The July 2010 monsoon left Pakistan with a great impact, making thousands its target and rendering millions homeless. According to the United Nations, the 2010 flood in Pakistan was more catastrophic than the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, the 2005 Kashmir earthquake and the 2010 Haiti earthquake combined. The country was thrown into a sudden urgency. People started setting up aid camps, donation started pouring in banks from all over the world, and celebrities, to show good will, visited affected areas. Some even stepped up to raise donations in the form of charity concerts. There were some international celebrities and media outlets involved too. Meanwhile, the student force of Pakistan raised its own money for the victims in their respective universities, schools, or even by standing by the road and helping box all the contributed goods.
Everyone was doing something, but not everybody trusted the government. Mostly people preferred the private sectors or going giving donations with their own hands. The trust issues had their roots in media news, which showed the Prime Minister ‘showing off’ his contributions to the flood victims but then packing it up when the news was aired, the NYSE fiasco in which Pakistan’s government wasted crucial air time for appealing, empty promises by politicians for hefty checks which never arrived – plainly showing that the government didn’t take effective measures to lessen the damage. The nation decided to help their brothers on their own instead of giving whatever they could and finding it in someone’s bank account.
The seed of distrust was sown a while back when Pakistan’s economy was spiraling down in an endless abyss and civil disobedience became a norm. Everyone’s ‘political analysis’ and ‘Future-of-Pakistan’ coffee table talks were sprinkled with colorful vocabulary with the blame game shifting from government officials, politicians, assembly body, judiciary and elected parties. The gossip criticism and complaints only passed along in hushed whispers. After the flood hit Pakistan, people vocally and publicly started questioning the government by setting up private channels for collecting contribution stands. However, with the tragic death of the Mughees and Munib in Sialkot, something snapped in every Pakistani. Every Pakistani died a little that day. The angst came out with a full blow – we want a change and we want it now.
Sixty-two years of building the dream has left most Pakistanis questioning the idea of a true leadership. Nobody could fill Jinnah’s steps effectively and like an orphan child being passed from one relative to another, Pakistan’s office of leadership has been and still is being tossed around in the hands of few families. A few even pray for a military coup to take place, claiming that martial law is far better than this administered democracy. The whole nation is questioning Pakistan’s future: Will corruption ever end? When will judiciary stand without influence? When will civil disobedience, riots, chaos, bombing and target-killing end? Would anybody take notice of what we are leaving for our generations to come? Would anybody stand up and lead this country out of pandemonium? And if so, who?
In a nutshell, Pakistan needs a true leader. This could be done two ways. One way is if a strong party with dedicated principle contest the 2013 elections; a second is we have the chapter in history titled ‘Nawaz-Musharraf’ repeated with a military coup taking place and throwing over the current government. Since nobody wants anything to do with the current government, people are venturing out to support other parties. Pervez Musharraf’s return to politics without a uniform has taken in many countrymen with surprise. Most of his supporters comprise of elite funding class and the middle urban educated class. By doing simple mathematics one can say the country indeed ‘prospered’ in Musharraf’s time. The economy was afloat, and corruption was minimized. The press enjoyed powers of freedom they had never been allowed before. Mega projects had started, and the IT industry valued $2 billion and the telecommunication sector lured $10 million investments. The Karachi Stock Exchanged reached 15000 points. Literacy and education plans improved. Universities and industrial parks were laid out. A lot other unaccountable deeds are in Musharraf’s list; now with an interesting ‘awamidictorial’ style of campaigning for elections, he is becoming one of the favorites. Still, some think he is throwing tantrums by calling A.Q. Khan ‘characterless’ and Nawaz Shareef ‘brainless’ as well as not projecting the manifesto for his political party.
Another strong contender is Imran Khan. With his legacy of 1992 World Cup he already is a hero to the nation. He contributed enormously in the time of flood, and his educational projects and charity work are praiseworthy; surely his foundation was laid with the ShaukatKhanum Cancer Hospital. His party Tahreek-e-Insaf motto is ‘bringing justice.’ Imran Khan wants the judiciary to be free. His cohort comprises of a major chunk of youth, either because he is comparatively young, urbane and has a legendry charisma when it comes to being a country’s hero, or he is a commendable candidate – one doesn’t seem to know. However, the older men of nation think he is too rich to know our ways and too sophisticated to lead a country out of doom’s brink.
Both of these candidates are educated men – and the country has had its enough shares of fools. Now things need to change for the good. Pakistan needs a leader with a sense of honor and pride – a man from among us. A man who is dedicated to the country and its people. No matter one what says two things are crystal clear: nobody trusts the present government and indeed Pakistan is on the verge of a revolution.
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