Daily Times

Aging is a serious business. In fact, it is a multi-billion dollar industry that flourishes on our insecurities and eternal quest to cheat time. After a certain age, birthdays are dreaded, every possible anti-wrinkle and anti-age cream is experimented with, and then there is the emphasis on natural remedies and healthy eating. Add to that the more drastic measures that leave you with a plastic smile. Five years ago, my aunt came for a visit to Pakistan from New York. One of her top ‘things-to-do’ was to get, as she laughingly put it, a ‘gitchi khechai’ or a ‘neck lift’! Needless to say I was horrified at the prospect, reasoning with her that though ‘smoother’, it will still be the old face, not ‘new’,’ despite the bucket loads of pain involved. But I was unable to dissuade her or to kill her passion for the new her!

Last Saturday, a tsunami of Pakistan’s citizens — young and old, healthy and sick, men and women, boys and girls — came out of their slumber, with the hopes of a Naya (New) Pakistan. Whichever party one supported, one should be aware enough to respect the voters’ decision. Change has come; the sheer turnout is a change in itself. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has risen as a political party and if able to form a government in Khyber Pakhtunkhawa (KP), needs to deliver and uphold the trust reposed in it by the people. Prima facie what the results show is that Pakistanis have chosen people who delivered and have rejected corruption and inefficiency. The fall of the Awami National Party (ANP) and Pakistan Muslim League Quaid (PML-Q), the confinement of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) to the level of a regional party and rejection of the religious parties, now speaks of a voter who is not ignorant. Indeed democracy is the best revenge! Most entertaining was Begum Naseem Wali Khan publicly lambasting her son, Asfandyar Wali Khan of ANP, for destroying his ancestors’ legacy. The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has emerged as the winner both in the National and Punjab arena. The hard fact is that after the PTI’s first rally in Lahore, the PML-N took heed of the apparent danger and started delivering in Punjab.

There was intense chatter, nay massive protests, everyone up in arms, the media exposing ‘proofs’ of rigging in Saturday’s polls. An organisation called Free and Fair Elections Network (FAFEN) unveiled proof of rigging in 120 constituencies in all four provinces, and called upon the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) “to release all polling station Statements of the Count (Form XIV) to the public on its website before certifying any final election results in any constituency…Best practice for election transparency requires that polling station ballot counts and vote counts should be posted as quickly as possible on the ECP website, both as scans of the original forms and in data tables that can be scrutinised.” Amazingly, FAFEN has recently regretted this as ‘human error’!

There were open accusations targeting the judiciary and their alleged complicity in the whole process, analysts, protesters and every other person arguing that the returning officers were judges! As a Pakistani and as someone belonging to the legal community, these allegations are indeed distressing and a huge blot on the impartial and fair, un-corrupt judiciary we strive for and support.

One thing was crystal clear last Saturday. As predicted by Imran Khan, a tsunami had come. Barring the controversy whether some polls were rigged or not, the sheer number of voters’ turnout was beyond amazing. Never in my life have I seen so many people standing in lines to exercise their right to choose their destiny; in fact, my elderly parents-in-law both voted for the first time ever in their entire life. The discomfort and suffering of waiting and travelling inspite of illness was surpassed with the desire to leave a ‘Naya’ Pakistan for their offspring. After all, as the Chief Election Commissioner, Fakharuddin G Ibrahim said, “Bad people are elected when good people fail to vote.” The middle class, sarcastically labelled the ‘Mummy-Daddy’ lot or the ‘Burger Family’, inspired by Khan, finally came out and voted. Distinctions are being made on the basis of voter profiles to ascertain which party tapped which kind. The prevailing superficial assumption is that the rural bank identifies more with the PML-N as does the youth of the lower middle class, non-burger family, labelled ‘bun-kebab’ by a Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) spokesperson, which presumably resides in non-posh areas. If it were this simple, my Harvard-graduate friends and acquaintances would not have voted for the PML-N, but they did, and by this logic, the people of KP who voted for the PTI would definitely have to be from burger families and living in posh areas. Again, a good look at the youth that idolises Khan is not only the burger type; most cricketers, avid street cricketers and followers do not belong to posh locales.

As if the cauldron bubbling was left lacking in spice, Altaf Hussain, the absentee MQM chief, in response to allegations of poll-rigging and violence, demanded that Karachi be separated from Pakistan. Later he claimed that his statement was taken out of context. Maybe, now that we are looking at a new government, amendments should be made to the law requiring that no one shall be allowed to run a political party in absentia. Anyone who claims to have a stake in Pakistan’s political scenario should be physically present and living here.

The people of Pakistan, to whichever class they may belong, have voted. In some cases it is alleged that their shadows voted too, but the fact remains, subject to any rigging and re-polling of course, the mandate given is clear. Let us not make this an issue that divides us into classes — burgers, bun-kebabs, turbans, terrorists or whatever else one may choose to call others. We are all Pakistanis and want a better future for our children and ourselves. Let the majority parties form coalitions where needed and give them five years to deliver on their promises. Otherwise elect them out. We have five years until the next election. Meanwhile, educate and make the nation more aware, strengthen the institutions and make the people sitting in the Assemblies accountable and hold them to their promises. Two things are crystal clear: first, the tsunami of voters listened to Khan and voted for the ‘sher’ and second, the moon of ‘Naya Pakistan’ has been sighted first in KP, keeping in line with all the previous ‘moon sightings’!

I have never believed in a Naya Pakistan, but I resolutely believe in a ‘better’ Pakistan. After all, it’s not like we can sell off the ‘old’ Pakistan on olx! My aunt’s gitchi khichai turned into an extensive surgery encompassing the face too; the drastic procedure did not obliterate her ‘old’ face but after the excruciating pain she suffered for some time, she definitely did have a ‘better’ face. Pakistan needs a leader who can peel away and detach the old skin, pull it taut, ironing out the wrinkles, cut and sew it back on for a better fit. I concede, sometimes drastic measures are needed to improve self-esteem and quality of life!

The writer is an advocate of the High Court