Daily Times

Here in the US, the Thanksgiving Day holiday will be celebrated towards the end of this month, with usual fervor and the ceremonial dish of turkey. In Pakistan, a similar day of gratitude was celebrated a couple of days ago; however, it was just limited to the capital and observed by only one particular political party. No turkeys were served. Our revolutionary Mr Khan called it a day of celebration and remembrance. For a rather very ordinary, roadside observer, I gave myself a pat on the back for predicting the outcome of the much-hyped showdown, much in advance, here and at the social media.

Our mainstream media pundits, who were banking on the possibility of another prolonged sit-in, showed disbelief. This was a major shocker to some of them, as the loudmouth ringmasters were peddling the potion of this formula or that formula. Allow me to say this, with utmost pain, that most of these seemingly enlightened patriots live in a parallel universe, where they want to impose their personal wishes on others as ‘the voice of nation’.

We have all the time in the world to waste on the actions of Mr Khan and his cohorts, but no time to address the more pressing or serious issues that really matter, issues that could honestly make a huge and constructive difference in the lives of our people. There were people who were planning to gather in the capital with their anger and disappointment, and had a golden opportunity to provide memorable footage to the ever-hungry cameras of media.

A PTI leader, often seen on TV screens, headed towards the capital, was caught with a bottle of “honey.” This became the breaking news, and the topic of discussion for many. The gentleman had the audacity to challenge his critics, and volunteered for a blood test. This would have been a one of a kind blood test of someone who was high on honey. This in itself tells you how desperately we had to extract our share of entertainment from this “theatre of the absurd,” an apt title suggested by a reputable writer in another publication.

The incumbents were roaring, and used the administrative might to make the event a dud. The tired rhetoric that the chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa delivered on screen was quite depressing. It further endorsed my long-standing argument that our politics never was, never is and, possibly, would never be about the real issues. We are limited to an ethnic strife, and every party uses that to the hilt. The revolutionary party is not any different, and it stooped to that level to play the ethnic card.

Religion, ethnicity or patriotism are deliberately used and abused to further an objective. In our history, very unfortunately, it has mostly been used for negative purposes. The honourable chief minister used his freedom of speech and expression to the extent that it had to be bleeped by one of his interviewers. The display of such childish antics is regrettable.

Then came the signal from the apex court, where it was decided to start hearings on various petitions filed in reference to the disqualification of the prime minister. According to many analysts and observers, on the ground, Mr Khan was unable to gather ‘millions’ as he had planned or claimed on the national television. Hence he retreated to the position of the apex court. Very interestingly, Mr Khan had categorically stated at many venues that his lockdown was going to be independent of the hearings at the apex court. One wonders what happened that brought back Mr Khan from the Himalayas to the valleys of reality.

The honourable interior minister chimed in and declared it as a “victory of Pakistan.” Very humbly, one may disagree with his rather simplistic statement. To be very honest, it has been a defeat of Pakistani politicians. For almost six months or so, both parties at odds with one another, were unable to reach some sort of a consensus. The issue had to be dragged to the apex court for its ruling.

I don’t know much about law when it comes to the question of its application and practice. Mr Khan has a talented team of attorneys who must have given him one heck of an advice. One does not have to be a legal eagle to determine that in situations like these the apex court does not have an investigational role. The apex court may hear arguments of both sides and the possible options. It may direct an agency or form a commission to investigate the matter and present its findings.

Mr Khan should mark on his calendar the dates and the chronology of these events. In the unlikely event that Mr Khan gets elected as the prime Minister, his opponents are bound to bring the same events back at his doorstep. After all, what goes around comes around. Perhaps, a bit of ‘honey’ is very much needed for this bitter truth to register with Mr Khan.

The writer is a Pakistani-US mortgage banker. He can be reached at dasghar@aol.com. He tweets
at http://twitter.com/dasghar