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I remember the pre-election zeal and joy in the atmosphere; it was PTI vs PML(N) where all other parties were on the sidelines. People voted and the results put PTI on top. PML(N) fought hard, especially in Punjab, but ended up in defeat. PPP held on to Sindh, its stronghold whereas other parties including Jamaat-e-Islami, Awami National Party, Pak Sar Zameen Party (PSP), etc. proved to be irrelevant.
Although PTI’s campaign was laden with colorful sit-ins, eventful gatherings and hopeful congregations; the focus of their leaders were always on ‘what we will do’ once we get into power with no plan whatsoever about ‘How we will do it’. There were tweets about everything, right from foreign policy to domestic social issues, layered with claims of revolutionizing the country and society. Masses never go into details and love to see catchy slogans, attractive claims and luring statements.
It creates a feel-good effect and it allows masses to dream. It provides the fuel to criticize those who dare to disagree. They leave others with only a couple of options, agree or stay quiet. Those who try to mark ‘none of the above’ are dubbed as the enemy of this dream and the enmity resulted in everything from trolling to abuse even on a mere disagreement. Everything that can potentially put a question mark on that dream is discounted without giving it a serious thought. Maybe, because dreams are not serious anyway.
I personally feel that it is the prime reason why PTI’s campaign badly missed the most important question about ‘Naya Pakistan’ dream i.e. ‘How you will do it?’. For starters, there was no serious work done about the focal point of the campaign, i.e. the return of plundered wealth. Now, in power, PTI is scratching its head about how to materialize its promise as the reality isn’t that rosy. There are tons of legal issues involved starting from the proof that property in question in any other country was bought from plundered money with the burden of proof lies with the govt.
Then, the bilateral agreements between countries come into place. I am not saying it’s impossible but it’s going to take an age to happen. In the recent history, Nigeria successfully recovered the looted wealth from Swiss Accounts after 20 years; although the loot was evident like broad daylight.
Similarly, the situation of economics was right in front of everyone way before IK sworn in. PTI knew very well that it’s in the devastating situation and there is no easy way out. Yet again, how masses will buy a dream if you tell them it’s going to be painful. PTI’s Asad Umar, multiple times, clearly said that common man will not be put under pressure. He used examples of how too much taxation on fuel is being levied, giving an impression that once they get into the power, things will be different.
From a person of his stature, I just can’t accept that he didn’t have any idea that much aspired economic turnaround under his watch is not going to be a walk in the park. Yet, he also dodged the ‘how we will do it’ and sold the abstract of Naya Pakistan solely based on ‘what we will do’ economically. And, when someone like me dared to raise the ‘how’ question, they had Murad Saeed in response.
Then, the dam also follows the suit. Yet again, there were claims of ‘what we will do’ to water problems without any answer to ‘how we will do’ it. Lack of any preparation and planning was evident when PTI Chief requested the Overseas Pakistanis to pitch in with US$ 1000 a few days back. Keeping emotional masses aside, you can talk to any person who understands mega infrastructure projects, and you will get the same answer from everywhere.
National infrastructure can’t be built on donation. It would have been a much better idea to ask Overseas Pakistanis to return to Pakistan and start the business here under favorable conditions. This would have created a lot of jobs and money would be in rolling and as a result, there will be way more contribution than US$ 1000 from overseas Pakistanis.
This list of missing the ‘how we will do it’ is long; very long, in fact. You touch any issue and you will come up with the same observation, more often than not. Khan’s political will and sincerity are not under any question, it’s the planning that lacks behind. With every passing day, the scary thought is becoming the reality that country is headed by an emotional lot which has never considered planning as an integral part of running a country, let alone turning around its fortune.
Around a passionate leader, there is a herd of opportunists whose interests lie with the dream of ‘Naya Pakistan’. That’s the reason why they spearheaded the campaign of dream-selling with Imran Khan, knowing that once they are in power, even under Imran Khan, it’s going to be a different ball game than what Imran Khan may have envisioned. Till now, it seems they have been successful.
As the saying goes, if you fail to plan, you plan to fail. Rulers of Naya-Pakistan need to watch out!
