Any principles?

By Alamgir Khan

MQM (Muttahida Qaumi Movement – a parochial Pakistani political party) joins the government again (for the sixth time in nearly 3 years) was the 'Breaking News' on (Pakistani) TV screens last evening. But was this really Breaking news or for that matter news at all?  The latest political somersault of the gang led by Altaf Bhai (the self-exiled leader of MQM) from the remote comfort of London only cements ones belief that almost all the players of our political arena join politics for furtherance of their narrow personal agendas; public service or promotion of collective interest does not seem to even remotely cross their minds.  If a comparison of addiction of staying in power among various political actors adorning our assemblies is draw, MQM emerges as a distinguished winner leaving our very own Maulana Fazal Ur Rehman (a fundamentalist known for his lust for power) behind by miles.  They say that politics is the art of possible, but in our peculiar political scenario this adage is stretched to the extent that we can safely amend this to be read as 'politics is the art of extorting your stay in government--no holds barred'. Principled politics----perish the thought. Explaining what we are witnessing in the name of democracy these days here is really an uphill intellectual exercise. Lesser mortals like me fail to even define it ----let alone understanding it. An increasing number of people on the street are already asking the discomforting questions that if democracy means poor governance, rule of the corrupt, flagrant violations of the constitution, absolute disregard for the orders of Supreme Court, shameless nepotism, skyrocketing prices, law and order situation reminiscent of a jungle and an economy in perpetual tailspin, then we were better without it. This golden age of Zardari and Gilani led democracy has already started to pale when compared with the supposed non--representative rule preceding it, which of course is a bad omen. With such naked quest for power on the display, any hope of improvement in the way affairs are being run tantamount to living in fool’s paradise. Will the next election introduce any change for better in the life of an ordinary Pakistani? The anticipated sad answer is a resounding NO. Where do we go from here? All the actors of our political stage in general and those of the MQM in particular need to realize that cheap theatrics don't impress people any more. A political accident resulting in the miscarriage of this system will indeed be a great misfortune that can be avoided if and only if our politicos start conducting themselves according to some established set of principles. It is well known that the loss of moral authority is a precursor to loss of every other authority. In case of our political class, the legitimacy won through ballot box is being sacrificed at the altar of petty personal gains. The end result of such naked pursuit of ministries and other public offices for furtherance of personal agendas-----too frightening to contemplate.