With election looming over political skies, every concerned citizen is anxious about revival of stability in Pakistan.
There should not be any doubt about successful resumption of national stability. Pakistan, as a state, has tremendous potential to come out of precarious situations. Much of intended success would surely depend upon the ways and means adopted for this purpose in near future. Undoubtedly, election is a time-tested democratic process world over to run the state affairs as per the will and wish of the people. Political parties enter in electoral arena with their manifestos to seek the public endorsement in the form of vote. Obviously, the electoral victory depends upon two main factors.
Number one, the strength and relevancy of manifestos with the public issues. Number two, track record or past performance of the party. Pressure of facing the public response in elections is a key factor which compels a ruling party to deliver the promised results. Unfortunately, this universally practiced democratic norm is nothing more than a bookish idea in peculiar political culture of Pakistan. Non-issues matter more than genuine public problems to the political parties for victory during elections. This cyclic disconnect from public issues subsequently damages the entire governance system and largely compromises the very purpose of electoral process. If we critically evaluate the rise and fall of the governments in Pakistan during last fifteen years; certain aspects merit critical evaluation to comprehend the nature of perpetuating political dysfunctionality. Governance failures on part of past ruling regimes are nothing but the infinite tale of broken promises.
Recently, PIDE released a report which precisely pointed out that manifestos of major political parties were widely disconnected from public issues. Negative tendency of such a grave nature is in fact the fundamental reason behind larger governance failure. Political parties rather political leadership avoids allocating much of their energies on formulation of manifesto being a non-effective ritual sort of document. We have witnessed the major parties marching to the election battle ground on the drumbeat of populist rhetorical narratives. Personalized criticism, demagoguery and lofty promises are part essential part of election tool kit. Post-election maneuvering of looser parties revolve around electoral rigging and corruption accusations.
The ruling party remains fixated to responding in the same coin with least or no attention towards the fulfilment of electoral promises. Attractive slogans like Naya Pakistan, Riyasat –e- Madina, Roti Kapda aur Makan and Qarz Utaaro Mulk Sanwaro played a key role in diverting the public attention from the follies of political groups. After casting the vote for his favorite candidate, a common man practically runs out of options to exercise the systematic influence on rulers. The only option available with a voter is the electoral accountability that too once in five years. How ironic that every political party is overplaying the victimhood card now-a-days. None of them seems in a mood to present the true balance sheet of their performance against the past electoral promises. Elusive approach of political parties in fact is a big question mark on the collective wisdom of voter who never tries to elect his representative on the basis of displayed performance. Pakistan has been in a state of turmoil due to unwise statesmanship of recent past rulers.
Unnecessary confrontational strategy eventually triggered political disorder and economic instability. Though, default or bankruptcy was successfully averted but ill-intended political adventurism has jolted the economic foundations of the country. Masses have paid a huge price of the unwise politics of their elected ones. Success of upcoming elections revolves around the best possible application of collective wisdom. It is about time for our political parties to get rid of blame game, self-pity and hereditary tendencies. Party manifesto is one such step which can set the right course for upcoming elections. There should be visible activity in parties, down to district and town level, to seek the public pulse for formulation of manifesto. As per democratic norms, public has a right to judge the displayed performance of the ruling parties.
Slogans, attractive songs, personal charisma and hollow promises must not be accepted as a substitute for performance failures. Unfortunately, political elite has found an easier way of camouflaging its failures with rhetorical and accusatory speeches. Such hollow practices have compromised the spirit of public accountability in electoral process. Common people, being the real stakeholders of the country, should join hands to make the elections more purposeful by reviving the spirit of accountability. As the country is confronted with an extra-ordinary economic challenge; voters should ask the political parties to come up with their plans. Any party lacking appropriate plan or having negative performance track record must not be allowed to exploit the election process with lofty promises and fabricated false narratives.
