Death is the ultimate reality of human life. No matter how powerful or healthy a human being is, everyone gets a taste of the bitterness of death. As old age approaches, senility sets in. The average age of a person in Pakistan is 60 years old.
These political leaders will not be as active after 10 or 15 years as they are today. With this in mind, concerns about the political future in Pakistan arise.
Preparing the next generation of politicians in Pakistanis imperative. At the moment, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari is leading the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP). He is 29 years old. Nawaz Sharif’s daughter, Maryam Nawaz, is 44 years old. Shahbaz Sharif’s son, Hamza Shahbaz, is 43 years old.
There are currently no political heirs for Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) chairman Imran Khan on the horizon.
On the whole, political parties have not been able to produce a new political generation. Pakistani political parties, with some exceptions, are marked by hereditary politics and a lack of meritocracy. The main reasons behind this include the cultural trends of politicians to stay stuck to politics and power until their last breath.
In 1974, the students’ union ordinance was introduced in Pakistan. Students’ unions had existed in educational institutions before this. On February 9, 1984, during Zia’s rule, a ban was imposed on students’ unions in educational institutions. Since then, no government has taken an interest in getting rid of this-this unjust ban.
The absence of students’ unions has given space to ethnic and extremist organisations to take root in educational institutions. Due to this, the schism between students on the basis of ethnicity and linguistics is widening.
Politicians need to stop thinking about consolidating their own power and start thinking about the democratic future of the country. They need to take steps to create political awareness in the youth of the country. The first step of this is to invest in the future by reinstating students’ unions.