This exchange is turning into something that is unsavory. I try to steer clear of debates. But let me delve a little deeper into the discussion which promises to turn into a debate. Gulp.
Looking at the brighter side does help if you want to live in fantasy....sometimes constructive criticism is needed!
But one certainly needs respite from beating oneself down into mud in the name of criticism. Has anything ever come out of cynicism & pessimism?
thats the prob they are not...Our average man doesnt even earn in 1 yr as much as that corrupt fed with golden spoon earns in 2 months! Half of which is haram money!
Irrelevant! Common man means less than average earning. It would be an interesting idea to find out how many successful rulers / politicians / CEOs work or ever worked at less than average wage. If you focus on a particular personality, then you miss the picture. You miss the picture and its no use discussing anything. You may use this forum as your release, but one could hardly exchange any idea with you.
You implicitly raised an interesting question: why would anyone invest time, effort, and money in politics at all? Can someone without any of the aforementioned commodities (namely having time, possessing the ability to make effort, and money to spend) be able to engage in politics? This requires some serious thinking and one would need to understand as to why would a person like (late) Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan, or Sardar Ahmad Ali squander his wealth in politics?
You may have your reasons to discuss a person, but that is quite beside the point as I see it. Correct me if I am wrong, though.
Our culture does not include beating the poor and ignoring the minority! Esp if we call ourselves Muslims...its shameful!
I have to disagree here. I can not find any epoch in this land of ours when the poor were not trodden upon. Their best chance is in an environment in which they are empowered to improve their lot. That environment could be had in a welfare state model, our constitutional goal. The said environment can not be had in conjunction with an over-riding security paradigm that consumes resources that could improve social indicators. The mess of today is partly the result of allowing an over-riding security paradigm define our mind-set. Why is it easy to blame the greasy politician, while overlooking government functionaries (uniformed or not) who are often times just as sleazy (if not more)? The answer to that lies in the direct and indirect influence government functionaries have over the development of our world-view. I could say more, but that would shift focus. I just wanted to point out that it is a bit unfair to malign our politicians for a few months or a couple of years' stint- while our servants (civil & military) get decades in powerful positions to protect their institutional interests and further entrench their grip. Where do 'the poor' figure in their calculations?
Just look at what has happened to Bahria Town's social investment in Karachi. Here we have an entrenched interest (namely DHA, staffed by you-know-who) protecting its interest by killing off a public welfare project which would have cost nothing to the government and benefited the poor. Which politician did this? Pray tell...
Our conditioning only in the recent generation has it gone to hopelessness...when I was still a teen we were Pakistanis a strong Muslim nation! Now we are called a whole lot of other things which are dragged and called Islamic but is equal to what the jahals of the pre-Prophetic times did!
Politicians are the products of the environment that have shaped us. They are conditioned just as we are.
Allow me to digress. I would like to point to the constant refrain that Ayub Khan did this or that for our economy. You must have heard it too. This had been going on since your parents were teen-agers themselves. What Ayub Khan did to our COUNTRY, no one talks much about. That makes us feel uncomfortable because it challenges notions that we've been fed for decades. THAT is the sort of conditioning that I am talking about. What this means for me and you is that we instinctively blame the politician, and not the general. In my view (formed over three decades), blame lies more with generals than with politicians.
We have been conditioned to put blame where it suits someone else. You were a teenager during Mush years. It would take you some effort to pull yourself from inconsistent veiws.
1stly I dont really care who brought us to this situation I am more interested in the HOW we can fix it part....
The 'HOW' part would definitely include a large banner that reads: DO NOT REPEAT PAST MISTAKES. With views like the ones you have expressed,you seem like a person who would ignore the advice, just because you have been conditioned to: 1. not see mistakes as mistakes, 2. explain away the mistakes as inevitabilities, hard luck, politicians' faults, etc... 3. think that repeating a sequence of actions would produce different results.
2ndly, no I am not going to pick lootayra politicians because we have to wait 4 yrs for them to embarrass us and leave an everlasting impression of disgust before they crawl of foreign countries....not including how much economical damage they do! Seriously they should be sent to hell right away! They are below humans!
I would much prefer a lootayra politician like Zardari over a general like Yahya or Musharraf if the choice were that stark - simply because I / we could remove him, unlike a General.
3rdly, I dont mind generals and all because the people need to understand what not to vote for! And show them a live show! and at least generals have taken vow to protect the nation and that is all we expect of them! and plus the force from the international politics does not let a general sit on for long!
People do understand what not to vote for better than a few years ago. In about four years' time they would be even better at it. I have nothing but contempt for the view that uses lack of education as an excuse for dictatorship. People instinctively understand many things whether or not they are educated. Elitism would have one despise opinion of an uneducated person, without seeing that uneducated folk have the same needs as a member of elite class. The manner of fulfilling those needs would be different, goals would be a bit different but the needs shall be the same.
Uneducated people do understand the value of social spending. Perhaps better than me or you, who have means to afford private sector social service providers (health, education, etc...).
Generals do take a vow as cadets. But that vow has something to do with upholding our constitution, among other things. How many dictators have you seen stand by that vow? What then is their vow worth?
Politicians also take vows and oaths. We simply need to discard the ones who violate their vows. Its that simple - and one need not allow conditioning to confuse us in this simple excercise.