Pakistan has had its fair share of drama in its political history. The people of Pakistan have always been under the impression that Pakistan is going through the worst phase since its independence, and it has never improved for the people. There has never been a time when people have had the opportunity to say that Pakistan is now moving upward with development, finally undergoing it as per world standards. In these difficult times, where we see severe economic turmoil, a threat to national security, and a relationship of mistrust between people and its defense forces, political instability makes it all even worse.
Pakistan’s political arena is nothing less than a circus. There is no respect for each other, no integrity, and no such thing as moral standards as such. It can best be explained by stating the very recent case of Azam Swati and a personal video being leaked. A playground with no rules and no morals is a deadly playground. People have no consideration for humanity or human error. There is no such thing as empathy. There is no thought of karma. In such a mess, they share the same roof to sit and form policies.
In an environment where there is no respect for people’s existence, respect for actions and words is a smaller idea. This kind of opposition and political playground leaves no place for the people of a democratic country. As they say, “democracy is the form of government of the people, by the people, for the people.” There is no place for the people. To satisfy their egos, people’s lives are compromised, a fool is made out of people, and then people’s support is used through charisma to set their affairs in place. To explain and criticize this viewpoint further, let us talk about a usual activity that disrupts the daily lives of people in the capital of Pakistan for political strategic moves.
The concept of protest is common all around the world. Unfortunately, it can easily turn into a riot. A protest is a way to send a message without causing any damage, just through your public presence. In recent years, one of the political parties of Pakistan has been conducting power shows all around Pakistan to show their public support and how much they are valid and relevant in the political context. This is none other than the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI).
The opposition and political playground leaves no place for the people of a democratic country, compromising their lives and making fools out of them to satisfy political egos.
Although other parties have been applying the same strategy to put pressure on governments since the Musharraf era, PTI has gained quite some popularity and public support, especially among young people. And PTI’s calls for protests and marches are huge in number. This puts immense pressure on the sitting government, which is why PTI’s protests are always blocked from entering the capital city of Pakistan, ever since their 100 plus day protest after the 2013 general elections.
The political display of power fails to understand the impact it has on common people’s lives. The residents of the twin cities are under serious influence from these container restrictions, especially those living in areas closer to the most affected areas, i.e., Faizabad, Westridge, Old Airport Road, and a few others. When we talk about development policy, we fail to understand our standing in terms of development. We are way behind global development standards, and that is defined, explained, observed, or determined by the kinds of problems we face.
It is important for policymakers to realize where we stand as a nation and what changes are needed to pull this nation out of this miserable state and push towards a brighter, more developed future. a future in which we can compare ourselves to world leaders. a future that allows the people of Pakistan to proudly own their identities as Pakistanis in world forums. A future that allows us to finally say that Pakistan is a better state than it was in the past.