It is a moment of awakening for political parties. The recent PML-N defeat in Punjab by-election in their own home base should have shaken many high and mighty PML-N leaders. They should have huddled and come up with new plans. Rather they chose to play unfair games again, leaving all moral grounds aside.
Considered one of the most experienced, senior and respected politicians Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, the head of PML-Q played a ‘below the belt’ trick by sending a letter to the deputy speaker of the Punjab assembly to not count votes of his own party members if voted in favour of his own party member and a ‘cousin’. A weird request indeed.
It has generated yet another embarrassing moment in Pakistan, where politics is either daubed as a mere game of inanity or a banana republic, where these types of tricks are usually played to keep power. Pakistan requires a complete overhaul and a makeover of its political culture starting from the political parties and their internal culture moving on to the provincial and national landscape.
It is time when most of the veteran politicians should now consider taking back seats and redesign structures of these parties in a new revamped form. Take positives out of it and make changes to the basic political structure. Modern politics have knocked on their doors and if not answered in a timely manner, the politics of Grand Old Parties will be dead and buried for good in Pakistan.
The one and only option left for the political parties of Pakistan to regain some space in the real realm of governance is to hold internal elections without prejudice and nepotism.
The PML-N should conduct a large-scale exercise of party elections countrywide with all leading positions open for competition. The traditional heavy weight personalities like, Nawaz Sharif, Shehbaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz should recuse themselves from this contest and should not run for any significant roles, they can still keep themselves in an advisory role. A new wave of leadership should take over the party reins.
The same goes for the PPP, they should also hold their general party elections on the same lines and let other party members run the party. There should not be Asif Zardari, Bilawal Bhutto or Asifa Bhutto running for any party office. They should let new fresh blood come in and take charge. It is quite evident that the ‘chip off the old block’ politicians have to go backstage otherwise they will be rejected yet again.
The same advice should be given to the PTI. However, the charm in Imran Khan’s person, the so called charisma of his leadership, oration and the cult following which was recently given a new life after his ouster as PM is too hard to challenge within his party. One does not think that the PTI following would even be ready to listen to the option of this top change. Still the prudent way for them is to conduct party elections and let others run the party. The PTI has the youngest members around in comparison to other more conventional and traditional parties. They can be groomed at an early stage to take matters on a positive path for the country.
There would be a valid argument that from the time when leadership of the MQM was taken over by other MQM leaders, leaving their supremo Altaf Hussain out, the party could not get the same significance as it enjoyed when Hussain was around, their electorate has been hurt considerably. The factional breakage destroyed the MQM political clout. But that is a case of pure emotional attachment to the cause Altaf Hussain initiated at the ripe time. This is not the case with other political parties.
The voter awareness of politics is at its peak, and the by-election results showed that they are not happy with tried and tested parties. They chose to go the other way. Punjab political landscape not only indicated a drastic change but also provided an opportunity for hoary politicians to look inwards and do their homework.
The PPP is already limited to rural Sindh and has become a regional party. It does not look like they have a chance to become the party that they once were, which was strong in all the provinces. With the PTI’s onslaught, the PML-N is now losing in its home towns of Punjab and will reduce to something they could not foresee some years ago.
It is time to rethink the strategies of modern politics as the old school politics is history now. Take lessons from the UK politics and the recent change of guard there.
Considered one of the most experienced, senior and respected politicians Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, the head of PML-Q played a ‘below the belt’ trick by sending a letter to the deputy speaker of the Punjab assembly to not count votes of his own party members if voted in favour of his own party member and a ‘cousin’. A weird request indeed.
It has generated yet another embarrassing moment in Pakistan, where politics is either daubed as a mere game of inanity or a banana republic, where these types of tricks are usually played to keep power. Pakistan requires a complete overhaul and a makeover of its political culture starting from the political parties and their internal culture moving on to the provincial and national landscape.
It is time when most of the veteran politicians should now consider taking back seats and redesign structures of these parties in a new revamped form. Take positives out of it and make changes to the basic political structure. Modern politics have knocked on their doors and if not answered in a timely manner, the politics of Grand Old Parties will be dead and buried for good in Pakistan.
It has generated yet another embarrassing moment in Pakistan, where politics is either daubed as a mere game of inanity or a banana republic, where these types of tricks are usually played to keep power.
The one and only option left for the political parties of Pakistan to regain some space in the real realm of governance is to hold internal elections without prejudice and nepotism.
The PML-N should conduct a large-scale exercise of party elections countrywide with all leading positions open for competition. The traditional heavy weight personalities like, Nawaz Sharif, Shehbaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz should recuse themselves from this contest and should not run for any significant roles, they can still keep themselves in an advisory role. A new wave of leadership should take over the party reins.
The same goes for the PPP, they should also hold their general party elections on the same lines and let other party members run the party. There should not be Asif Zardari, Bilawal Bhutto or Asifa Bhutto running for any party office. They should let new fresh blood come in and take charge. It is quite evident that the ‘chip off the old block’ politicians have to go backstage otherwise they will be rejected yet again.
The same advice should be given to the PTI. However, the charm in Imran Khan’s person, the so called charisma of his leadership, oration and the cult following which was recently given a new life after his ouster as PM is too hard to challenge within his party. One does not think that the PTI following would even be ready to listen to the option of this top change. Still the prudent way for them is to conduct party elections and let others run the party. The PTI has the youngest members around in comparison to other more conventional and traditional parties. They can be groomed at an early stage to take matters on a positive path for the country.
The one and only option left for the political parties of Pakistan to regain some space in the real realm of governance is to hold internal elections without prejudice and nepotism.
There would be a valid argument that from the time when leadership of the MQM was taken over by other MQM leaders, leaving their supremo Altaf Hussain out, the party could not get the same significance as it enjoyed when Hussain was around, their electorate has been hurt considerably. The factional breakage destroyed the MQM political clout. But that is a case of pure emotional attachment to the cause Altaf Hussain initiated at the ripe time. This is not the case with other political parties.
The voter awareness of politics is at its peak, and the by-election results showed that they are not happy with tried and tested parties. They chose to go the other way. Punjab political landscape not only indicated a drastic change but also provided an opportunity for hoary politicians to look inwards and do their homework.
The PPP is already limited to rural Sindh and has become a regional party. It does not look like they have a chance to become the party that they once were, which was strong in all the provinces. With the PTI’s onslaught, the PML-N is now losing in its home towns of Punjab and will reduce to something they could not foresee some years ago.
It is time to rethink the strategies of modern politics as the old school politics is history now. Take lessons from the UK politics and the recent change of guard there.