A day in 2018, When Pakistan embraced for a change

How the dream of change is costing millions of people?

25th July 2018 was a day when a group of young politically naive class of voters became victims of civil-military tug of war, embraced a populist opinion, redefined patriotism, condemned dissent voices and reinvented the wheel.

In two years since then, they have rediscovered a part of the wheel. Some of those realize its similar nature, others still believe that something better will come out.

An honest leadership, the civil-military relationships, the outgoing corrupt political elites, the educated voter and much more.

During the last elections, Pakistan elected the most impressive leadership of its times. Fueled by the energy of change, and the expectations of prosperity, the nation started daydreaming the wonderful future ahead. Everything looked perfectly aligned. An honest leadership, the civil-military relationships, the outgoing corrupt political elites, the educated voter and much more.

Anyone interested to see prosperous Pakistan could easily be deluded with such visuals, and rightly so, almost everyone started to live in delusion.

Today, most voters feel confused and disappointed while some still daydreaming. While those who could see what’s coming are in silent tears. What went wrong? Why could dream of change could not become reality? Why do some continue to be deluded and refuse to wake up?

A relatively honest leadership

We grew up listening to the moral tales of honesty and how it shapes our personality and society. Honesty is the best policy. Well, yes, it is for Individuals, but for state? Does it matter? Honesty in the modern world is a relative measure, and that’s what voters chose in the 2018 elections, A relatively honest leadership. In theory, this set the scene for prosperity, but in the practical world things became worse than before.

Either the elected leadership was not as honest as expected, or the rejected leadership was not as dishonest as labelled.

But there was something different in two competitors, the Competency profile. One labelled relatively dishonest and proved competent in the last five years. Other relatively honest with no competency profile on his curriculum vitae. The voter chose the second, and now they don’t know how to swallow honesty.

Civil-military relations have always been a matter of debate in Pakistan. The weight mostly remains tilted in favour of the military. Owing to their discipline and organized institution, the military could enforce its will on civilian leadership who proved divided and incompetent to keep their ground. The civilians have paid the cost of this influence in various forms, from Saudi and Irani imported religion to faulty roads they daily travel upon.

Such visuals of unity were unprecedented

Some argued that bringing the two forces on the same page will direct the power of both toward the prosperity of the country instead of undermining each other. On July 25th, the two became so closely intermingled, it became difficult to see their own identities. Such visuals of unity were unprecedented. But somehow, this too proved ineffective in the path towards prosperity.

The military for his support to civilian government sought to increase its influence on policymaking. It pushed to place its nominees in the cabinet and other key positions. It took over control of the golden egg, the CPEC. The civilian government faced with incompetence and a conviction of political victimization had no choice but to concede the ground more and more.

To ease the cage of political victimization

The situation became so much worse that the military felt uneasy, carrying the weight of incompetency of civilian institutes. It then persuaded the government to ease the cage of political victimization and give some relief to the leadership of the past, whose labelling as dishonest was much facilitated by the same powers. The excited voters saw all this meddling and changing of narratives with amazement. Some of them woke up, others still refused.

It is said that educated people make better decisions. By education here we mean, formal education from colleges/universities. During the July 2018 elections, political ideology defined education status instead of formal degrees. The major chunk of voters who shaped the electoral results were labelled young and educated, the rest, irrespective of their education status and age, were old minded and uneducated.

Society lost the ability to judge what’s coming

Those who saw the narrative of honesty with suspicion were condemned to be illiterate, unpatriotic and much more. Keeping a specific political ideology became a status symbol, and those who could not keep their eyes open to reality changed sides and became an easily educated class. The result was devastating. Society lost the ability to judge what’s coming. Those who could see the future with open eyes became silent, to avoid opposition with the educated and patriotic class of voters. How could a society who forgets the meaning of education hope to have a better future?

They continue to see a dream whose cost is sharply increasing for millions of others

Have they learned the lesson? Maybe not yet. They cling to one reason or other to hold on to their decision. But, gradually it’s getting more and more difficult for them to stay asleep and continue to watch a dream whose cost is sharply increasing for millions of others.