M. Q. Yaaser |
There are three motives which push voters to vote; Hope, Hate, and Fear. Same were the factors which caused Donald J. Trump’s win on November 9th, 2016. The hate created against Hillary was enormous; so enormous that still scoring 2 million more popular votes than Trump, she lost the presidency. But have the American voters got what they expected from Trump?
Trump’s first foreign visit was to a Muslim country, the same Muslims against whom he has been campaigning to ban them entering America. The foundation stone of The Wall along the Mexican border is yet to be placed. The health care bill has just been beaten, and Obamacare survives. RESULT; the status quo remains the same. So the dream of Americans who voted Trump for “draining the swamp” has a long way to go, as it has not even started its journey.
Meanwhile, in Pakistan, the Supreme Court of Pakistan (SCP) has disqualified now Ex- Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for holding any public office in future on the charges of money laundering, telling lies and presenting fake documents in the highest court of Pakistan. Many see it in Pakistan as a change; the same change that can bring a Pakistani version of “drain the swamp”. Unfortunately here too, this dream has a long way to go before it becomes reality.
How beautifully Arundhati Roy has narrated the modern day politics, especially in third world countries;
The ruling elite in Pakistan have, regardless of the political party they come from, accumulated an enormous amount of wealth around them.
“The crisis of modern democracy is a profound one. Free elections, a free press and an independent judiciary mean little when the free market has reduced them to commodities available on sale to the highest bidder”.
Read more:Open defiance of the apex court
The ruling elite in Pakistan have, regardless of the political party they come from, accumulated an enormous amount of wealth around them. The same wealth has been used in past and is likely to be used in the future to buy the commodities that have been mentioned by Arundhati Roy. After the disqualification of the serving prime minister and the president of the ruling party, Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, the dream of rule of law has many hurdles to cross. The ruling family has decided that premiership of the country will remain within the family and they have decided to bring the younger brother of Nawaz Sharif as prime minister of Pakistan and have appointed an interim prime minister for interim 45 days. So the ruling party and Nawaz Sharif have lost nothing. They seem not to be losing anything. They will lose nothing until and unless they lose the money they have accumulated around them. And that is only possible by the implementation of the verdict by SCP in true letter and spirit.
The wealth that has been looted by the elite in Pakistan can be used ‘buying’ the elections. The same can be true here. The wealth that Sharif family has gathered can be used to ‘buy’ 2018 elections and unless and until the NAB (National Accountability Court) doesn’t convict the other members of the Sharif family, the Sharifs have lost nothing.
This can be proved by simple example. Many analysts said that Sharif family has lost much as they have been tried by the courts, by media, and by the opposition parties. But only a few said that unless a decision of the SCP against them they won’t lose anything. And now, even a decision has come against the family, declaring Nawaz Sharif disqualified to hold any public office, the manipulation of the decision is going on. This has been publicized that the whole case has been a conspiracy against the Sharif family and Nawaz Sharif himself.
Read more: Free and fair elections: Can democracy in Pakistan be resurrected?
The wealth that has been looted by the elite in Pakistan can be used ‘buying’ the elections. The same can be true here. The wealth that Sharif family has gathered can be used to ‘buy’ 2018 elections and unless and until the NAB (National Accountability Court) doesn’t convict the other members of the Sharif family, the Sharifs have lost nothing. Now the family will concentrate to influence the proceedings of the references that will be filed against them by NAB (as it has been ordered by the Supreme Court of Pakistan in its final verdict, that a serving judge will overlook the proceedings of the references filed by the NAB against the family).
Remembering old promises
Meanwhile, Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) policy should and is of reconciliation with none other than the Sharif family. As SCP quite recently in its verdict on Panama case has set an example that a decision can be taken against the elite, and they can be held accountable for the crimes they have committed monetarily, this must have alarmed the PPP camp. Imran Khan Chairman of PTI (Pakistan Tehreeke Insaf) has quite recently hit the central leadership of PPP. The opposition has not been able to agree on one name as their leader to be the candidate of prime minister.
So as the ‘reconciliation’ policy between the Democrats and the Republicans continues in America, the same will continue between PPP, PML-N and the power hungry elite gathering around them.
Only time knows that what will be the decisions on the references of NAB as ordered by SCP in its verdict, but the policy of PPP will remain the policy of “reconciliation” with PML-N and the Sharif family. This suits PPP, as PPP also have skeletons of corruption in the cupboard and other reason Imran Khan being unpredictable and less ‘trustable’ than PML-N. Both PML-N and PPP have been in power corridors and know the power politics much better than PTI. PPP knows that if they will be in trouble, PML-N will behave lot better than PTI as it is said that; جو سلوک بادشاہ ، بادشاہوں سے کرتے ہیں
Read more: Political elites of Pakistan: Promoting or subverting democracy?
So as the ‘reconciliation’ policy between the Democrats and the Republicans continues in America, the same will continue between PPP, PML-N and the power hungry elite gathering around them. There is a long way to go before both the countries will see the dawn of ‘drain the swamp’. Long ruthless battles are to be fought in both the countries before (and if) Bernie Sanders in America and Imran Khan in Pakistan succeed to win an election.
M. Q. Yaaser is working in an organization for children’s vaccination. He holds a Master’s degree in Political Science and one in Sociology, He has an interest in international and domestic politics. The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Global Village Space’s editorial policy.