Daily Times

By the time this article goes into print the PML-N’s or PTI’s sweet victory would have been celebrated. These are seismic events, the tremors of which are likely to reverberate for a generation or more, potentially reshaping politics in Punjab, flagging up possible surprises in the 2018 general elections. The electorate may have surprised pollsters, politicians and pundits alike. As Nick Clegg, the former deputy Prime Minister (PM) of the UK, said in a moving resignation speech, politics is not only unpredictable; it can be “crushing and unkind”. All the more reason therefore that the required lessons are learned by winners and defeated alike.

Even after the votes have been counted and favours tallied the work of buying and selling access to Parliament House will be far from over. Such access comes with a steep price tag. No matter who will win the NA-122 by-election, what may go wrong for poor voters is not difficult to fathom. Broken promises, no constitutional reforms, not enough jobs for educational achievements and a great deal of grief for the consequences of the energy crisis and raised taxes budget after budget. The rewards for the ordinary man on the streets have been cruel. Should the opportunity arise again in the foreseeable future. — an unlikely circumstance. — most political leaders no matter which party they belong to will recoil into the same old trends again.

NA-122’s election deserved the extravagant adjectives its chroniclers have deployed. It was historic. The way it opened up for an orgy of spending by well-heeled interest groups and super rich individuals on both political sides was a spectacle. Despite the jabs the candidates volleyed at each other for the benefit of the cameras, they are a relatively friendly bunch away from the spotlight, ready to return favours, attending each other’s weddings and embracing with genuine affection.

With every election the nasty side of political parties is likely to be revealed. This includes its fixation and its admiration for wealth creators with too little regard to the fact that they are also, too often, wealth hoarders to the detriment of us all. The deepest wounds will once again be inflicted on those who are most vulnerable, on the lowest paid, the working class and the poor. Why should people with the least privileges pay the heaviest price for austerity and an absurd manipulation by opportunist politicians?

Being a voter in Pakistan is much like playing against a stacked deck: you are always going to lose. The game is rigged and the common man keeps getting dealt the same losing hand. Even so, most stay in the game, against all odds, trusting that their luck will change. The problem, of course, is that luck will not save us. The people dealing the cards. — the politicians, feudal landlords, judges, prosecutors, police, bureaucrats, the military and the media. — have only one prevailing concern and that is to maintain their power and control over the public, while milking them of their money and possessions. It really does not matter what you call the PTI, PML-N or PPP, the one percent, the elite, controllers, master politicians, opposition government, police state, military industrial complex, so long as one understands that while they are dealing the cards, the deck will always be stacked in their favour.

Incredibly, no matter how many times we see this played out, the public continues to naively buy into the idea that politics matter, as if there really were a difference between the PML-N and PTI when there is not. As if Imran Khan can prove to be any different from Nawaz Sharif, when as matter of fact he has not. As if Aleem Khan’s values are any different from those of Sardar Ayaz Sadiq; with both of them, money talks. As if when people elect a candidate, they are getting someone who truly represents the people rather than the corporate state. In fact, in the oligarchy that is the business empire, an elite group of wealthy politicians are calling the shots. Politics is a game, a mockery, a hustle, a con, a distraction, a spectacle, a business and, for many devout Pakistanis, a hope.

In other words, it has been a sophisticated ruse aimed at keeping us divided and fighting over the PTI, PPP and PML-N whose priorities are exactly the same. It is no secret that all the three parties engage in out-of-control spending, ignore the election commission’s basic rules, have no respect for the law, are bought and paid for by big business, care most about their own power and have a long record of expanding government and shrinking public benefits. Most of all, all parties enjoy an intimate, incestuous history with each other and with the moneyed elite that rule this country. The public should not be fooled by smear campaigns and name-calling. They are just useful tactics in the psychology of hate that have been proven to engage voters and increase voter turnout while keeping us at each other’s throats.

The media, of course, would be completely ineffective without a propaganda machine. Besides shoving drivel down our throats at every possible moment, the so-called news channels have become mouthpieces for the politicians. The pundits who pollute our airwaves are at best court jesters and at worst propagandists for the false reality created by political parties. Our failure to remain in illusion about what is taking place in our politics, to know and exercise our rights, to vocally protest, to demand accountability on the part of our elected representatives and at a minimum to care about the plight of broken promises has been our downfall. Now we find ourselves once again caught up in the spectacle of another election, and once again the majority is acting as if this election will make a difference and bring about change, as if the new head will be any different from the old head. How long will people be fooled since it will not mark a different kind of milestone, a major one on the road to much-needed electoral reform? It is time for an end to the majoritarian political culture that allows such distortions of the electorate’s will.

The writer is a professor of Psychiatry and consultant Forensic Psychiatrist in the UK. He can be contacted at fawad_shifa@yahoo.com