Daily Times

Pakistan is on the verge of completing its first-ever decade of civilian government power. Hopefully, in 2018, another civilian government will take the reins of power in its hands and will make its way to strengthen a fragile democracy; fragile in the sense, the way political parties and different powerful institutions have been wrestling with one another for grabbing power after the former Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif’s disqualification. With each passing day keen observers of Pakistani politics find echoes of the past. This is because of an impending military takeover, because of the civil-military trust deficit hovering over our heads.

In the lead up to the 2018 elections, the issue of the civil-military clash might be a pressing issue for all political pundits in Pakistan. However, as part of Pakistan’s youth, I think that the youth is first concerned about the wheeling and dealing going on amongst power stakeholders in Pakistan and does not know how to make itself count in the political system despite its strength in numbers — 60 percent of Pakistan is made up of those under 35 years. It’s ironic that almost 60 percent of Pakistan’s population — which is known as the economic dividend of Pakistan — are so indifferent about the new dynamics of politics unfolding in Pakistan.

In the last five years, the political binary being defined from the 1990s by PML-N and PPP has been disrupted by a third party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf. It has become the sole voice of the youth in Pakistan. Because of PTI’s popularity, other parties that were static in their approach towards the youth have started paying heed to their concerns. However, they all lack insight on the real concerns of Pakistanis.

A new political party has almost made its fortune by claiming to be the voice of the youth in mainstream politics. Other parties have started to pay heed to our concerns with the aim to prolong their duration in power. Such is the power of our strength. The biggest question is whether we want to be shepherded blindly by the political parties for their vested interests or we want to make ourselves count in this system.

One reason why the youth are disinterested in the political discourse in Pakistan has to do with the way they have been systematically kept aloof from politics. Politics in Pakistan is not an inclusive space. Political parties promote agendas of the influential only

To verify whether the youth these days considers itself a subject of change or as an object, I asked a question from students of diverse backgrounds. The question was,what does it mean to be a youth in Pakistan?

Before I share their take on my question, I would like to share that this question had been posed to us back in 2013 in the first session of Youth Parliament Pakistan, PILDAT in Islamabad. At that point, almost all the young parliamentarians from across Pakistan- some of whom are now Rhodes scholars, DAAD scholars and have joined Civil Service- were stumped by this question. Back then, the question had been posed to us to ascertain how we felt to be in Pakistan and whether we considered ourselves to be agents of change in society.

While listening to these students’ replies, I had a strong feeling of déjà vu. Initially, their spontaneous blank faces to the question I asked reminded me of all the panic, youth parliamentarians, went through in finding a proper answer to the question we had been posed. But somehow, they started pouring their heart out and tried to connect the dots like we did there in the Youth Parliament Pakistan.

Although I cannot share what each one of them shared, the overall gist of their replies was that the youth is politically aware and curious of what is happening in Pakistan. However, because of a lack of exposure to political socialisation in academia, they are disillusioned from the political system and do not know how to assert themselves with respect to issues which concern them specifically. Instead, they are unable to make themselves count in a larger political spectrum, even with the demographic dividend they currently have.

Part of the reason youth are disinterested in the political discourse in Pakistan is because of the way they are being systematically kept aloof and apathetic about politics. Politics is not an inclusive space but one where the agendas of political parties are promoted. This can be illustrated by the way the oath is taken from students in the form of affidavits at the time of their admissions in universities about not to be involved politics. As a result, politics have been dictated by political parties stewarded by charlatans instead of the youth themselves deciding the trajectory for political parties to follow.

The youth is the one true asset Pakistan has. It is an agent of change. I come across a lot of students saying that the overall system is corrupt that is why they are not able to make a change in the system. I personally think the youth need to be more proactive. Our unity is more powerful than the ones who are against it. We need to connect with one another. We need to go for joint ventures in creative ways to change the status quo. We need to create opportunities for one another. In 2013, with a group of creative students, I launched a student journal called ‘Expressions’ for the first time at the Department of Political Science at Government College University, Lahore. Since then, it is being published on an annual basis and has been a source of inspiration for many to hone their writing and analytical skills. We need to be vocal in every possible way and should realise that our voice has an impact. We need to be very conscious while casting our vote. Through our collective ventures, we need to put pressure upon those who have the power to create change. We can turn ourselves to be an asset for Pakistan by being proactive in the ways we connect with one another.

The writer is an MPhil scholar studying International Relations at Department of Political Science at University of the Punjab, Lahore. He can be reached at uinam39@gmail.com, https://www.facebook.com/inamullah.marwat.56

Published in Daily Times, October 24^th 2017.