The Politics of personalities
The politics of personalities has been the bane of Pakistan. The political parties and the workers do dish out a manifesto come election time but the masses remain willfully ignorant.
If you ask any party worker about what his party stand for from A to Z they will be reciting like a parrot all about democracy and rights. But do ask them what do they mean and how would they implement it and you will get blank stares from them. If pressed they will then go on spouting the virtues of their respective dear leaders and how they will be doing the job done. This is the party worker we are talking about when it comes to general public the situation is worst. Most have no clue what is manifesto or how the leader they like will go on implementing and delivering all the promises he/she had made to them. The voting junta goes to polls and cast their votes depending on which person they like. We as a nation are unable to look beyond personalities and look at policies. All nations who get stuck in this mode can never progress. By unable to have a rational policy debate what we get is irrational emotional personalities debate. Make no mistake that suit the Politicians just right. The more vulnerable and ignorant the masses are the greater the opportunity for the crook politicians to cheat them.
Take the example of PPP, beyond dispute the largest party of Pakistan. The party founder Late Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto made the party with genuine intellectuals and had talent inside the party. Yet Mr. Bhutto, who many thinks as the greatest leader Pakistan ever had, showed, put aside his own manifesto when he got the power. Instead of delivering let alone implementing his party manifesto, he went to dismantle and amend the constitution that he himself had proposed. If that wasn’t enough, though it was clear that PPP under Bhutto will easily be able to win the reelection the ego of the great leader couldn’t even stand the thought of someone contesting the elections from same riding. It is known fact that despite the PNA and their hullaballoo, the masses genuinely liked Bhutto sahib and he would have won the elections. But he chooses the way of corruption and paid the price. Yet 30 years after his dead his party keeps using his name to get the votes. Over and over after the death of Bhutto the party used his name to gain sympathy and loyalty. The masses didn’t care what was the party manifesto or how would the party improve their life it was enough for them that Bhutto name was chanted and a Bhutto was leading the party. Almost two years after the death of Bhutto all criticism against party’s performance is answered by reminding the people of “qurabni” given by PPP for democracy. That Bhutto sahib gave voice to the masses, and Benazir Bhutto genuinely cared is not the point, a leader who can’t deliver, has simply failed. A political party, which has come into power 4th time and have only to show the dead leaders simply don’t deserve the votes. The tragedy of both ZAB and Bibi was that they never developed alternate leadership. They treated party as an inheritance simply to be passed to next generation. I used PPP as an example because it is the largest party with presence in all provinces. But believe you me no party is innocent of this behavior, take Pakistan Muslim League (Noon) whose leader ego is such that he had to have NOON added in a part to make it obvious to all sundry who is the boss and whom the party actually belong. That the family treats the PM and CM seats as a division of inheritance between brothers speak volumes about the party and the leaders.
That the political class is incompetent and fools is a given but masses, the voting junta is perhaps the most at fault here. After all, fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me. How many times we get fooled over and over again and we do it willingly, all because we have made ourselves prisoners of a personality worship. Our dear leader might be a moron but we will follow him, because he is our leader. We are willing to lay our lives and kill the opponent for our leader. We refuse, we become summon, bukmun, umyun when someone criticize the dear leader or party. We refuse to even listen and ponder if criticism has merit. We applaud and do naarey bazi when our leaders talk of democracy, yet we don’t ask why the party don’t held elections for its own members and leadership. We the sheep go and vote any tom, dick and harry whom the party nominate at election time, despite knowing fully well what a corrupt person that he/she is. We are bitterly divided in camps and worst these are not camps based on ideology but based of personality.
Our leaders can only tell us the stories of past at what and how they were mistreated without giving us a clear cut path for future. They are only good at showing us how good they are and how good their government was compare to the opponents. Do I really care that Bhutto was in Aye cabinet or that Naas was the prodigy of Zia. We ourselves have to fix this system and don’t look at so called leaders to fix it as they are incapable of moving forward, they love living in past and it suits them. We have to be rational and put emotion aside. One can like Bhutto and at same time criticize the party. We have to rise above the personality politics if we want to progress. No longer should we just vote because the candidate belongs to a certain party. We should vote on the candidate who we think is best. Make political parties to have elections inside them and nominate candidate not on the account that they gave most money to party but the one nominated by the constituency. Then and only then we can move forward.
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Starring our beloved President Mr. 100% llol
admi Give me a f****ing break!
some pearls I gathered in the first few paragraphs before my nausea set in!
“………..PPP, beyond dispute the largest party of Pakistan.” (90 seats on a sympathy vote at the peak of it’s popularity. Before you retort was it 18 seats in 1997. I agree a substantial improvement!)
” …… Mr. Bhutto, who many thinks as the greatest leader Pakistan ever had” (Idhar Ham Odhar Tum! Democracy in action?)
“……..the masses genuinely liked Bhutto sahib and he would have won the elections” (What have you been smoking mate!)
“…..The tragedy of both ZAB and Bibi was that they never developed alternate leadership” ( So what is Zardari and poor little kitten…..)
“…..he had to have NOON .” (Do you really believe that????!!!! You obviously don’t know the origin of Noon / Remember PML J (Junejo) PML N (Nawaz)!!!!!!)
Research and Memory!!! Two key ingredients!
@tauekeer
come on, ppp even after bb death got 37% of votes, like it or not we do have large segment of population who liked BB and ZAB.
Aur line cut gai and aur Martial law aagaya one by PPP and one by JI both admit that Bhutto would have won 77 election abeit with less majority and massses do like Bhutto even PML –N singss his praisses its called conditioning of masses throiugh complete positive coverage of massses while same time showing how all problems start with zia .
Alternate leadership wasn’t zardari, remember it was amin fahim leading the PPP in parliment.
@Taukeer
After reading your above post I feel that you are no different than those insecure establishment guys who tried their best to undermine Bhutto sahab even after his death. After Hameed Gul’s recent confessions of how and why the IJI was formed, the debate on PPP’s reduced popularity in previous polls must become null and void. HG said ‘we had to stop ppp from getting a landslide victory.
I suggest that we should start a seperate debate on “Idhar hum idhar tum” issue. Admin please start a new thread and discuss the fall of Dhaka in detail.
@pak.nukes\
might be as mentioned that Bhutto never said idhar hum idhar tum but he was as much responsible 4 fall of decca as all others. All the culprits are dead why stir something that was bound to happen. Bengalis didn’t want to be part of Pak thats 1st and last thing everything else is irrelevant
@afzaalkhan
Bhutto sahab definitely said it but why and in which scenario is never mentioned. Iss qaum ka problem hai ilfaz k peechay bhagna. I remember in 1988 government, one of the ppp members said (I think it was Iftikhar Gillani) that Army is Pakistan’s watch dog. The amazing ISI sponsored IJI so ccalled leaders made such a hue and cry about it ‘fauj ko kutta keh diya PPP ney” etc etc..so please dushmani mein itnay undhay na ho jao k facts hazy nazar anay lagain.
@pak.nukees
comeon thats legitimate politics just likee kaliya saying creation of pak biggest blunder lol
@Afzaal
I don’t think the two statements are comparable.
What AH said is a fact, but to say PAK Army is a “watch dog” is another case of word play, but I must say that one should be cautious, when foreign way of expressing is used. To be compared to a dog in a Western country is not as condescending as in Muslim countries.
Altaf Hussain jaisay traitor ko tau hum sur per bithatay hain per jis shakhs ney iss mulk ko nuclear power bunaya uska ehsan nahi mantay…we deserve people like Zardari.
the debate above by all of us illusstrate admin’s article pooint, we stuck on personalitiees lol
@Nukes
“……..I feel that you are no different than those insecure establishment bastards who tried their best to undermine Bhutto sahab…..”
Just three things in my “defense”
1. I am a skeptic and I don’t apologize for that.
2. Bhutto was the establishment’s blue eyed boy! Proof? Revolutionaries are not “backed” in Oxford or Harvard. And usually don’t come from the ruling classes. (You are welcome to find me an example and I will eat my shoe!!!!)
3. A true leader of the masses would have treated the entire nation as his own and wont have groomed his daughter as his successor. Please spare me the hard luck “halat ka takaza” you know what!
Why should you apologize – especially in PAK politics it’s a MUST to be skeptical
Most probably you are right, but I don’t think anybody said he was revolutionary or did I miss something.
You are right! There should be no automatic selection of anybody just because of relations! BUT is it different from Butt Brothers? Are they not promoting their own biraderi foremost and are they not ensuring the next in line i.e. The son of the “great administrator” is seen with important people on important occasions?
Bhutto sahab was establishments blue eyed boy? Excellent.
I hope you know/remember/have read the background after Pakistan broke. Yahya was not ready to leave like all other military dictators. There was rebellion within the army,it was on the verge of breaking. General Gul Hassan and likeminded generals forced Yahya to resign and Mr.Bhutto was called from Rome to take control as he was the ONLY potential leader who had masses behind him. If this is what you call the establishment’s sponsorship then I do not agree with this moreover all of us know that nothing in Pakistan can happen without establishment’s consent because they think only they care for the country.
How many of our leaders sitting in power have the courage to go in a Security Council session and spank USA on its face? I am afraid none including BB. IK does show this potential but he has to prove himself when in power (if ever).
Taukeer history cannot be distorted according to how a certain clique in and outside Pakistan wants it to be. Facts are facts and judge them with your own mind independent of your personal likes and dislikes. Afzaal is an ardent supporter of Zia-ul-Haq but he admits Bhutto sahab’s greatness. No one is infallible so wasn’t Mr. Bhutto but he made us a nuclear nation and because of that we still have our claim on Kashmir and keeping India in their auqat.
@taukeer
Makhdoom javed hashmi
a living example of revolutionary from the elites lol.
he,he,,he Yes JH is a “revolutionary” working behind another fabrication of the establishment…lol.
How abt IK he is surely one of the eites lol
Is he a revolutionary?
I think he is more like a reformist.
Elite: At least he has not much support from the elite since they will “suffer” if his reforms/ideas are implemented.
Forgot the usual IJI storyline. Surely Army guys being such astute managers of Public opinion they could walk on water!! (Remember how they managed public opinion about Fall of Dhaka, Bhutto’s hanging, Siyacheen, Kargil, Their advice to the Govt. in 1998 before the nuclear explosions, Sawat operation, Lal Masjid, Emergency, Drone attacks, “Phir” Sawat Operation. and the list could go on.)
BTW just for the record there was no IJI in 1997 elections.
Taukeer IJI was non-entity, the real entity behind it was ISI so it does not matter what the name was it could be IJI or PMLN or PMLQ. PPP had to be stopped no matter what.
@Observer
PPP & Bhutto claimed to be revolutionary. If you din’t hear that then….
I don’t hold brief for “Butts” etc. Infact one of my main objections to PML-N has been SS role.
@Afzal I admit to having a soft corner for JH! And he proved his metal by choosing to go to jail and I will forever respect him for that.
@Taukeer
“PPP & Bhutto claimed to be revolutionary. If you din’t hear that then….”
I agree, but I was referring to pak.nukes. I didn’t see any such claim from her. Better to let pak.nukes clarify her stand.
“I don’t hold brief for “Butts” etc. Infact one of my main objections to PML-N has been SS role.”
You choose to see the brothers as individuals in this regard, but isn’t it a fact that they do almost everything in a close interaction with each other? They are two sides of the same khotta sikka
Jinnah, iqbal, maududui sahib, syed qutb-ud-din shaheed and the list gon on elites who were revolutionries. The point is elites can produce revolutionaries.
But we digress as usual, i think so far the dicussion has proved the point of article i,e we r stuck in politics of personalities
IK is not an elite. He is from the middle class and this is the class that breeds revolutionaries.
There is a very good reason for that. This class of people have the exposure, knowledge and intellectual capacity to have the organisational skills necessary for a revolution. They usually could afford to dream of a better society.
@Observer AS I mentioned earlier one of my main objections to PMLN has been the role of SS. Not out of some personal grudge but that makes NS fall below my standard for a National leader.
@Afzal I dont know what your definition of elite is but all those guys were from upper middle class. Jinnah Sahib earned his living as a professional. Yes Liaqut Ali Khan was an elite. And guess what he, he was not a revolutionary. He could not take the risk of going to Moscow. Kinda proves my point.
The issue of being stuck on personalities is not a unique Pakistani phenomenon. It happens in the west as well. Look how Obama was able to charm his way into whitehouse. Tony Blair was the same and the Tory guy I “forget” the name of will do the same in the next election in the UK. No one will be talking about say the health policy and how it will effect the common man. They will be talking about sound bites and personalities. It is just having the right personality and an opportune time a kind of “Good Luck” factor.
And our politicians continue to plunder Pakistan. Now dun get me wrong with food security a genuine interest its ok to lease land to arab countries, but on basis of partnership, will the produce will be available to pakistanis or we will just toil in the field and prepare the food for our arab lords? What does Pakistan get from it. How abt we ourselves do the farming and then sell the product we can lock the prices and do long term bussiness deal wouldn’t that be better instead of leasing our lands? Once again Govt goes on and does a major policy change without discussing in parliment or creating a mafahimat policy, but when its something for the benefit of Pak or rule of law we need all aboard and all consensus. Bet u NS n SS won’t be raising this issue.
Pakistan decides to lend 700,000 acres farmland to Arab states
@nota
I guess zardari has beeen advissed to kill NS they gotta tow the Saudi line, no wonder RM was given special access to King. Mssg being sir ji, hum bhi to parey hain rahoon main, we can do same thing and more just give us chance lol
btw left a mssg 4 u in members views post oh yee traitor
qts is meri jaan idhar bhi aayaa kjaroo kabhi kabhi
i mean site ke liye kuch likho na
am thinkng we should have atleast 2 artices a week. Wat u guys think
@tauqeer
I have no problem with personalities, they are must everyone need a leader and leaders change the socities. Wat my objection is being stuck with personality. U gave exampe of Obama or Tony they both came and won thier party leadership, tony blair move on and now labor party has new leader obama will be gone after 4 or 8 yeatrs and there will be new leader, leader are imp but the policy is paramount, the ideology should be 1st. When Tony Blair became Bush poddle he lost the credibility and his numbers tanked but the labor party ideology give them seats, the leader can be removed, while in Pakistan if u disagree with leader ur out of the party and then we have new party with new leader. I hope I have clarified.
Just our politician don’t like an honorable exit as a leader. But I can assure you in the west no one discusses policy when voting except maybe at a subconscious level.
@tauqeer
they might not but they will vote on party basis once again the party thats they agreee most on ideological level. 9/11 post eleections are abberations. Remember gore did get more votees then bush in 1st election.
@pak.nukes
Bhutto sahib was part of estabishment, after all wasn’t NS that calleed Ayub daddy lol. Come come now. And the so called UN Speech I can make the point cuz of that stupid antic we lost BD.
But NS had Zia daddy so what makes NS different?
BTW tung dili aur tung nazri ki bhi hud hoti hai, Bhutto ruled from his grave and what 9 sitaray/IJI/PMLN/PMLQ etc etc could not do, Zardari is doing. Hats off.
This is interesting at last some debate!!!!!! 34 comments in such a short period!!!!
@pak.nukes
atleast zia didnt call anyone daddy, n dun worry look at Pakistan its shaped as per zia not per bhutto. He can rule from grave but Zia will live forever lol. BTW ur hatts off zadrari is realy doing a number to constitution of bhutto and the party of buhtto lol
Hahahaha what a joke…Zia had multiple fathers thats why he didn’t call any particular person his daddy. He was CIA’s illegitimate son.
@pak.nukes
u get mad when someone goes after bhutto, u should show same restraints others show. But I guess jiyala culture wont allow it lol. I can respond in kind but its useless.
Prove me wrong Afzaal…here fathers mean mentors…wasn’t CIA your favourite dictator’s mentor? Come on when we say NS was Zia’s son does that mean he slept with NS’s mother? Come on come on…..you are a retard and thats an established fact—-period.
I think lines of decency are being crossed…..too bad.
@Observer
Pkpolitics ka asar hai jatay jatay hi jaey ga but I was provoked into it, you know how Ziaist are….I swear I am innocent………cry!cry.
@nota
“Regarding that pkp bit, I had sent that as an email to Rauf Klasra and cc:ed pkp. Didn’t think they would put it up as the “Featured Article”… ”
Just to tease PKP you could send an email to the Butt Brothers and cc it to PKP, then we will see whether PKP publishes your “deep affection” towards to the not so shareef Brothers
Yes nota you must send this one.
@nota
tsk tsk tsk
mafahimat ki policy na all have to unite to save democracy
Aisa sher kabhi nahi dekha jo Jackal sey sher un gaya ho….
@nota
That would be excellent. Please consider to put it through your own moderation before sending it to PKP – just to make it a little more digest-able for the “shareef” lovers – not that I believe they will put it on the front page…..Maybe you should start on a lighter note with the story about Ayaz Amir before going for the big kill
It seems like pak nuke has put some life in dead forum.
Merci Jazoo.I will take it as a compliment.:)I don’t want to be treated as Gul bibi but being the only female in the forum, I definitely feel on top of the world.:):):)
@nota
Perhaps this 48 hrs ultimatum was just an strategy to establish this recent bullshit by Brig Imtiaz was sponsored by President House.
I think point was well made and established.
@jazoo
how abt proving it? Can u cite any evidence that President house is behind it?
@jazoo I agree PML-N achieved their purpose. They were just firing warning shots across Zardari bow. I wonder what would have surfaced if Gilani had not intervened. Anyway I am sure it is a temporary phase and we will be back to square one, just a matter of days! “Kutey ki dum……..”.
RE: Personality politics in the West, I have the honour of being concured to by no less an individual then Chomsky.
Chomsky said the growing disappointment with the Obama administration in the U.S. was predictable because the corporate media marketed Obama’s presidential candidacy on the slogan of “Change We Can Believe In” but omitted concrete proposals for effective changes, and the Obama administration has since shown an incapacity to institute such changes.
http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news/4748
I didn’t send the article, I only cc it to ed PKP, hoping that they might make a Taveez of it and distribute it among their visitors. Come on man if you sent it to publish then say yes I sent it for publishing.
Another PML – N Scandal. Yeh nahi sudhrain gain lol
Students’ protest against PML-N MNA
ISLAMABAD: A strike has been observed in a local college and students and teachers of college staged protest demonstration outside the college against PML-N MNA Anjum Aqeel.
Federal education minister took the serious notice of the incident and called urgent report. The principal, teachers and students of FG College in sector F-10/4 boycotted the educational activities, staged protest demonstration and chanted slogans against local MNA.
The protestors having a view that member National Assembly Anjum Aqeel Khan on Wednesday reached college with his armed aides and created rumpus in the college to get admitted one of his relative and misbehaved with the teachers. The incident has been reported in the police.
Protesting teachers and students announced that they would also boycott the educational activities tomorrow.
Meanwhile, Federal Education Minister took the serious notice of the incident and called urgent report. He also expressed displeasure over director colleges for not reporting the incident immediately.
Meanwhile long live NRO lol
and the nepotism lol