Zaheer-ud-Din Babar
“If we put our trust in the common sense of common men and ‘with malice toward none and charity for all’ go forward on the great adventure of making political, economic and social democracy a practical reality, we shall not fail.” – Henry Wallace
The current political situation for the government seems to be stable. Although the critics in the opposition parties are still vocal, they are not in a mood to comeout ontothe streets forpolitical agitation. This is good news for the common man as there shall be no hurdles in the way of life, at least for now. The bitter truth is that our political classes have still failed to facilitate the poor people. A reason why our parliament cannot play a positive role in the society is that the elected member’s interest is more important than that of the common man, consequently the sensible Pakistanis believe the parliament to be an elite club where only the powerful have any influence.
In the current scenario, TheSupreme Court’s recent decision concerning COAS’s job extension endedthe speculation which could have actually destabilized the country. However it is important to know how and when the crisis emerged. Prime Minister Imran Khan’scomments about recent developmentis that the Supreme Court’s verdict abolished all the different types of conspiracies about how the courts were under the army’s control. This resulted in some stability which the country is in dire need of. Official sources claim that the PTI government is trying its best to overcome all challenges but the problems are huge and extend well beyond the nation’s borders.
In the background ofthe Supreme Court’s verdict,sourcesclaims that the amendment inthe Army act gives chances for politicians to resolve their personal issues. Now it isan open secret that our political class have still not fulfilled their duties. A tragedy is that, due to lack of literacy, the majority of peoplehave never understood what the democratic system demands of them.
One key point is that there is a war going on between the powerful elite and common man’s interests. In this war, the elite include not only the politicians, but also the businessmen, feudal lords and the bureaucracy.They are all united in their aim to safeguard their interests. Unless the majority of the Pakistanis come forward to protect their interests, the elite are very likely to win.
It is appreciable that, in Pakistan,the majority of people believe that, sooner or later, Pakistan willovercome all the challenges. However, an overlooked fact which every student of history is aware of is that benefits of democratic system are not easy to reap. As a nation we must understand that the majority of people’s problems are not easy to settle and solve. They can become easy if and only if the majority of the people gradually develop amature and rational way of thinking. One point of view is that our media is still not playing their constructive role. Media persons frequently focus on political developments but, sadly, ignore the important public issues. Here the question arises that how and when will the media change his priorities. Nowadays, social media has started to prove its importance. Social media users can easily express their point of view and can challenge the powerful lobbies which otherwise would have remained untouchable by the common man. The print and electronic media’s contribution are not ignorable but we all know that mediais slowly becoming abusiness. This is why, in the developing/undeveloped countries, some portion of the media offers their services to the powerful lobbies in return for funding.
