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 Once a year, on the night of 31st of December, at the stroke of midnight, we say good-bye to the old year and toast in the New Year, with the hope and a prayer that the new year will herald a better tomorrow and will not be the same ‘out with the old, in with the old year’.
Unfortunately, each New Year that we have toasted in, has not been any better, if not worse, then the previous year and this vicious cycle has been repeating itself for the last six decades.
We have the same scenario at the time of our National Elections. We cast our votes with a hope and a prayer that it will not be in with the old, but in with a new government that will bring change. But sadly, we have always ended up with the same dishonest governments, with the same old corrupt and discredited parliamentarians.
The battle lines to win the coveted Election 2013 Cup have been clearly drawn, with each party promising a change and a bettertomorrow for the country and its teeming millions.
In the past, the race to win the Cup had always been between the two long time rivals, PPP and the PML-N. But now, the appearance of PTI in the race as a strong challenger has completely changed the country’s electoral scene, because an outsider is now challenging the domination of the two powerful, established parties and the fight has gone right down to the wire.
However, the crippling fall of Imran Khan from a 30 foot stage, has given him an added advantage. It could have ended his ambition to CHANGE the destiny of this Nation, but Allah had been kind and his Bollywood type emotional message from the hospital, urging voters to ‘Vote for party and ideology and not individuals’, had given his election campaign a great boost, as it was Headline and Breaking News in the electronic and print media all over the world.
This message was then followed up by a short appeal to a mammoth crowd, through VDO-link from his SKMH hospital bed, on the last day of his election campaign, which over shadowed all the campaigns of the last three months.
During past election campaigns, PPP used to be the front runner and the hot favorite, but because of its incompetence and bad track record for the last five years, it has lost its popularity, as Ali Baba and his Forty Thieves of corrupt and deceitful ‘self above all’ lotas, chamchas, turncoats and horse traders have brazenly looted the country.
Now, without a credible leader to steer its election campaign, it was forced to make its bid for the Cup through the electronic and print media, showing clips of its past Shaheed leaders and loud patriotic songs and slogans. There was no charismatic leader to rouse the electorate and a reluctant young Bilawal Bhutto, who seems to be a genteel person by nature, was brought into the act and was seen hollering in the style of his past leaders, “Khoon Chahiey, khoon deingey hum”. ” Sar chahiey, sar deingey hum”, “Jaan chahiey, jaan deingey hum”. However, sadly, he was not allowed to lead the party election campaign, for fear of threats to his life and instead, delivered his message through a VDO link from Dubai and did not even bother to vote. Obviously, what was sauce for the goose was not sauce for the gander. Even the foreign media predicts that PPP has met its Waterloo and will lose its power in the elections, and the Arrow, once a proud symbol of PPP, has ended up as a Broken Arrow, breaking the hearts of many true and loyal jialas of the party. By the time this ST article is printed, the much heralded Fair, Free and Transparent, ‘Mother of all Elections’ will be over and Judgment Day would have come and gone and the ‘Beloved Awam’ would have given its Hallmark Judgment. The results of theelection will also mark, that the first time a democratically elected government in the country has been succeeded by another.
Will The Judgment of the people be the end game of PPP and will the roar of the Punjab Tiger be silenced and swept into the Arabian Ocean by the PTI’s tsunami or will it be the other way around, will only be clear in the next 24 hour?
Unfortunately, in Pakistan, once the politicians are elected into government, the “authority and trust” vested in them by the people is quickly transformed into “power”, which is then shamelessly misused and abused by them.
However, in the end, let us not forget the ‘Power of One’, raised by Shaheen Sehbai in his article in the News dated 9th May, (http://www.thenews.com.pk/
In other words, our Accidental President, with his POWER of PERSUASION, might still be calling the shots at the end of the day and we might still end up with the same old discredited parliamentarians in our Assemblies. And if that happens, then Gen. Musharraf’s last words to the Nation, ‘Pakistan Ka Kudahafix’, may well become a reality.
For the record, I too, together with a few friends, could not vote, as the gates of Defence Model School, Ph. IV, (Constituency No. 250 – Silsila No. 22) were closed, as the ballot boxes had not reached the voting station. Even Dr. Arif Alavi of PTI, who arrived later, failed to convince the LEA to open the gates.
There are also widespread reports of rigging and mismanagement by ECP in Sindh and Punjab. Therefore it is the moral duty of Fakhru Bhai and his ECP team, who had promised us Free, Fair and Transparent elections, to have the courage to apologize to the nation, for failing to perform their duties.
ECP must also announce a new date for polling in areas where rigging has been reported and investigate as to who were responsible for the fiasco and expose and punish them.
The Chairman, ECP should then put his house in order, so that in future such incidents do not occur and then, as an honorable man, resign.
Hamid Maker. (email: [email protected]). |
