As much as I would have liked
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf to win, that was not to be, well, well, it is still not
too bad. At least we are seeing the back of the People’s Party at the centre,
which is no mean achievement and I must offer my congratulations, though
admittedly not exactly from the bottom of my heart, as they say it, to Mian
Mohammed Nawaz Sharif and his team for making an achievement that seemed
unlikely.
On second thoughts, I see at least one advantage in that. Well, having had
experience of running both the federal and provincial governments, PML-N won’t
waste much time, and resources, in trial-and-error and will get down to the
serious business of forming and running the government, hopefully for the
benefit of the people who, getting raw deal from the rulers all this time, are
now at the end of their tether, and definitely desire and deserve a lot better.
Having attained its objective, I hope PML-N will act in a gracious manner and
will also accept and respect the mandate of other parties, and deal with them in
a peaceful and reconciliatory manner, and not that of revenge and
score-settling. I am confident of this because PML-N has shown fair degree of
maturity, one reason for which is its having the same old leadership for a long
span, as against Peoples Party which had ‘accidental’ leaders who rose to fame
over-night and yet others who had to go through a name-change process to
establish their credentials.
For the fact that it participated in the elections for the first time, Pakistan
Tehreek-e-Insaf did not do too bad either. In a decent move, it has conceded its
defeat at the national level and has congratulated Mian Mohammed Nawaz Sharif on
his spectacular success. PTI has expressed a desire to form government in
Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, where it has secured majority votes. In a way, it landed the
most important job, and if it can establish law and order in the most volatile
province, it would be a great service to the whole of Pakistan, and a big relief
to all of us.
Let us hope other parties also demonstrate the sporting spirit which PTI has
displayed and accept the election results, even if these did not turn out in
their favor. It is definitely time to be positive and move on in a spirit of
reconciliation instead of being mean and vindictive, which has been our
tradition in the past.
Nawaz Sharif expressed a wish on the election night for his party to attain
overall majority in the National Assembly so that his party does not have to
take in coalition partners which would have diluted its power, slowing down and
adversely affecting its decision-making process.
Looks like his wish has been granted so he would now have no excuse in not
moving fast enough on various fronts where lot of developmental work has to be
done. We are in an absolute mess from which we need to get out, and soon. Let us
hope Nawaz Sharif and his team stop the rot, and move on from there.
Being an optimist, I see a better Pakistan emerging. I hope our leaders will
spare the suffering masses the misery which had been their fate during the last
five years, and even before.
At some stage, our leaders have got to develop a quality to lead, instead of
spending their time, and country’s resources, purely on pursuing their personal
interests and rivalries. Just remember, Dr. Tahir-ul-Qadri is around and not too
happy with the situation. If the situation gets any worse, it would provide an
enabling atmosphere for Dr. Qadri to arrange mass protests which could develop
in to a movement that could smash every thing coming in its way. We have seen
the trailer. Let us hope the need does not arise to play the full film.