Daily Times

The chants of Q-league namanzoor (we do not accept the Q-league) have been heard loud and clear at Bani Gala. The spirit was the same on October 30, 2011 at the Minar-e-Pakistan jalsa. For democracy to survive this Q-League Phenomena has to end. It started with Convention-League, followed by Pagara League, Junejo League, Nawaz League with Q-League being the most fluid and flexible which can roll itself into any party including Kaptaan’s Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI).

The All India Muslim formed in Decca in 1906 was the founding party of Pakistan. Over the years, it has been transformed into an ‘Albatross’ of democracy’. Asif Zardari called it the Qatil League but later formed an alliance with them. Bhutto’s party working the Chaudhri’s political Juma Bazar seemed like a political circus. Now there are rumours that PTI has agreed to form an electoral alliance with Q-League which has now been cut to size as the latest ‘Tonga Party’ of Zahoor Elahi Road. I don’t even understand why this thoroughfare has been named after a dismissed Police Inspector who was bestowed with the title of ‘Chor Sepoy when he contested the election in 1970 from his home constituency in Lahore and badly lost to Bhutto.

Convention league met its waterloo in the first and only free and fair election of 1970. There were cartoons of cycles — its election symbol — with deflated tyres. Somehow they were re- inflated to hijack the people’s mandate.

It reminds of the famous epic ‘Who is afraid of Virginia Woolf’? Virginia Woolf was a writer who stood up against false illusions. In our case, the pertinent question is “Who is afraid of the people’s Mandate?” The answer is plain and simple, it is the ‘Khalai Makhlooq’ and their created ‘political rogues’. After the 1970 establishment debacle, as a result of the unholy alliance between the two, ten electoral contests and two referendums have been staged to keep the political process derailed.

Every change movement has been hijacked from within. In Islam such individuals were called ‘Munafiq’ (hypocrites) and were discussed in detail. They were a group who claimed to be Muslims who were secretly unsympathetic to the cause of Islam and sought to undermine the community. The Q-league is an effective production line meant to produce political hypocrites whose only aim in life is to derail the democratic order.

Now that the political cleansing has been started with Nawaz Sharif, the surgical strikes will continue. The extraterrestrials have to eventually return to their heavenly abode, but not without cleaning their political mess

Currently there is a big fuss on allocation of election tickets. The award system is seriously flawed with blatant conflict of interest. Most members of the scrutiny team are themselves candidates and have awarded multiple tickets to their family members or even themselves. While merit is highlighted as a party policy, it is not practiced. In Punjabi the term is company ki mash’ huri kay liay (only for the popularisation of the company). Such an approach where there are huge gaps between what one preaches and practices is called Munafiqat — hypocrisy.

Down with Q-League! In a party of change, stalwarts of the status-quo should have no room. The scene at Bani Gala is very interesting with Kaptaan trying to diffuse the workers from behind closed gates surrounded by Police and Rangers. There is a fine line between being blackmailed or befooled as the results are the same, disastrous. If tickets have been awarded on merit there should be no fuss. The selection criteria and the award scores should be shared with all the applicants — not by the Kaptaan — but by the selection team who interviewed and then awarded the party tickets.

The fact of the matter is that democracy in Pakistan has been a big farce. Instead of bottom up the approach has been top down. Despite being a constitutional democracy, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan has only experienced one free and fair election in over seventy years. All those who matter fear the peoples’ mandate as they are unwilling to give up their comfort zones.

Now that the political cleansing has been started with Nawaz Sharif, the surgical strikes will continue. The extra-terrestrials have to eventually return to their heavenly abode, but not without cleaning their political mess. We as students in the sixties and seventies valiantly fought against the convention-league’s political circus and forced the free and fair elections of 1970. For their own future the youth of today should play their role in ending this drama by ensuring the political demise of all its actors, supporters, abettors and collaborators. Violation of article-6 of the constitution started on July 5, 1977 and has continued for over four decades. A new beginning and a fresh start has to be initiated. There may be a handful of people in Bani Gala today, but the slogan is big with far reaching consequences. It is time to open the closed gates and minds to act effectively and decisively. As the famous verse goes, Teri rahbari ka sawal hai (it is a test of your leadership).

The writer is Ex-Chairman Pakistan Science Foundation. He can be reached at fmaliks@hotmail.com

Published in Daily Times, June 29^th 2018.