Reality is hard to conceive. But it’s true that in the contemporary times, the importance of self worth as an individual and as a society holds utmost importance and we often find ourselves dwelling on these false beliefs of dignity. As the result, we go into state of denial or start projecting ourselves with fake image of grandeur.
It’s also true that we ignore the harsh realities of our country and then eagerly formulate self-righteous image of ourselves and expect world to do the same for us. We absolve ourselves of prevailing abject conditions and blame government, the system, and the foreign-hand for our miseries.
This is self-destructive. These false opinions or beliefs are way beyond the truth. In quest of projecting these opinions, we have turned blind to real issues and harsh realities that haunt Pakistan which we can witness in politics of Imran Khan.
The harsh reality is that politics in Pakistan is not for the poor and poor has negligible role to play in the politics. Contemporary politicians like Imran Khan and Bilawal Bhutto are just opposite sides of the same coin. Pakistan is a bastion of elite and wealthy where democracy is limited to slogans for poor, but the bitter truth is not even half of country’s population vote.
The system of governance doesn’t matter; it may be democracy or dictatorship, the politics will always be the monopoly of bourgeois elites of the country. So, whoever remains the ruler, or whatever the system may be, the elite in power will protect its economic, political and social interests. So, the slogans for any system, be it democracy, are nothing more than way to promote personal agenda of the wealthy class.
It’s pertinent to know what makes one part of elites. As known generally, elite, the privileged are those who have ample lands through which they can take care of their forth coming generations. And, secondly and most importantly, elite comprises of capitalist people who may not have lands but all the money that they could use to invest in anything to grow exponentially.
So, it’s wrong to think feudal as elite only as is described by Imran khan in various speeches these days. We have ignored the above to real elitist classes and made the word ‘feudal’ sullied. The definitions of elite have changed with the evolving society. But, one thing is for sure, elites are one who has always wanted to look different to masses in every aspect.
A common enemy is always a unifying force for other people. So, in this case, all sections of society including politicians Imran Khan and Bilawal Bhutto blame on feudal and describe them as evil force. While bashing feudal for all misdeeds, one forgets to address real issues such as reducing income gap and enhancing social status of the people.
As describe before, elite don’t come in one form and thus, have opposite interests as every elite wants to bag more than the other. same does Imran Khan.
The government is Pakistan, only depicts, the group of elites exercising over other group. For example, during Musharraf’s rule, the capitalist tycoons investing in stock market made huge money from artificially boomed economy.Then came the Zardari’s rule, in which many privileged abandoned their villages and towns to earn business opportunities and others saw exponential growth in their capital and lands. And now, in Nawaz era, the same but opposing wealthy class of Zardari is minting money out of industries and massive investments in monopolized industries.
The ones who have been waiting their chance to add more gold to basket full of gold coins are the one who made money during Musharraf’s time. They are one demanding the dictatorship and Imran Khan and Tahir-ul-Qadri are leading figures of that group. Imran Khan’s slogan for change is a misleading campaign as the change demanded by Imran Khan is of change in the elites ruling the country. Numerous people like Imran khan had been introduced in the past to further the interests of elite and bourgeois class and then dumped once the purpose was served.
So, we have three classes of elites in Pakistan who have ruled us on economic and political terms during multiple times. The faces may be Imran khan, Asif Zardari , and Nawaz Sharif but the real powers behind them have been elite class occupying all the county’s resources.
Thus, it’s sad for one to believe that his or her opinion matter sin the political and economic policies of the country.
It is tragic that people get deceived by empty slogans or changing the system or politicians will make their lives any better because it would not. Imran Khan’s political purpose could be understood by looking at people around him. Imran khan has lot of capitalists in his team.
So whether it is Imran Khan’s sit ins or Bilawal Bhutto’s jalsas, nothing is for the common person if we look at the prospects of 99.5% population of Pakistan. What’s most distressing is the fact that people have been fooled by fighting one elite for the cause of other elite without knowing that it will never as it has never earned them the real benefits.
It makes downtrodden and abandoned populace more foolish when the elitist talk about ending elitist privileges and providing economic benefit to the people. It’s depressing when politicians, may it be Imran Khan or Nawaz Sharif, who themselves are part of elites talk against others so that they get hold of economic resources by using the power of the people. In all the cases it’s win-win for the elites and poverty and hunger for the poor proletariat class.
It gets worse when aspiring leaders such as Imran Khan talks about the corruption as the sole problem of Pakistan. I believer, Imran Khan and other politicians use rhetoric of corruption to calm abandoned people and give them reason for their failures. However, they won’t speak of income inequality and absence of social justice to people in true sense as the real reason of corruption.
This is the bitter reality of Pakistan. It’s not about Imran khan, Asif Zardari, or Nawaz Sharif, neither it’s about the democracy or dictatorship, it is all about occupying power over other elite at the expense of pauperized people.
One wonder why Imran Khan or Nawaz Sharif during his time, protest is because Punjab has been the power hub of Pakistan economically and politically. Other provinces don’t matter for Imran Khan right now. And, it’s understandable. The reality is the change of government has ever had or will never have any impact as the real power and philosophy will be the same i.e. to serve themselves (elites) by extracting the country off the resources. The worst hit in this game will be the poor –proletariat class, which makes the Pakistani nation.
In the age of free market, blaming corruption and feudal for current situation is nothing more than a joke, when the real issue remains income inequality and lack of social justice. Is there anyone who raises voice for them?
