Andleeb Abbas

As they say, a nation gets the leaders it deserves. As voters, either we are cynical and indifferent or do not believe that change can come and thus do not even bother to vote, or we are led away by the shallow declarations and staged actions of these leaders and choose them over and over again

‘Renewal’ has assumed strange meanings. In more sane terms when things get old due to ‘wear and tear’, they need a repair/renewal process to make them capable of meeting the requirements. However, as we witnessed last year, this concept has been turned on its head and the new way of renewal is ‘tear and wear’. From Iraq to Afghanistan and from Swat to Waziristan, the game at each level is to tear them apart and then try to sew them together in patterns that are perhaps going to leave such gaping holes that any form of renewal is just a wish.

This perhaps is the reason why the world is torn apart politically, socially, and more so emotionally. The Second World War was deemed as the last of its kind as its repercussions would have made the world wiser. However, the ‘war on terror’ is the new way of gunning down disobedient nations into subjugation. The new strategies of divide and rule are to instigate so much terrorism and insecurity in a country that instead of foreign forces killing them, they tear each other apart to a level where their economies become so fragile that they are dependent on economic terrorists like the IMF and World Bank and become puppets on the US chain. Once a nation is on its knees, they can just tame it into believing their crafty vision of being the ‘Big Brother’ of this world.

However faulty the US strategy is, we cannot simply lay the blame on them and feel victimised. As they say, nobody can victimise you unless you let them. All the victim countries like Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, have been led by governments that are inherently corrupt and ready to sacrifice their sovereignty and self-respect in exchange for a nominal assurance of money and power.

The tear and wear process is also highly fashionable in our country. The greatest pastime for our politicians is to come on talk shows and tear everybody else apart. The media is also obsessed with this tear and wear fad. The biggest race on TV channels is ‘breaking a story’, a hyped and scandalised version of every happening shown with almost a breathless glee by the channels to mesmerise viewers by their melodramatic narration of sad and scary events. They know the shock and shatter footages of people being blasted away and buildings being torn apart are a guarantee of viewership, which, in turn, is a guarantee of advertisements. Every channel very proudly declares that they were the first to show the footage of any possible tragedy they can think of. This mad race for petrified viewership, a complete disregard for ethics and its impact on people’s mind are highly deplorable. They thrive on negative publicity, be it a totally irrelevant and ridiculous marriage scandal of a Pakistani actress or pictures of the Pakistani hockey team with its female liaison officer; everything is fair in tear and wear. Even more reprehensible is the damage done to the country’s image by the international media. CNN and BBC use all these footages to further create an image that portrays Pakistan in a damning way. CNN and BBC are great opinion makers and what their political analysts say directly or indirectly affects US policy makers’ decisions towards Pakistan. As a consequence, Pakistanis living abroad or visiting another country become victims of ‘special treatment’ while attempting to get jobs and visas.

Our leaders who are also in a race to outdo each other in showmanship reveal their shortsightedness in many ways. At the provincial level we see a race to indulge in some shallow political gimmickry and try to gain the public’s and the media’s attention. The Pervez Elahi government had spent billions of the taxpayer’s money on the hoax of ‘Parha Likha Punjab’ and the Shahbaz Sharif government is now resorting to similar antics by ‘beautifying Lahore’. The present drive of the chief minister to tear down unlawful encroachments is also another attempt at appearing lawful and right. Razing buildings for one reason or the other is not a solution to the problem. There needs to be a comprehensive strategy where the impact of these buildings being destabilised versus compensation, and alternative charitable use of these buildings should be weighed thoroughly before taking action. However, the short term, quick fix mentality of our leaders has always made the public pay a very heavy price for their myopic vision. The demonstration effect of stage managing an event and winning applause for an unsustainable action is so strong that scant attention is given to the devastating impact such actions and decisions may have in the long run.

Who is the real party to blame in promoting this tear and wear effect? Definitely, each one of us. As they say, a nation gets the leaders it deserves. As voters, either we are cynical and indifferent or do not believe that change can come and thus do not even bother to vote, or we are led away by the shallow declarations and staged actions of these leaders and choose them over and over again. If we become smart voters, we will get smart leaders. If and when Pakistan has leaders with self-respect and integrity, then the US will find it very difficult to dictate its terms. A classic example is that of China and India with whom the US dare not fool around, as they know that deference to national interest by the leaders of these two countries will always make US inroads impossible. Even in the case of the media, if we stop viewing these insane talk shows, the media will be forced to diversify their programming as viewership declines. It is time for us to take responsibility for the quagmire we are in and stop blaming our leaders, the media, the US or India. None of them will dare to fool or damage any of us if we stand united without letting any of these manipulators exploit our weaknesses. That will only happen if we accept responsibility for the situation that we are in and believe that we have the power to render the wrongdoers powerless. That will only happen if we renew, rejuvenate and revive our faith in ourselves and in this country to become a sovereign, peaceful and prosperous nation.

The writer is a consultant and CEO of Franklin Covey and can be reached at andleeb@franklincoveysouthasia.com