One Ace too many

5 years ago if someone told me that the next general elections would have the Shareefs sweating in their waist-coats i would have guided the poor gentleman to the nearest psychiatric clinic and recommended some Xanax.

 Afterall why would the ‘Lions of Punjab’ need to worry about claiming something which they almost considered a ‘birthright’.

So what changed in 5 years? Which monumental blunder is the PML-N paying for ? Why is it that they find themselves cornered by the very people (the educated middle class) they thought would never question their authority? Well the answer is not what the Shareefs did but what they “didn’t”.

A stalwart will pompously tell you that “Mian Saab” is a much better option than the unashamedly corrupt PPP. That all the woes of his country, his province, his city, even his mohalla are attributable to a government who held on to power by a narrow majority and some very slippery friends. That there was nothing anyone could do as half-wits were made ministers and the coffers almost bled dry. That “Mian Saab” did the best he could to keep turmoil at bay (if he does go there please point out that Mian Saab’s best was pathetic even by his standards).

Of the many things that President Zardari should be thankful for enabling his party’s five year term, The PML-N is likely to be on top of the list. Not just during the honeymoon, when Zardari and Mian Saab declared themselves blood brothers, but even after the falling out, perhaps no one lent more credibility to the government than the PML-N. In the beginning it was bamboozling how an opposition party with 66 strong law makers in parliament could could allow this country to be subjected to the most disgraceful bout of corruption extremism and lawlessness in living memory. What happened to the good old days when something stinked the opposition would get on their seats and pelt the speaker with eggs?

Granted the PML-N had to be patient. Democracy had just taken root and a couple of billion dollars in corruption, mosque bombings, church bombings and rolling black outs was nothing to make a fuss about, was it ? No, it was much more sensible to sit on the sidelines and let the PPP’s incompetence and impunity enhance your prospects for power in the next elections. If you needed to remind the masses who the good guys were, you could always distribute a few hundred thousand laptops out of funds allocated for providing basic education.

That almost sums up the Shareefs contribution to Pakistan in the last 5 years. It’s hardly surprising that the term “Noora Kushti” coined by IK himself has caught on so well, what is surprising though is how most people still don’t consider the PML-N equally to blame for the car crash the last 5 years were.

Maybe it’s down to the elegantly composed campaign commercials or the overwhelming distrust of the PPP, but whatever the reason is, it is not enough to send the masses in the arms of the PML-N in droves. In Punjab people are beginning to ask questions (“How dare they”). The entire PML-N campaign has been a knee jerk reaction to the rise of the PTI as a voice for change. In the beginning they implied that the PTI would only ensure that the PPP is elected to power again, but the effect is wearing off. People are beginning to ask “is there really any difference between the PPP and the PML-N?”. Whether or not that question is asked frequently enough in the coming days remains to be seen, but what is certain is that these elections will not be a walk in the park that Mian Saab thought when he decided not to pelt the speaker with eggs 5 years ago.