The Pakistani Spectator

On political leaders what hopes can we fix?

They are wedded to dust, in the dust play their tricks,

Their gaze always fastened on maggots and flies,

A web like the spider’s their ladder to rise.

That caravan’s happy whose chief is endowed

With thoughts high as angels’, and temper as proud.

Hope is kindled by belief. Belief is a fragment of the ability to perceive, to see and to remain steadfast in your power of optimism. As per Dr. Mohammad Allama Iqbal, ‘politicians’ are not less than parasites; one of those treacherous parasites who are bent on spewing their plans, no matter what the cost.

Unfortunately for us, politicians have always been tantamount to this branch of microorganisms that are bent on our destruction. It’s long past the time for us to pin all our blames on the government. More than 62 years have passed and still we have not awakened from the slumber for which Iqbal gave his life.

The government of a country represents the nation. Nation is a collective form of the individuals. Every individual in one way or another plays a major part in bringing about a change. Our people have sunk to immoral deeds. From the officers to the clerks, no ounce of honesty or a sense of doing something for the ‘good of the country’ is left in us. We are just empty shells with no soul; hard on the exterior and useless in the interior.

There is a lot of clanging we do by discussing politics in our drawing rooms. But, none of us has the backbone to stand up and actually do something about it. We need to remedy ourselves first and then make others aware of what’s going on.

Where is the ‘khudi’ Iqbal talked about? Where is the will and enthusiasm which brought Pakistan into being?

Many of us still cling onto this word ‘hope’. Indeed, there is hope but if we want to revolutionize ourselves. Merely hope will not take us far nor will it take us out of this darkness. We have been hoping for so many years; what good has this done?

There is this saying ‘God helps those who help themselves’. Now the question is this: Are we ready to help ourselves? If we are, then we should be affirmed that indeed God is with us and we are on the right track. If not, then now is the time to think along these lines.