I have had the privilege of being brought up in a family, where my late grandfather and his son (my late maternal uncle) both sat on the bench – one before Independence and the other after Pakistan’s birth. I have seen how they went about the business of dispensing justice adhering to the principle that “justice must not only be done, but must appear to have been done” and how “legal and natural justice must always coincide”.

The honorable judges of our Apex Court must have had good reasons to issue stays on Election Tribunal decisions and in one recent case overturn a verdict. In my opinion as a citizen (who holds the judiciary in great regard), but who reserves the right to freedom of expression granted to him by the Constitution, the orders of the Election Tribunal may have generated better long term effects on our national scenario. The outcome of re-elections in the affected constituencies would have set to rest controversies linked to General Elections 2013.

The exercise would also have silenced politics of agitation and cooled farcical oral dueling on media. Nonetheless, the focus of the entire nation is now on the battle for NA 122. I only hope that the de-seated PML N candidate, who has shown great grace so far, adds to his image by letting the people’s court decide on who represents the constituency in the National Assembly.

Somehow our political culture took a wrong turn and voting became subservient to cast, creed, ethnic cum tribal affiliation and ‘kinship’, instead of issues. Political animosity rose to a level where elected members of parliament deliberately ignored the needs of communities that had voted for the other party. In doing so they did not realize that a fair amount of their own voters resided in those communities and this neglect may cost them their ballot.

I have written much about the state of the Pakistani nation and have sometimes received scathing criticism for ‘showing the mirror’. It was during the last general elections that I asked my gardener if he was going to exercise his right to vote, to which he said yes. I then asked him as to his choice of party. He hesitated for a second and then named one. Not ready to give up, what could be grist for my weekly piece, I mentioned that his momentary hesitation indicated that he was perhaps not doing so willingly. He was honest enough to admit that this was so, but added that he had no other option as his entire ‘biradari’ was voting for a particular candidate.

If politics is the act of being immature then our politicians are most qualified to play the game. I put this question to an old friend, who is now deeply involved in promoting his party interests in rural Faisalabad. He laughed, slapped me (a little too strongly) on my back and said that I was as naïve as a child. I must have given him one of my scathing looks for he sobered up and said that every politician played to the gallery and acted in a manner that was required of him by his vote bank. When I responded by saying that this by implication meant that a major part of the Pakistani nation was ‘immature and frivolous’, he shrugged and refrained from saying anything that might have incriminated him. I saw a sample of this undignified frivolity on the last holiday of Eid. Stuck in bumper to bumper traffic on Murree Road, with no policeman in sight, I noticed vehicles zigzagging amongst vehicles violating all rules of the road, while their occupants (male, female, young and old) applauded their drivers with shouts of encouragement.

I am not against entertainment, but entertainment at the cost of decency, dignity and breaking the law in a manner that it may cause harm to those who are inclined to follow rules is definitely not my cup of tea. I wonder if we will ever learn to carry ourselves well. Perhaps we are all looking up to our public representatives - for a change in them may initiate a change in us.