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Pak poll results reflect people's referendum on performances

By Karamatullah Ghori
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So ANP has been routed and its rule of mendacity and corruption brought to a close by a people desperate for change in their status quo. And who could be more worthy of their hope and trust for change than Imran's PTI. The routing of a stalwart like Ghulam Ahmed Bilor-who wrecked the Pakistan Railways as its minister-is emblematic of KP's break from a corrupt and haunting past, while it's also a manifestation of its hope for real change.

The election outcome, in a sense, is the result of the people's referendum on performances of governments at both the federal and provincial levels.

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Tables have been turned on Zardari and his robber-baron minions. Heads have rolled and humiliated at the hands of a people fed up with rampant corruption and, because of it, endemic shortages of the essentials of life-power, water, gas et al-faced by the people throughout the PPP rule.

As a result of it, PPP has been cut to size. It's no longer the All- Pakistan party founded by ZAB and nurtured by BB. It's, now, as good as a rural-Sindh party of anti-people Waderas.

Zardari's slogan of ‘democracy being the best revenge' has been turned on its head: the people of Pakistan, in their defence of democracy, have kicked out pseudo-democrats who only dispensed corruption and injustice to them.

But the people of Sindh-in its hinterland-have, sadly, failed to invest in the kind of political savvy and maturity that the people of KP have come up with in spades. Voting in the tried-and-tested for another term is indicative of mental slavery and bankruptcy of intellect. The Zardari clan is in, so are many other rogues, knaves and scoundrels-such as Makhdoom Amin Fahim and the sick man of Sindh, Qaim Ali Shah.

Punjab has given its vote of confidence to the Shareef brothers. A powerful factor in PML (N) emerging with a near-simple majority at the centre-and a resounding two-thirds majority at the provincial level-is undoubtedly the track record of Shehbaz Shareef as Punjab's Khadim-e-Ala.

Much as some may cast aspersions of all stripes and colours on the younger Shareef, he did a commendable job as Punjab's Chief Minister. His output was all the more impressive compared to the knaves and thieves of Sindh whose corruption-incorporated has taken Sindh-and Karachi, in particular-to dogs.

Imran Khan's PTI may not have achieved the kind of spectacular results that his fawning admirers and followers may have dreamed of.

However, Imran's contribution is more in the intangible than tangible. It may be hard to quantify at this early, post-election, stage. But what he has done is energise the youths of Pakistan and bring them into the political mainstream from which they had cut themselves off largely because of the petty shenanigans of vested-interest politicians.

What PTI has already achieved is considerable. It has uprooted a corrupt political mafia in KP and unnerved the denizens of traditional political order in all other provinces. With solid foundations laid, the future belongs to PTI and its legions of educated and enlightened youths whose commitment to Pakistan is beyond doubt. A young Pakistan is theirs for the taking whenever the country goes to the polls, again.

A PTI-led government in KP would be a good opportunity for Imran and his lieutenants to learn the ropes of governance and put in place their proto-type of a New Pakistan.

Nawaz Shareef, in the glare of sweet-victory, has done the right thing by going to Imran's sick- bed. His taking the initiative for a modus-vivendi between his and Imran's parties is welcome, given our feudal instinct to nurse deep grudges and animosities against rivals.

Nawaz should also make a visible effort to keep the hot-heads and adventurers of his party in check, lest they responded to the call of the wily Maulana Fazlur-Rehamn to rob PTI of its people-given mandate to form the next government in KP.

It's PTI's call to lead the people of KP who have overwhelmingly voted for a break from the status quo, of which the unprincipled JUI (F) chief is an adept practitioner. Nawaz could have a load of troubles on his hands if the Maulana is not checked in his Machiavellian and cavalier ways.

At the threshold of a new phase in its tortured tryst with democracy, Pakistan and its bemused people are poised critically between despair and hope. They have voted for democracy, rejected radicalism and orthodoxy and punished those who traded in corruption. It's up to the leaders they have manifested their faith in to ensure that they are not disappointed, again.

[Karamatullah Ghori is a former career diplomat from Pakistan]

OneIndia News

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