Qadri's pragmatism

Time has proved that Dr Tahirul Qadri is a man of many parts; he is an orator par excellence, a persuasive cleric and a shrewd politician. For 60 days, he kept himself confined to a tightly-packed shipping container, as thousands of his committed followers braved vagaries of the Islamabad's capricious weather in their makeshift tented city in front of the parliament building. They resolutely stuck to his word not to quit until his 'Green Revolution' breaks out - with the resignation of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif as its first sign. But there were no signs of Nawaz Sharif resigning anytime soon, begging the question 'what would poor Qadri do now?'. But for the 'word-painter', Qadri, this was no problem; the 'revolution' he had talked about was indeed there, he told the mammoth crowd that had turned up to hear him in Faisalabad on Sunday evening. Not that he was very convincing, yet he had succeeded in giving a shrewd twist to camouflage his transition from a failed 'dharna' to the harsh field of electoral politics. Rightly then, his 'revolution is now predicated upon electoral victory, like all others in this field. No doubt, many a descriptive narrative would appear on his classical climb-down from his idealistic position of 'Green Revolution' to a corruption-riddled politics - ranging from his failure to stage the much-talked about 'script' to his unbridled political ambitions and to his limited grasp of national political realities. But that was yesterday - let bygones be bygones. Qadri should be welcomed to Pakistan's electoral politics. He said he needed 'support', which in electoral parlance means electable faces; he is in need of 'notes' (currency), which is never in short supply in Pakistan; and seeks votes, which can be arranged. That done it is one's earnest hope that Qadri would advise his followers to pack up whatever little is left of the 'dharna' in Islamabad - to help the city recover its semblance of the nation's capital. He wants his followers to be ready for elections within next three months, a difficult task certainly for an essentially religious entity to transform itself into a political enterprise with capacity to make both holy and unholy electoral alliances. Also, it remains to be seen if the capacity to inspire devotion and enthusiasm that Qadri displayed at his 'dharna' meetings and public rallies will play out on electoral campaign - because, many say, so far he had been addressing a captive audience of his committed followers in a sort of clinical ambience. But that is in the future, with unpredictable outcomes; of immense significance today is Qadri's departure from an unrealisable mission of 'revolution' to the world of practical politics. Yes, one may say he is one more power-seeker - so be it, the more the merrier.
But that said, the fact cannot be denied that Qadri, and for that matter Imran Khan, too, have shown the light on what we should have done as a polity; but we have not. For far too long the national political landscape has been monopolised by a bunch of political families. They are unchallenged custodians of the status quo, ever more determined to keep national politics a forbidden fruit for the newcomers. They tend to patronise dynastic politics, make political compromises, and prefer personal gains over national interests. Resultantly, despite being blessed with much inherent strength in terms of hardy manpower, rich natural resources and vital geostrategic location Pakistan remains economically poor, socially fragile and politically instable. We don't know if catapulted into power, Imran or Qadri would be different from the present governing lot. But we do believe that they are spot on when they say corruption is widespread, violence is rampant and justice is inaccessible. The finance minister may be absolutely right in saying that macroeconomic stability has been achieved and after six years the growth has crossed 4 percent mark. But what to say as we see today more beggars on the streets than ever before - perhaps, a confirmation of the general thinking that in today's Pakistan the rich are getting richer and the poor poorer. We don't think that Qadri's 10-point agenda is implementable in Pakistan today or anytime in near future; or if Imran has rightly asked for new elections just because of the electoral fraud in some constituencies in the last election. But we do believe that time has come that we should discuss these issues, come up with plausible solutions and seek their compliance. Imran and Qadri may or may not win the next election; who knows. But the fact cannot be denied that what they say is the idea whose time has come.