If you can summarize the governing style of PPP in one word, its 'brinkmanship'! Those of the ruling party, who know what it means, practice it very well while the rest would like to sulk in their glorious past
Dude I told you to be at Benazir Chowk did you reach there.
Yes I am here
I can’t see you anywhere near me.
I am there man!
Wait did I tell you to be at Shaheed Benazir Chowk in Jhanda Colony?
Damn! I thought you were talking about the other one.
So that’s how I sum up the PPP government during past five years since I couldn’t recall anything else to talk about. Every nook and corner named after legendary Benazir Bhutto. This reminds you of Kim Barker’s account on Afghanistan parliamentary elections in 2005 where 360 candidates ran out of creativity and ended up reusing the symbols like; a camel, two camels, three camels, one eye, a pair of eyes and so on. One feels a bit worried for committing a conceited blasphemy but you see some men bowing down (quiet literally) to the revered saint's picture in Ghari Khuda Baksh. It is definitely giving a wrong message, so you decide to ask a supposedly well-educated/sophisticated jiyala that what exactly is happening there and he would tell you to pay attention at the open gutter holes on Punjab's broken roads instead. The fact that BB was just a politician and that doesn’t exempt her (or for that matter her picture) from criticism tempts you to argue further. You ask, but what about those who died with her and for her? And another sophisticated jiyala would throw Iqbal's poetry at you.
Parwaz Hai Dono Ki Issi Aik Faza Mein
Kargas Ka Jahan Aur Hai, Shaheen Ka Jahan Aur
[The vulture and the eagle soar
In the same air, but in worlds apart]
Some of them in their early twenties and still seen clinging onto the BB's cult vehemently tell me that they are Jiyalas by Birth. I don’t really know what's that supposed to mean because last I checked it was political party and a not a new brand of religion.
Moving on to the mortals, if you can summarize the governing style of PPP in one word, its 'brinkmanship'! Those of the ruling party, who know what it means, practice it very well while the rest would like to sulk in their glorious past. The 20 days of fame they enjoyed in the 70's is not shedding off, not that it bought the general public any good at that time. I am to evaluate the PPP government but it's not as easy as it sounds. I can always start with congratulating the ruling party for completing its term for the very first time but I need to know what good it has done in past five years so I turn my attention to the official PPP website. To my disappointment contents given on it are unintentionally comical and not any different from what their representatives say in the talk shows. It’s a flash back of epic Ramayana in a contemporary manner. The Epic tale of kingdoms goes like this; my feudal lord’s wife used to bestow Gucci bags amongst her disciples during hay days. Chotay Nawab’s IV face brimmed with a holy smile as he came out victorious on bail while the enemies were made to suffer eternal condemnation in hell.
In times of chaos, media (backed by the judiciary and opposition) was kept busy chasing PPP leaders, playing clips of their statements and telling them to standby what they say. While the Adyalians were seen happy chasing only one thing and that is its history. Who spent how many years in jail, how many of them were murdered and who was forced to keep shut. It sounds like a tape rewinding itself time and again by a bunch of broken hearted over dramatic sobs. As if they were done chasing development goals already. It’s their fourth time in the government after all; you can’t possibly think and talk about same utterly boring stuff all the time. Boring it is indeed; let’s get back to putting containers in way of Satan, bestowing D&G bags, and have a lovely family dinner with Angelina Jolie!
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Mariam Goraya is an annoying liberal Fascist and a feminist whiner and has special interest in political satire, feminism, Indo-Pak history. She is studying Masters in Environmental Science in University of Cologne, she tweets at @MariamGoraya |
