Political Roundup 2011

As with every other year in Pakistan’s political history,this year was also very ‘crucial’ and presented a lot ‘delicate circumstances’.The most mind altering event of all was the killing of OBL in Pakistan, which subsequently ruffled a lot of feathers and left many of us bewildered and at times confused.A great lot  debated whether this whole debacle even happened but the fact is it exists as an event in history ,it no longer matters what really happened in that big mansion in Abbotabad .The world somehow knows he was there and was subsequently killed.That’s it.It is this perception that matters now not the facts.

We also saw our CJ running around taking suo moto notices from mundane stuff like food+utilities prices to highly controversial yet pointless stuff like PCO judges and NRO,all of which boiled down to nothingness basically.Just a lot of men with pot bellies in drab ill-fitting black suits blabbering equally absurd and meaningless crap on media.There was Hajj pilgrimage corruption case ,flood in Sindh for second year in a row,then railways network was closing down and now even PIA planes being grounded.I guess we should all get Bata & Servis running shoes and start cross country marathons for travelling like the old days.

While the Arab peninsula  was having Jasmine Revolution,in Pakistan we saw this emergence of this new ‘enlightened elite’ followers of  former cricketer turned politician Imran Khan,with one particular follower complaining in about heat while protesting that went viral on Internet.And then there was this amazing show of power by huge ‘Jalsa’  in Lahore,that rattled the political veterans’ thrones so much some of them later joined the very party that was criticizing them.But what bothers me  about Imran Khan is his lack actual operational plan,as his rhetoric is flagrantly optimistic and self glorifying which is at times on the verge of delusion and his empathy for talibanistic right wing .Even if he claims to change the system,it is the harsh reality that its ‘The Bureaucracy’  that will actually ‘do’ the dos so it is unlikely his dreams will materialize if at all.And also consider the fact that more than 60% of population resides in rural areas where a lot of people maynot even hear of him.

This year Pakistan suffered another major blow to  its esteem when players of national cricket team were convicted of ‘spot fixing’,the scandal itself was quite demeaning but the way the players first denied and then resort to blaming each other was grossly shameful.

There were also these almost traditional waves  of violence  in the Karachi,where people were beheaded and put it into gunny bags,there were news of human slaughterhouses being discovered .Which was then followed by this dramatic accusations by former minister about another party’s alleged crimes.Then again it was CJ’s notice getting us nowhere.

In a country were there is less than 10% spent on education and health,it was only a change of weather that led to this catastrophic wave of dengue fever deaths,with at least 20 dying a week.People were practically confined to their houses slithering themselves with insect repellents as if it was musk oil.But what it all did was that  it exposed our fragility in public policy and also our rulers’ apathy toward wellbeing of the citizens.Not only was the government not prepared,it didn’t know what to do about it when it was actually happening .Thankfully the weather changed and the deadly insect carrying the disease  eventually fizzled out.

As in the years gone by the energy crisis persisted in 2011 as well,with industrialists and even civilians protesting.It was also the first time that gas load shedding took hold for the general populace.Nobody knows who is getting ‘gassed’ and by whom.

Towards the end of the year,NATO planes attacked and  killed army men sparking rage in both civilian and army rulers but I couldn’t help and wonder  that this killing was a big deal only because the ones killed were army people, then what about the common people being killed by drones and indigenous army operations? How was that somehow ok.It highlights the very important fact of our society that all human lives may be equal but army still is indeed more equal than others.NATO supply lines were  subsequently blocked ,there was protest by our ‘fashion-savvy tranny-voiced’  Foreign Minister.Moreover drone attacks have stopped so it means there was some kind of agreement between them and our military that it let them do it in past.But lets see how long the army puts up with its billions of dollars of military aid blocked,a sane person cannot ignore the bitter truth that the US is biggest trade partner,biggest donor,and even FDI contributor.Our ‘Islamic brethren’ don’t even give us few days loan for petroleum import payments,so you know they wont stand by us in our rainy days.

There were these so non-controversial nude photos of actress Veena Malik for a magazine,which she first denied and then kinda accepted.What was really disturbing was the fact that people who were immensely hurt and enraged by her defiant ways in the day ,were searching the Internet and ogling the very photos at night.So it doesn’t matter whether she was right or wrong,at the end of day it did garner her a lot of publicity

The year ends with cracker busts by the name of ‘memo gate’,where someone from Pakistan is alleged to have written to US govt to protect against a possible military takeover against present democratic regime.There is a ‘judicial inquiry’ taking place, lets see how it progresses ,as it is still being brewed by our pseudo political analysts. but I am sure of one thing that is  it won’t get anybody anywhere.its all like running in circles!