Daily Times

Perhaps, never before in history, has the Muslim world been without a ‘leader’ who enjoyed global recognition and acceptability. Today, there is none. The case is even more disturbing when we examine Pakistan’s lack of leadership in particular.

In a relaxed post Iftar reflection, I started recounting how blessed we were as a nation to have Jinnah, Liaquat Ali Khan, SardarAbdur Rub Nishtar, ManzurQadir, Sir Feroze Khan Noon, Ayub Khan and Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto; the last two of the list, may have been politically controversial, but financial impropriety was never a case against them too. Look around, dear readers, and give me one name from the current crop of politicians, who we can add to the limited illustrious list of ‘clean’ politicians. Pity the nation of over 180 million people that cannot cough up a handful of decent, honest, intelligent and clean leaders.

Richard Nixon, the last of the great American presidents, who himself was unceremoniously removed, chronicled the life of six great leaders of the world, under the cover of a book titled, “Leaders”. In his opening chapter, Richard Nixon says, “…… few subjects have proved more perennially fascinating to dramatist and historians alike than the character of great leaders. What sets them apart? What accounts for that particular, indefinable electricity that exists between the leaders and the led?”

When a scan of the dirty political field of the present day is done, especially so in our beloved country, what do we find that separates the leaders from the led? Corruption – financial, moral social and political, coupled with general incompetence all around. That unfortunately is the major distinction between leaders and led, today. Leader’s lives leave a very compelling impact upon the masses. To quote, Nixon again, “When the final curtain goes down in a play, the members of the audience file out of the theatre and go home to resume their normal lives. When the curtain comes down on leader’s career, the very lives of the audience have been changed, and the course of history may have been profoundly altered.”

Mr Jinnah, is a case in point, here. Without him, the map of South Asia would have been very different.

Greatness in leadership is not merely about being good men. It is about wisdom and statesmanship. The enlightened leader has a goal, a cause, a greater purpose and above all a vision for the future. If he is not inspired, how can the nation expect to be filled with a sense of inspiration? To be inspired and united, as a single nation, the pre-requisite historically for us, has been a war with a neighbour. In peace, we are at each other’s throats. Pity the nation that doesn’t respect peace and stability. Great leaders are filled with tremendous fervour for their cause and are invariably self-assured confident. They know, if they are coming or going? And not swing like a pendulum from one extreme to the other.

Almost all Negroes, in the decade of 60s, wished to resort to violence to get their rightful share as citizens of United States of America. The man who stood lonely against this thought was the great Martin Luther king. He believed in non-violence and never faltered in his positioning. He said, “If every Negro in US turns to violence I will choose to be the lone voice preaching this is the wrong way.” No leader must adopt negative approach to solve issues of the masses. King also said later, “May be this sounded like arrogance but it was not intended that way. It was simply my way of saying I would rather be a man of conviction than of conformity.” Just compare these thoughts, with the politics of convenience being played out by our self-styled political leaders. The righteousness, they claim, is mere rhetoric because their actions belie the claim. The endless meetings for putting together the ToR’s of Panama Papers is a reflection of their collective incompetence or it is a willful drag for time to ultimately wrap it in the coffins of history. The later, could be truer, because all are equally involved. This is not a Hollywood arena to sit back and watch with relish, “set a thief to catch a thief”.

Character of unimpeachable traits is a basic minimum for those who wish to get into leadership roles. Abraham Lincoln steadfastness in adversity is singular in history. It was narrated by a contemporary of Lincoln that during the height of the battle of Bull Run, he heard low decibel sounds emanating from the president’s room, where he slept. Instinctively, he walked in there to see an unforgettable sight. “It was the president kneeling besides an open Bible. The light was turned low in the room. His back was towards me. I was silent as I looked at him with amazement and wonder.”

Then Abraham cried out in tones so pleading and sorrowful: “O thou God that heard Solomon in the night that he prayed for wisdom, hear me; I cannot lead this people, I cannot guide the affairs of this nation without thy help. I am poor and weak and sinful. O God, who did’st hears Solomon when he cried to Thee, hear me and save this nation.” Reading this passage from history, I wondered, who is this Abraham or Ibrahim? I have read and re-searched sufficiently about the 1971 debacle, but I did not come across, any such pleadings by the then “Leaders”! Is the consequence of December ’71, therefore any wonder? No.

Leadership does not demand ownership of off-shore companies, large land holdings, unaccountable cash stashed in vehicles, a house in each principal city of the country, luxurious vehicles with army of attendants, well-armed; neither does it require being residents of Park Lane, Surry Palace or French chateau. Leadership demands sacrifice and selflessness. A leader is about caring. Not stealing. In today’s world of the ever ready invading media, with its cameras, placed globally there are no lines to demarcate between “official life” and “personal life”- a seeker of public office cannot have the luxury of privacy. Mr Jinnah, was the same, in private as well as in public. The charismatic contender for the White House in the 1980’s, Senator Gary Hart would have surely found himself residing there, only if a single picture of his in swimming trunks with the super model, caught while sun-bathing on a curiously named yacht “Monkey Business” wasn’t splashed globally on TV screens and newspapers. Gary Hart possibly missed the point that any average US person can sun bathe with any sexy model, but a contender for US presidency cannot indulge in the pleasures meant for the ordinary, because the quest is for an ‘extra-ordinary’ office. The public expects propriety in all matters from their leader. Pakistan will remain perennially bankrupt in leadership, until it does not destroy and bury feudal structure of the society. Until then, it is the same sham democracy of family dynastic politics of loot, plunder and merry making!

The writer is a freelance contributor