Daily Times

Whether it is on social media or you gather with friends in a party, politics is the most talked about item in any discussion. It is safe to say that it is in our DNA and we inherited this from the land next door. Every night, people must be brought up to speed on all the intrigues, conspiracies, the allegedly corrupt and inept politicos and the almighty establishment.

We are blessed to have such a vibrant and ‘independent’ media. A huge thanks to the very benevolent dictator, who never fails to forget this factoid and pats himself on his fragile back, for granting this invaluable liberty. The media in a normal country would not be blasting the political happenings for almost twenty-four hours on tens of channels every day without fail.

Some of the print journos have now built their tremendous following. People are glued to the social media, all tuned in hope to hear the facts, as they wish it ought to be. The star anchors are aware of their cult status and come up with bizarre scoops as they have a captive audience desperately waiting for such a miracle.

The emphasis is generally on ‘manufactured issues’ surrounding the poor public; mostly, who is the darling of the ‘Holy Establishment’ and who has been asking for trouble? The opposition is mostly focused on finding ways to send the incumbents packing. All is fair in this endless war, and no holds are barred.

Let us revisit the distant past for a quick glance. The screens at almost every channel were ablaze for nearly a year about the infamous ‘Panama scandal.’ The hyperventilated anchors and analysts kept on regurgitating the details to 10th degree. The nation was given the age-old rattle of ending the menace of corruption. Without repeating the well-known details, people who read this scribe will agree that it was sceptical about all the noise. Unfortunately, there are a lot of people who still think that this landmark case will set the direction straight for this sorry state.

Kindly pardon my sense of pessimism which has a strong and well-founded rationale. The other day, I brought this up on my Twitter timeline to earn some instant likes and retweets. The tweet just stated that after the scoop, there were other exposes that came to fore, such as ‘Paradise Leaks’ and ‘Dubai Leaks.’ Yet no hours and hours of endless programming was dedicated to them.

It seems that the focus has drifted from that issue towards the potential clash of institutions and there is a barrage of tickers building the hype endlessly. The former prime minister, his darling daughter and some close confidantes are on the receiving end of the sharp criticism from the ever vigilant and extremely respectful media.

Add the general elections to this mix of ‘manufactured uncertainty’, and you see bizarre innuendos flying all over about who will last till the final round

You see tickers flying on the screens giving the details of the happenings within the court, about every single dialogue and then it is debated in the evening slot. The build-up is very predictable, and anyone can easily guess where this so-called clash is headed. The darling media is playing and replaying this tune, making it the most urgent and pressing matter.

In this mix of this ‘manufactured uncertainty’, add the general elections, and you see bizarre innuendos flying all over about who will last till the final round. The suspense is on and the most sellable product available on the screens. People are trying to deduce their scenarios left and right.

Not too long ago, the same media was peddling the ideas of the delay or suspension of elections of the Upper House. To the dismay of many, the Senate elections were held according to the plans. What came out and how it all played out is a different story. But the glaring aspect of this exercise which was overplayed was the term “horse trading.”

The media was openly citing the rate of the legislators who decided to cross their designated party lines.

Every reasonable person was equally perplexed and dejected about the process, where such large sums of money allegedly changed hands. At least, yours truly was never surprised with the entire drama and the outcome of these elections. The question that kept on circulating in my head was why people carry certain expectations from their lawmakers to be angelic.

The writer is a Pakistani-US mortgage banker; Email: dasghar@aol.com; Twetter; @dasghar

Published in Daily Times, March 10^th 2018.