All political parties in the country are national assets and have to be protected, nourished and made to grow progressively. Lately the nation is indebted to PTI and IK in particular for bringing about the much needed awareness and the accountability. Lets evaluate the three major parties to begin with. PPP is a party of waderas and the rich. Has a mixture of seasoned and cultured politicians who mostly are thugs and swindlers.
They have the following of the rural Sindh becuse the masses there have been suppressed by the waderas and can not get out of their clutches. The y like to keep them that way being their power base. With Bilawal and likes coming into the fore front it has chances of having a more progressive out look. A far fetched dream. PML(N), the largest of the political party because of its strong base in Punjab which is 56% of Pakistan. The party largely draws its strength from its founder leader MNS. A party of land lords and industrialists and well to do and who are the local heads of their respective bradries. The followers are the 70% farmers of Punjab, the poor and 60% of the middle class. They also have recognizable representation in KPK and Baluchistan and majority in AJK and GB. PTI is the new hope for the Pakistanis and especially the youth . Its got the charismatic leadership of IK, its followers have pinned their hopes in. Take him out and there is no party left worth its name. He is the only driving engine. PTI is trying to do what PPP did in the 70s.
While one can not help giving credit to PTI for bringing about the present awareness amongst the masses and throwing a challenge to the two major parties in the country. Good its certainly going to have a positive contribution and make every thing competitive. Competition is good in all walks of life. It helps improve things so politics is no acceptation.
Let me focus now on the option that I will like to follow and this should act as a guide line for others to follow with their respective parties that they support. Its all meant for the betterment of Pakistan so there should be no hart burns.
PML(N) is the party that i support. Its a party that the nation has invested in for more than three decades and today has the largest vote count. My option is to bring about positive changes in the party instead of jumping the wagon to PTI because it seems to be more progressive and full of vigor. The party (N) needs to have greater participation and be collective in its approach. The family dominance has to end. It has to have the right mix of experience , knowledge and youth.
Has to have greater acceptability for the females and youth. Has to have a progressive and modern out look and become the party of all times. It has to shed the stigma of being known as the patwari party. Has to shed its religious tilt and represent all walks of life and faiths. It must become more soft in its out look and more democratic in its deeds. The civilian dictatorship has to be shun. It must learn to take along all organs of the state.
It has to shun the vip culture and become more participative . It must find its way into the masses and address their concerns more than the mega projects it has focused on. It must have strong accountability and become intolerant of corruption at any level. It has to uplift the 70% of the lower and middle class and bring it at par with the upper middle class. It must lay emphasis on social uplift, provision of water, health care, education, justice at door step, peace and job opportunities. The price of living has to become affordable for the 40% living below the poverty line. It has to bring about control on the population growth and bring it down to 1.5 instead of the 2.4.It has to build dams, schools and colleges and universities and hospitals in each Thesil of the country. It has to give hope to the masses and realize its goals set. It needs to treat other parts of Pakistan at par with Lahore.
Wishing all the political parties best of luck in their future en devours for the better they perform the better it would be for Pakistan.
M IBRAHIM KHAN,
Islamabad, June 24.