Daily Times

A leader is the symbol of power trust and hope but leaders who do not abide by their own rules may be doing so for reasons that make perfect sense to them.

Daniel Effron, a social psychologist and associate professor at London Business School says, “People can be inconsistent without getting called hypocritical … if a drug addict tells people not to start taking drugs, few people would condemn them for it. But if someone is preaching virtue in public while practicing vice in private, people get angry because they think that person is claiming a moral benefit – of appearing like a good person – which they don’t deserve”.

It is unfairness, not inconsistency, that really gets to us.

If leaders know that bigotry goes down badly, why do they give people reason to accuse them of it? The simplest explanation is that they think they can get away with it. But although that may be true in some cases, Effron points out that most people like to see themselves as virtuous. A subtler reason is that they end up practicing one thing and preaching another in a bid to please different audiences. Let’s go through a few statements given in the last three elected tenures of Pakistan by its representatives.

Asif Ali Zardari, former president of Pakistan and the PPP co-chairman, has survived a series of personal and political setbacks to gain the presidency. Apart from the manifesto of the PPP, Zardari vowed to seek justice for his murdered wife and at several places he vowed to put the culprits behind bars. His is the first elected government in Pakistan to serve a full term and even then the justice was not served. The killing of Benazir Bhutto and details of the plot and the cover-up are an open secret yet the killers remain at large, the case remains as it was before the PPP was in power.

It is unfathomable to understand how the assassination of Shaheed Benazir Bhutto has been pending in honourable courts for decades. Asif Ali Zardari also declared that “political promises are not holy doctrine, which cannot be changed”. Time has passed, but we see justice is not prevailed.

Shahbaz Sharif, the Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly, the one who has served as a chief minister thrre times, stated in April 2012 at the arrival of former president Zardari’s to Lahore that he would resign a 100 times but not welcome a plunderer. At another time in December 2018, former president Asif Ali Zardari held a brief meeting with him in the National Assembly hall while the latter was leaving the house. Later, when a journalist asked Zardari whether there was any chance of meeting with Nawaz Sharif in the prevailing situation, the PPP co-chairman replied, “What is your opinion, whatever you say we will do it?”

It is unfathomable to understand how the assassination of Shaheed Benazir Bhutto has been pending in honourable courts for decades. Asif Ali Zardari also declared that “political promises are not holy doctrine, which cannot be changed”. Time has passed, but we see justice is not prevailed

It means interests are everything. To achieve and protect the interests, there is no harm to tell lies, make promises, break pledges and fool the people

Imran Khan, the prime minister of Pakistan, came up with the idea of a “corruption free Pakistan” and a justly governed country. Pakistan has regressed in many ways during his tenure, especially in terms of the economy, political stability etc. He also stepped back on many of his campaign promises in the first year in office. These reversals gained him the embarrassing nickname “U-turn Khan” and forced him to publicly defend his record that “a leader who does not take ‘U-turns’ (in the best interests of the nation) is not a ‘real leader'”.

The nation is counting upon Imran Khan recalling his promises every day, longing to see Pakistan prospering in every aspect of field, industry, economy etc.

Democracy in Pakistan cannot prosper until the media is free, human rights protections are robust and elected officials are allowed to make decisions without any pressure. The Pakistani people will not tolerate being ruled by puppet governments forever. If he does not change course and meet the demands of the Pakistani people he promised to serve, he may not be so lucky in the near future.

This may sound naive, but we all have trouble understanding what is in the minds of others. Leaders who don’t follow promises they committed may be doing so for reasons that make perfect sense to them shall not always be entertained by public.

The writer is a human rights activist, a blogger