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Monday, April 22, 2013

Politics...hogwash!!

I don't think there ever has been a time when I haven't avoided discussing politics. In fact, I've lived a typical life of an Air Force kid. I'll explain. Growing up in an Air Force family is like growing up in a very comfortable shell with everything accounted for. My only worries used to be to somehow get home in time for gully (street) Cricket. Politics...psshh...that was for the 'outside' world, a very foreign concept not worthy of casual talk or being discussed over tea. My parents were more occupied by how well the children were doing at studies. And well, me being the 'brightest' of the lot, ended up winning their attention the most; don't know if I should feel elated or depressed. Anyhow, it might come to everyone as a shock, but I didn't even know my own father's political affiliation until very recently. And this made me realize that I've never had a discussion on politics with my parents. Or for that matter, with my brothers or cousins. 

The question that pops in to my mind is that why are the Forces' kids 'protected' from everything political? Was it not deemed important enough as a part of our upbringing? How come that people serving Pakistan end up estranging their own children with constant sermons about how rotten the country has become, and how we should plan to leave for USA, UK or Australia? Now, please don't get me wrong, I have no regrets whatsoever as to how I've been brought up. Alhamdulilah, I have amazingly loving, caring and awesome parents. Whatever they did was to give me a shot at a better and more secure life, and maybe that's exactly why I'm able to sit here today and write all this. But had I been in Pakistan, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be so passionate about the current political scenario in the country. However, I do give credit to Imran Khan for slapping me out of the apolitical slumber I've been in all my life. Let me put it this way, had I been in Pakistan with no Khan in the picture, I would've definitely not been as politically aware as I am now. 

Now, the questions that I outlined earlier; could this be the main reason why Pakistan has had the kind of politicians it has had in its history? Politics was never thought to be a lucrative and successful option by our parents or us. No wonder the country went to the dogs. If all the cream of a country ends up pursuing their respective professions, the list of which does not include politics, then what else should we expect? Thirty years Pakistan has been ruled by bloody gumboots. Would it have been possible for us to turn out different had our parents not allowed Gumboot # 1 take over, or taken the streets in protest against the treatment of our East Pakistanis and somehow avoided the debacle of 1971?

I hope Imran Khan is successful in achieving his dream of Naya Pakistan. Maybe he gives us, especially the overseas Pakistanis, the strength to stand up for truth and justice, and most importantly, the will to travel back to Pakistan. I would love to seem my children experience exactly what I did when I was a kid. I would want them to grow up with exactly the same principles and morals that my parents instilled in me. I would be thrilled to somehow develop the confidence to consider politics a career option for my child.

I probably could've gone on much longer on this subject but I won't. The past needs to be forgotten before a future is to be created. Dwelling on the mistakes made by our older generations is as futile as dreaming what could've been had Quaid-e-Azam lived a few more years.

Elections are merely 19 days away. After a very long time, Pakistan's future finally seems to be in our hands. I have a gut feeling that a lot is about to change. I request all of you to vote while keeping honesty, truth and justice in mind. Please do not vote for family affiliations. Please do not vote just because your own family would reap the advantages of a specific party coming to power. Please, I beg you please, VOTE FOR PAKISTAN!

May Allah keep all of us safe and give us the strength to stand up for Pakistan's better future. May Allah help Imran Khan in his mission to revive Pakistan and make it into the country envisioned by our dearest Quaid. And may Allah help us and our children experience that Naya Pakistan.

Pakistan Zindabad, Imran Khan Paindabad.

Absolutely!

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