Daily Times

Gryffindor’s sword, it must be mentioned at the outset, was the most magical, potent and effective weapon wielded by Harry Potter to vanquish Voldemort, the most vicious and virulent wizard villain in this world renowned eponymous series. He was hell bent on enforcing the absolute authoritarian command of a clan of his “pure blood” coteries over the entire country and its institutions. The series set amid this strife between magical creatures is actually an allegory reflecting the real problems that blight multi-ethnic human cultures and polities.
Voldemort, as viewed in my earlier piece, ‘Harry Potter and Bilawal’ (Daily Times, October 25, 2010), in the context of countries like Pakistan, can be imagined as an embodiment of the whole caboodle of cruel, exploitative, dictatorial and retrograde forces out to impose their ruthless and obscurantist phantoms of grandeur and glory by guillotining actual human needs and aspirations. Vowed to liquidate the slightest challenge to his ambitions, he also murders Harry’s parents whose struggle evidently posed a threat to him. Bilawal, in a tragic coincidence, has not only lost his mother but also had his grandfather and both maternal uncles who were eliminated by similar forces.
Harry emerged as a symbol of struggle against Voldemort because the elder generation led by Dumbledore, the head of Harry’s alma mater, the mythical Hogwarts School of Magic, had almost lost its fight and organisation. The aging head arranges Gryffindor’s sword to be acquired by Harry as it embodied the might, magic and valour of the founder of the house to which Harry and his father belonged. This sword, similar to some other legendary analogues like King Arthur’s, St George’s and Nuada’s, had to be wrested by demonstrating requisite heroic talent, skill, strength and competitiveness. Bilawal at this critical juncture has also been forced to revive and reincarnate the magical aura, appeal and popularity of the PPP, which plummeted because its leadership had failed to fulfill popular hopes and dispel the growing adverse perception about it, propped up by relentless media onslaughts. He also, interestingly, has to secure the magical sword bequeathed by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the founder of his house, the PPP and his grandfather who, unlike mythical anecdotes, actually employed this sword as his election symbol to strike at the chains of ignorance, inequality, misery and destitution.
It epitomised his ebullience, insight and charisma to mesmerise the masses inspiring their trust in his talent, struggle and sincerity to burnish their rights, dignity and livelihood. His attributes to merge with the masses mapping and modulating their mood and enthusiasm for him with his words and gestures made the PPP a real party of the people. These attributes, unfortunately, utterly eluded Zardari, left mostly to backstage stunts and strategies. Yet the chips for any political game have to be garnered through extensive field contacts and communion with the masses. His style of shunning and avoiding the people thus plunged this party of the people into a pathetic void making it lose its vitals, verve and vigour.
Bilawal thus has to shed his insulated, hermetical and remote Dubai-based legacy to engage directly with the masses, at least at district level gatherings. However, the first prerequisite is to demonstrate that he indeed holds the party’s reins and can dispel the doubts raised about his restricted role in its affairs. Added to his burden is also the perilously paralysing and pernicious perception about Zardari’s zeal for the dough that, though never established despite his torturous exorcism through a protracted incarceration and a ruthless drive by the most pompous and ultra righteous Iftikhar Chaudhry, has nonetheless stuck and soiled the party’s image in several circles. No less stumbling for him is the senile Chief Minister (CM), inefficiency in the party and the impression about corruption swamping the Sindh government whose score in several sectors, including health and education parameters, has eclipsed behind the runnings in even Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The harrowing scenes of hunger, disease and drought, particularly in rural Sindh like Thar, the prime support bastion of his party, certainly must have been alleviated during the repeated stints of PPP rule.
Despite these daunting odds, he undoubtedly also has several really unique assets, avenues and potential as a dynamic youthful trove and trio of siblings; he can certainly strike a far better chord with the youth that now constitutes about half our 84 million voters. About 25 million of its 70 million under-15 children are out of school blighted by a bleak, unskilled and uncertain future. The plight of farm and factory workers, once the most vibrant of the PPP’s vanguards, is equally miserable as most claims about their wages, welfare and job security stimuli remain mostly confined to paper and pronouncements. The youth and labour, if properly inspired, energised and groomed for competitive global challenges and outlook can certainly spell his new strength and success. However, the most untapped, unrivalled and unbound opportunity beckoning Bilawal is the liberal, left of centre, rational, pragmatic and futuristic domain of politics in the country that his grandfather originally capitalized upon but was gradually botched and buried by the dictatorship.
The most entrenched Mian clan, the major monopolist in Punjab, and its main challenger, Imran Khan, both pedal the same right of centre concoctions. The Mians have condemned the country to a contraption of mega ostentations consisting of motorways, metros and merchandise corridors multiplying the mega burden of debt far beyond the national capacity. Khan is an even more confused crony of the mullahs, militarism and the Taliban, trumpeting piety, purity and perfection despite his quite contrasting scroll of philandering sprees. His maudlin passion for a dictator like General Zia, as evidenced in his book, his evident erstwhile allegiance to Mush and frantic fawning on the finger of another empire, are the entire enchilada of his thought and theatrics. A covert martial law meanwhile is also marching across Sindh.
To brace for this, Bilawal has reportedly initiated some study circles and certainly must have synthesised some scintillating strategy for resuscitation. However, he must not stress so excessively on the theme of sacrifices by his family and flank but focus more on the future, improved governance, regeneration and resources for wider relief and sharing. The ethnic and sectarian strife subverting the economic surge have to be swamped by spreading the Sufi traditions of tolerance and pluralism. A realistic relationship of peace and respect with neighbours by neutering the notions of interference, confrontation and provocations has to be garnered. How Bilawal achieves this remains to be seen.

The writer is an academic and freelance columnist. He can be contacted at habibpbu@yahoo.com