The Pakistani Spectator

These are very defining times for the country and much is happening on many fronts simultaneously and it has become hard to keep the fingers on the pulse of the matters. Though I am not pretending that I belong to that elite class who is privy to the whispers made in the labyrinth of the power in Islamabad and elsewhere, it is quite obvious, if the history of Pakistan politics is any guide, that when nothing seems to be happening on front, much is boiling inside.

Faint whispers are being heard about the mid term polls. Most of these muffled voices belong to Pakistan People’s Party, the ruling party. Sifting through the rumors and the allusion being aired through the TV talk shows and the newspaper column is not easy, yet it can be felt that change is in the offing, though not in the very near future. Establishment is not that much happy the way things are being run by the current politicos and their patience is running out fast.

Corruption is becoming order of the day, and as one media reports says: One minister has been accused in the media of trying to buy a ship way beyond its purported price and another of running a dodgy foreign-exchange company. Some friends of the president, particularly those directly involved in running this or that organisation, are also acquiring a bad reputation.

Someone has aptly put it that, “Governance must have a moral basis, otherwise it degenerates into cynical chicanery.”

Fretting about the increasing violence, disorder and discontent across the country has become a routine and now corruption stories of the ruling elite is getting louder day by day. The sheer failure of the Zardari administration to provide peace, law and order, electricity, business, jobs, health, education and stability is leaving little room for the establishment to not to interfere. Get ready for the midterm polls in Pakistan. May be in 2010.