overly displayed by Imran Khan. How he sought the strength from the Almighty alone and how he followed the Holy Prophet (PBUH) and his 16 years of struggle in politics was somewhat analogous to the struggle of the Holy Messenger (PBUH) in Medina.

Somehow the youth are supposed to follow Khan’s example and take charge. Take charge like him when he was considered the hottest commodity in his hey days? Nah. It is a foregone conclusion that so long as you bring in God and the Holy Messenger (PBUH) in your speech and flaunt your religiosity, you are spotless. But perhaps all of this is needed in the light of the so-called ‘seat adjustment’ with the zealots and torch bearers of our faith, the one and only Jamat-e-Islami (JI). While we are at that subject, I think Khan should be saluted as a modern day hero, who is willing to form an alliance with the same party whose zealots manhandled and physically tormented him a few years back at a campus. But as they say, all is fair and bearable in politics. The sorry nation loves to hear the buzz words extracted from the fiery Friday sermons to soothe their ever nervous nerves.

Now to another egotistical character, Pervez Mushaarf, who landed after all kinds of assurances from the only ‘brotherly nation’ that he will be unscathed and unharmed. Hence, all the noise about the arrest and warrants that consumed the idiot boxes for a while was hushed. But hush was also the reaction from his so-called supporters. The saviour left his self-imposed exile behind to save Pakistan from all the corrupt and inept politicians. Never mind that he tried his best for almost 10 years to save it all by himself. But as they say some things just never change. One can easily feel his pain, as the crowd of the so-called ‘Pakistani youth’ who once adored him on Face book and Twitter have now found their new idol. An avid watcher of politics like me can only hope and pray from the same Almighty to save us from such egotistical saviours.

The writer is a Pakistani-American mortgage banker. He blogs at http://dasghar.blogspot.com and can be reached at dasghar@aol.com He tweets at http://twitter.com/dasghar