The unthinkable has happened

15 to 5 is the score. That was what was predicted by everybody before the Punjab elections and isn’t that happened? The score was right, but the party who got it was wrong. The pundits had said that the PMLN will get 15 and the PTI 5 seats. The opposite happened. Normally a reversal of predictions starts the allegations plethora – maybe it was rigged or tampered. Surprisingly, nothing happened this time. The opposition has accepted defeat. The sceptics are short of scapegoats, especially putting it on the collusion with the establishment. The analysts and pundits are dumbfounded. Nobody is really sure of what happened and are still finding it difficult to admit that whatever happened should happen every time in a real democracy. The voice and vote of the people should be stronger.

In the past, democratic governments have given in to the fact that establishment is part of the government and have let them control many important areas. Thus force and manoeuvring has been used directly or indirectly to rule Pakistan. The fact that both democratic party leaders in Pakistan were trained by dictators, and their party leaders served them in martial law governments made them start with a handicap. The mindset of force, enforcing, engineering and manipulating has been dominant from the beginning. Public choice and voice mattered just enough to make a pretence of democracy. Both these parties made the public immune to the dynastic perpetuation of power. It was understood that the brothers and then their sons and daughters will hold top positions. Scams on corruption were rampant and were used only to blackmail each other. The establishment was privy to this plundering but let it be in order to tame their power. The pattern of coming into power through manipulation, making cosmetic projects, crying hollow about other parties’ corruption and then either escaping abroad or waiting for their turn in opposition. This went on for almost six decades till the third option became an option. Imran Khan, the leader of the third option, has a history of turning the impossible into possible. Let us see how all the impossibilities became possible to create history in Pakistan:

1. ECP in chaos – ECP’s planned electoral exit of PTI is something that is evident from social media pots. The Chief Election Commissioner has postponed local body and by-elections in Sindh due to rain. He has not yet announced the foreign funding case decision.

2. Jittery media – Another power house is the electronic media. Anchors were used to making or break news and leaders. Media houses with their viewership clout and backing of the government or establishment were king makers. When unhappy, they would just paint the party of the leader black. Any anchors not towing the establishment line were just asked to leave. Not so any longer. Electronic media is not the main media now. Anchors have started their own YouTube channels. Viewers have made definite choices and voluntarily shifted from channels they do not want to see. This has made the media and those anchors who towed the line jittery. The big media names have seen their social media following crumble. Those anchors who have refused to give in to their media and establishment bosses have seen their YouTube following spiral. It is money after all. When anchors get more money by following viewer trends than their boss’s trends, they will turn away. Thus, some anchors have taken a bold stand but others are following suit, not just because of a stand, but because of money they lose if they do not. This is the impact of the public opinion that was just a by-stander a few years ago.

3. Silent civil society – The select intellectuals of the country in their professional capacity of lawyers, consultants and opinion makers are strangely silent. They called themselves liberals and would take the high stand of either governance not being right or anti-establishment to raise an intellectual uproar. Presently, after the by-election, they can neither call these elections rigged or engineered, nor praise the superior performance of the government. They are looking irrelevant.

4. Roaring public – The public is ecstatic at this victory. The rush of blood at having taken such an active part in elections and then defeating all forces is heady. They are ready to move forward. Normally public votes and then goes back to their lives in a resigned way. This is perhaps the biggest gain out of the PTI movement that the public’s self-belief has changed. They are ahead of the game. They are outmanoeuvring the political game plan and are ready to take the future of the country in their own hands.

The 20 by-elections are a real turning point in the history of this country. The voice of the people is louder than the voice of institutions, media and the narrative fabricators. The power of this united public is forcing all undefeatable forces to retrieve, revise and review. The media is unable to ‘dictate’. The institutions are unable to implement their ‘rule’. Few months ago, this was unthinkable. Now the unthinkable has happened.

The writer is a columnist, consultant, coach, and an analyst