Daily Times

It was obvious that my host was no ordinary man, as I searched his house in one of the most posh streets of the most posh localities in Lahore. I parked my car outside the well-guarded house and as I made my way in, the smell of freshly trimmed grass made me reminise me of my college days at Cambridge. The porch was well-decorated, not with flowers or plants but with perfectly parked BMWs and Mercedes’ staring right at my face as I made my entry into the foyer in the backdrop of heavy growling of generators. I was late, and a small group of people who were invited had already settled in the comfort of the couches. My host, a tall but an old man was dressed like any British gentleman and carried a heavy voice with thick but not a foreign accent. He was based both in Dubai and Lahore. The neatly crafted paintings on his wall, and an exceptional interior designing all shouted the richness of its owner. Also on one of the walls in the lounge proudly hung a large framed class photograph of the graduating batch of year 1970, Aitchison College. “Proud Aitchisonian”, my host smiled at me.

The guests of the night, it appeared, all belong to the upper elite backgrounds. The presence of few generals who had their cigars lit, and a couple of known rich business tycoons who were talking big money made the atmosphere quite serious. In such seriousness I was introduced as a political scientist who specialised in US-Pakistan relations, counterterrorism, and electoral politics. Naturally, with elections only a few weeks away, everyone seemed interested in hearing what I had to say. But before I was droned with questions on elections, my host, almost like a prayer, declared how Pakistan was being systematically destroyed by the west, especially by the Americans through groups like the Taliban and Tehrik-Taliban-e-Pakistan. I knew where exactly this conversation was heading: to the war on terror, tribal areas and how the drones have devastated our people. For the next half an hour we had an intellectual pre-game where I kept a stance that the US needs to be understood in a more nuanced way, instead of making generalised statements about the country. My host, however, was determined to convince that America was against Islam, and that Pakistan was the only barrier for the American hegemonic designs to destroy Islam. Having, studied and researched US foreign policy formulation throughly, I did not buy the argument, which ignited him a little more. At the end, like such conversations always end, the conclusion was simple: the west, and specially the Americans, have corrupted the mind of the youth (my host pointed towards me) to a point where I talk the talk of the west; I had, in other words, become an Orientalist. Out of the respect of host, and his age, I agreed to disagree.

I had not completely recovered from the previous discussion, when one of the ladies, old but charming, wearing an almond-sized diamond ring, and who was silently listening to our conversation, finally started the elections discussion, but in a typical way, i.e by complaining. “We all are tired of living in this load shedding, corruption, and terrorism in Pakistan. Life is getting difficult.” I knew what exactly was coming next. “We need a change in our country, and in our systems.” Having talked to several people from a similar crowd, it is as if I can predict the entire conversation and the backgrounds of these people. “These PPP and PML-N politicians have destroyed Pakistan. They don’t have the will or the intention to do good, never had one to begin with”, one of the businessman continued the usual rant. A general who was busy smoking a cigar jumped in to give his two cents, “And look at the Supreme Court Chief Justice. I don’t support Musharraf but for my institution I will stand by him no matter what. Musharraf was better than these politicians anyway.” My host could not hold back either and proudly announced, “I told Musharraf not to come back, he never listened to me. I told him that he should support Imran Khan, and if Khan wins the elections he would let him come back in peace.” It appeared that everyone in the room somehow knew that my host was a very close friend of General Musharraf. This was a very typical armchair talk of that establishment that had made its fortune during the Musharraf era, the ‘new money’ as they are known in Lahore, my host was one of them as well.

“So, Hussain, who do you think is likely to win the elections?” the lady inquired. My answer, I knew, was going to be received with scepticism, “The PML-N, as far as the ground research and reports suggest,” I stated. For a minute it was as if everybody went into a state of shock in the room, the silence before the storm. “But why would anybody vote them, and why can’t these stupid people be rational, and see what PML-N has done?” the lady asked. I don’t get into lengthy elections discussion and have a very straightforward answer, “Well, democracy is one man, one vote, let that party win which people think has done most work. Maybe for you the Metro Bus might be a dead project, but for thousands it isn’t. Important thing is to stick to democracy”, I sounded diplomatic to even my own ears.

“You know, this is exactly why I am based in Dubai. These idiots (the public) they have no sense who to vote. I know the PML-N is going to win as long as our nation is full of idiots”, my host explained, to which I responded, “Well, we all see one other as idiots anyway, so to each their own.” I could feel the temperature rising in a chilled air-conditioned room. The generator stopped, and the government-generated electricity lit the room once again. “Thanks for the generators, otherwise it’s so hard to live in this heat”, my host sighed as he poured his drink. “You see we have tried these old politicians, we need Imran Khan now. He is going to bring a revolutionary change in our system.” To that I didn’t respond and the night went on without any further political discussion. Everyone talked about the new country clubs in Dubai, yatchs, fine liquor, and my host also inquired the general whether he could get a smuggled Rolls Royce from Chaman, Balochistan. As the night closed everyone walked out, jumped into their Mercedes and BMW and left for their houses with their drivers, ‘idiots’ who sat outside waiting for five hours in the heat, who don’t have generator-equipped houses, whose families suffer the most out of corruption, and whose child will never study at Aitchison College, or Oxford, and yet, they don’t complain. The tragedy of Pakistan is that those who suffer the least (the elite) complain the most, compared to those who have nothing at all. The real test of Imran Khan, as I see it, is not the change that he wants to bring into the ‘system’, but the change that is needed in the elite of Pakistan to make it more responsible, corruption free, and humble.

The writer is a lecturer at the National University of Science and Technology (NUST) in Islamabad. He is also an Associate Fellow at the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation (ICSR), Kings College, London. He can be reached at hnm87@gwmail.gwu.edu