Daily Times

It is election time in the USA. It may soon be election time in Pakistan. The elections in the USA are fixed on some dates and there is no speculation. In the USA a term finishes at the scheduled time and a new government takes over in the following January. We are different in Pakistan as far as the schedule is concerned. It is very flexible, unpredictable and sometimes even nonexistent here. The voting for the US election takes place in the first week of November every time and the president takes over in January. It is a system with little speculation about it; the speculations are limited to the contestants, not the system.

In Pakistan, everything is a guessing game. Recently Manzoor Wassan made an announcement of the ‘schedule’ of elections for the National Assembly in 2013. He announced that the existing assemblies would be dissolved on January 18, 2013 and the elections would take place on April 4, 2013. Wassan’s schedule could be a ‘feeler’. It is coated with the ‘good news’ of the election but loaded in favour of the PPP as April 4 is a date when emotional voters think of late Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. The feeler is intended to assess the reaction from other political parties. If there is none then it will work for the PPP.

Why do we not take a step to get rid of the speculation about the election dates? We should consider the dates of the previous election schedule for this time as well. The new assembly was in place in March and it is very suitable as a month of the Pakistan Resolution. In any case, an announcement should be formally made by the authorities empowered by the constitution, not by individuals.

In the USA, there has been practically a two-party system forever. The people have seen the two parties, the Democrats and the Republicans, at times very close to each other’s agenda, and whenever this has happened, the country has progressed and the working relationships have been good. In recent times, President Clinton’s governance brought well being to the nation. As the agendas and attitudes of the parties drift apart, problems appear and the people suffer. This particularly happens when the worldwide policy changes from ‘deterrence’ to aggressive proactive action. The policy of deterrence avoided wars with the Soviet Union and wars between Pakistan and India. The policy of aggression involved wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere. Basically, Democrats are inclined towards a policy of deterrence but the Republicans like more aggressive solutions and one heard words like ‘Crusades’ from the Republican president from Texas. Reacting to 9/11’s destruction in which some 3,000 people died, the effort to avoid the recurrence of such a tragedy has seen over 50,000 dead bodies in the ‘war on terror’. The wars initiated by the Republican Party were inherited by Obama. So in the current political scenario he is being blamed for not having achieved much. The Obama administration has been practically incapacitated by the fallout and debris of the previous policies. In the interests of the people of the US, it will be helpful and even healing if there is greater understanding between the two parties and they design policies for the common people and not just influence groups. Pakistani politicians have made people suffer ruthlessly, favouring the influential, with the result of the downfall of the country. It is time that the USA stops imitating the third world! It started with the suspect election victory of Bush. If the trend continues, the USA will keep going downwards because the politicians and their parties have not succeeded in keeping national interest above party or personal interest in many cases.

The Democrats will be content with nominating the current team headed by Obama while the Republicans have nominated Romney as their candidate. Romney is a multimillionaire, accused of not paying his taxes correctly, and keeping his wealth in off-shore islands. This sounds familiar to Pakistanis as something common with their political big wigs. Romney’s wife Ann and Romney’s running mate Paul Rayan are very vocal and popular in their party. Romney will rely very heavily on these two. Republicans are accusing the Obama administration of non-performance and for not being able to keep their promises. This again sounds familiar in Pakistan’s context. Obama’s defence is that he inherited two wars and a high level of inflation and borrowing. Pakistani politicians are also blaming the previous government for getting a poor inheritance. It seems like a blind imitation by Pakistanis. While Obama actually inherited huge problems, Pakistani politicians got the country in a good condition economically as well as with over 19.000 megawatts electricity potential. Obama’s performance falling short can be understood because of inheritance but Pakistani politicians’ failure can only be understood due to incompetence, corruption and poor governance.

As I watched the Republican Convention, it seemed that there is only a faint hope of the two parties rising above themselves and operating for the betterment of the people. Republicans openly support the rich, and believe that the private sector can solve all problems. The Democrats are traditionally known as the friends of the middle class and the poor and therefore they support state help. This is interpreted by some extremists as communistic credentials of the Democrats. Nothing new, this happens everywhere.

All countries have the very rich, the rich, the middle classes, the poor and the weak. The state needs to look after all of them. The law-abiding rich are a great asset, others can be turned into national assets with long term policies. The US is likely to be better off giving Obama another term. Four years are not enough to clear the mess he inherited. The next four years may see the country taking a turn towards improvement. The situation in the US can be redeemed. But it is difficult to make this statement for Pakistan. Pakistan needs a major change to get back on track.

The writer is a former DG Pakistan National Council of the Arts, Secretary Arts Council Alhamra, COO of ICTV US, Chairperson Fruit Processing Industries, Chairperson Export Promotion Committee, head of several business delegations to European countries, specialist in arts management and cultural diplomacy. He is an expert callishtenist, dramatist, researcher, and the author of 8,000 years of the People of Indus Valley. Presently, he is the Central Vice- President APML and General Secretary, Punjab APML