Daily Times

All other traditional parties have done nothing in their tenures, people say. Now here is a chance for Imran Khan to fulfil all his promises to the people.

However, the very basic problems of the common people which need to be addressed by doing major radical changes in the current system would remain unsolved.

The representation of our problems has to be in our hands, for this, we have to focus on our real issues, not populist discourses. One of my friends once asked for how long the decisions over poverty would be made in Bilawal house, Raiwind Mehal, Bani Gala, etc. Can’t we take the decision powers into our hands?We can, and we should.

How difficult is it to understand that exploiters themselves wouldn’t be interested in the solutions to problems that they themselves are the cause of? It’s common sense that Imran can never go against his two besties, and the people close to him have done many favours. Keeping all this in view, what should a common man dream of when it comes to Naya Pakistan is a mystery.

The conclusion of why the exploiters can’t understand our basic problems or are even interested to do so is derived from a simple ‘class division’ formula which has to be understood to get to the many unanswered questions. Imran claims for a western inspired  welfare society which is a wage concept especially in case of Pakistan. They claim for the prosperity, but for whom? Very simple, Imran has pain for the poor but never talked about the revision of minimum wage board for the people living below the line of poverty.

Khan found power by going along with the same electable candidates who exploited the country. The real debate is what would be the next story. If Imran could manage to make it an exemplary tenure, (which does not seem to be in connection with his performance in KP) people’s next choice would be the same. Nobody would be able to snatch his chair except the changing time.

Khan will have a tough time dealing with the country’s economic troubles. Asad Umer had said that there is no option but to go back to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for help. He says that he’s optimistically looking forward to the future of Pakistan. But I’m afraid that once Asad takes control in full he will end up with the same failures and contradictions as the previous governments. IMF will force us to privatise even more institutions — 200 government-held industries. Even here, the worker’s aspect goes totally ignored.

If PTI fails to fulfil the promises that it is making today, what would be the next option for people to vote on? My fear for the next general elections is that the vacuum created by the traditional political parties is going to be filled with religious extremists

If PTI fails to fulfil the promises that it is making today what would be the next option for people to vote on? My fear for the next general elections is that the vacuum created by the traditional political parties going to be filled with another traditional danger, the religious extremist lot. If you disagree, go through the total vote count of only the TLP which is around two and a half million. I’m a voter from Islamabad NA53 constituency, people who didn’t vote for the major two political parties had the option of religious extremist parties with different names to vote for.

These parties are getting ready for the next elections. People will go for that very option if Pakistan’s left doesn’t wake up. Time would be the helping tool that can shift the paradigm of people to the real debate. Pakistan’s left has to be active to play its part now. It needs to rise as a solution and fill the vacuum that the religious extremists have their eye on.

The consistent work for the expansion of political units and telling the people about the exploiters and their formula to exploit would work for the next general elections. The left has so many other complex issues as well, but I hope that our country does not have to settle for the same exploiters again.

The writer is a journalist based in Islamabad and tweets @Surkhsalaam

Published in Daily Times, August 7^th 2018.