Say something new, dear prime minister!
This is what I wanted to convey to Prime Minister Imran Khan before the Mandi Bahauddin rally on Friday. He should give up a preference for repetition. That is a tedious theatrical device in public speaking. The public wants to listen to a new speech, novel claims, new promises, and a new roar.
The Mandi Bahauddin rally, however, brought out a pleasant surprise when the prime minister admitted that letting Nawaz Sharif flee was one of his severest political mistakes.
Every one of us has committed mistakes in the past and will keep doing so in the future, but very few of us have the heart to take responsibility for our sins.
The very brave gesture by the prime minister reminded me of a wise saying by Vishwas Chavan, who writes, “Admitting a mistake is not a weakness; on the contrary, it shows the openness of your heart. It takes guts to say sorry. Only a strong and well-balanced individual with clarity of mind can do so effortlessly. Taking responsibility for your actions requires and develops your self-control. You become your own person.”
The prime minister, however, did not go into detail on how he misjudged the circumstances to commit this mistake or what the consequences were of this ‘political blunder’ he faced in the wake of allowing Nawaz Sharif to go abroad for treatment.
Sometimes, an act that we deem a grave mistake, turns out to be a blessing in disguise at a point of time in the future.
Politics is a trade of constant evolution. Nothing is permanent in political games, neither friends nor foes. Not even goals.
Hopefully, next time, we will also hear from the prime minister that his repetitive claims to retrieve ‘country’s looted wealth’ from ‘enemy leaders’ were also a waste of time.
The dollars stashed in foreign banks do not fly back to Pakistan without installing the required legal framework.
Similarly, he would one day admit that calling out the opposition a ‘gang of thieves’ was uncalled for. He would say that it is the job of courts to call a thief, a thief. He would tell the future politicians that they need a strong prosecution team to get thieves convicted.
In the same breath, the prime minister would regret his familiar refrain of ‘no NRO for looters’. When a prime minister says publicly that he is empowered with granting an NRO to anyone, any time, it implies his absolute power.
And “Ethics and oversight are what you eliminate when you have absolute power.”
If PM Imran’s speeches are overloaded with the tedious device of repetition, the speeches of the House of Sharifs and the House of Bhuttos are equally accused of forcing the boring repetitive stuff upon us.
If you listen to Nawaz Sharif a couple of times, you would learn the maps of motorways of Pakistan by heart. Shahbaz Sharif’s speeches are all about free laptops for students and metro and Orange Line Train besides ‘aik dhaily ke bi corruption nahi kee’.
Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and all PPP leaders from Karachi to Khyber do not forget to tell us about the sacrifices of their party leaders and the landmark 18th Amendment.
It is the time our political leaders spent quality times with the commoners, and they would know that the public is talking about TV drama ‘Parizaad’, Erin Holland’s dressing during PSL matches, Chahat Ali Khan’s internet-crashing voice, and of course, memes on petrol prices. Life is more beautiful and more difficult than the political speeches made at press conferences, seminars and rallies.
That’s how life goes on!
