I recently saw a clip of Mr Khawaja Saad Rafiq delivering a speech in the National Assembly of Pakistan. While the speech might have been old, that he delivered a very mature, powerful speech is still pertinent to today’s political discussion. During his speech, he mentioned that if the Marshal Law of Zia ul Haq was unable to finish the Pakistan People’s Party, no one could defeat this political entity. He remembered the day of the return of Shaheed Rani Benazir Bhutto– April 10, 1986. He has always been (and still is) a political opponent of PPP right from the first day of his political career but I want to acknowledge one instance of his political learning. During the election campaign in the year 2002, he always talked very respectfully about my beloved father, despite him being his opponent in the same constituency. I was campaigning on behalf of my father, as he was in jail, serving time for some fake cases filed by the NAB because of the political victimization by the regime of General Pervaiz Musharraf, pressurising him to leave Benazir Bhutto and join King’s party. When I got to know about the respectful words that Khawaja Sahib had used for my father, I started reciprocating the same respect for him too (exactly as my father told me). He always taught me to campaign while sharing respect, patience and tolerance in politics and life. This is the culture we have to set in life and politics, which is the need of the hour.
The arrival of Bibi was a surprise for many and a shock for millions. Countless people had gathered to receive Shaheed Rani Benazir Bhutto, which surprised her too as at that point, no one could gauge the temperament of the people around the country. It was my father, Dr Jehangir Bader, who had travelled around the country from city to city, village to village, and every nook and corner of Pakistan. He could sense what the people wanted. The people wanted hope and change for the betterment of their lives. For their future, they could see some hope in Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto. She did not disappoint the people. In fact, she picked up sincere people from the middle-class and lower classes, except for a few from the feudal class, to help and support her as her team members. In turn, she created many new leaders across the country who later became members of the parliament. Most of the leaders stood by her till her last and some ditched her during her life while others, after her life.
Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto picked up sincere people from the middle-class and lower classes as her team members and in turn, created many new leaders.
On account of the performance of the previous governments, I am not saying none of them has done any good work during their tenures. Still, people at large, due to several reasons, have gotten tired of this system. Four years ago, the people of Pakistan wanted a change in the system and saw hope in Mr Imran Khan as he had set high expectations in their minds. After listening to him, every person felt that he was, indeed that hope Pakistan desperately needed. Unfortunately, with his theoretical dialogues, he jumped on the screen without doing any homework or preparation. This seemed unavoidable as the beloved leader had not spent a single day in any administration or management. The contradictions between his words and the confusion of his thoughts can be compared with his speeches before and after getting power. His theory is very impressive but he had no idea where the world is heading practically. People, therefore, have the right to disagree with me on my analysis but the ground reality is not known to every person who is only watching the news on media. Like it or not, the media only broadcasts what they want to show people to control their mindset. That’s what they have done in the minds of the people as they set high expectations for Mr Khan before he came into the government. He would make everything right like a magician, they had proclaimed. The ground reality is different. People were not interested in most of the things done by the last government because they had no concern with the increase or decrease of interest rate by the State Bank of Pakistan. When they came into power, they could not share their long-term vision for Pakistan. They acted like managers to carry forward the old business. None of them appeared like a true leader who could feel the pain or knew how to look for solutions to the inherent problems. Raising slogans for bringing about a change and advertising that theory is a very easy task. People want to see a better and positive Pakistan where businesses can flourish and people have peace of mind in their life.
Today’s ground reality is very different. It is a decisive moment in Pakistan to set the direction for the future. It is high time now for all stakeholders and shareholders, including think tanks, decision-makers, establishment, nationalists, strategists, visionaries and people who love and care for Pakistan to come forward and take a stand. The world is changing from uni-polar to multi-polar, uni-dimension to multi-dimension, shareholders to stakeholders. There are two kinds of people in this world now: one who know the future direction where the world is heading and the second who have no idea what is happening in this world. Unfortunately, few fake leaders of the days gone by had no idea what is happening in the global village and how we could prepare ourselves for the future. The future of healthcare and education has transformed with many added values. The future world is of robotics and artificial intelligence.
The writer is a litigation, corporate and human rights lawyer, a political activist and former Vice-Chairman (SAARC Young Entrepreneur Forum).