Power Greedy Uncles

“He who does not desire power is fit to hold it.” —Plato. These wise words haven’t ever made it to our hierarchies speeches or to their hearts. Even Netflix cannot offer such a suspenseful thriller where the antagonists in their lust for power topple the pillars of integrity. But this is Pakistan, a ‘package’ that you get along with being born here is the element of surprise. Surprise, that how much more harm can the ones above cause.

Let’s not talk about the nitty grit-ties of this other package making circles, as many have been doing it for weeks, many who are far more knowledgeable. Let’s talk about power, because isn’t that what is being sought here. All this upheaval in pursuit of absolute, unbridled power. It is amusing how these politicians already get away with everything, yet they need more power.

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Now here’s a scenario; you start getting bullied at school by this one child. First you report it to your teacher, who has authority to change your seat and who makes sure that in her supervision you are safe. However, that boy starts bullying you outside the classroom where there is no teacher. The bully becomes unavoidable, so you run to the principal’s office who has the authority to completely get rid of the bully and expel him. Hence your problem is solved, adios to the bully you can finally live in peace.

But then the bully returns. This time around the bully comes in with a new principal and through that principle he also gets rid of the good teacher. The other teacher that comes in, is now scared to protect you because the bully knows the principle, and the principal is always on her toes, trying not to lose her job and staying in the bullies good books. Seems like a scenario where one might ask what kind of school are you running?

Well, forget the school, this is the kind of country that our politicians will be running from now onwards. Unchallenged authority and complete impunity for them just like the bully—one who operates without consequence. They desire a system where accountability is absent, not that it has been present for most of the time around here. However, the few times it could be relied on, and one had some hope that a politician could be summoned for their deeds by the court, has been shattered as they have succeeded to build a system where they answer to no one.

This pursuit of unchecked power has long been a hallmark of our political hierarchy, entrenched deeply over the years, time and again they have tried to clench absolute power. In their quest they have formed alternative routes to these esteemed offices, made the famous dining room deals and have even exploited the common people. We become mere pawns in their relentless quest for supremacy, when they incite chaos, orchestrating unrest in the streets, all to secure their personal ambition.

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And now, the country, already sundered in parts, lies at the hands of power greedy uncles with shady backgrounds consisting of everything but little to no education.

This amendment is a thinly veiled exercise in futility, lacking any substantive merit. What should be haunting for a citizen is all the duplicity and cunningness these politicians exhibit. From creating alternative routes to the prime ministers seat to taming the judiciary, they still won’t settle. Because in their belief these offices and seats have been left for them to inherit by their ancestors who walked this land before them, who carried the same name as they carry, who blared the same slogans that they blare and who too failed miserably to hold onto their promises.

So, the country will find itself in the same dark predicament it has for years until we find someone who is free from the thirst for power. Can one hope that all the Supreme Court justices combined will reject a position as high as the chief justice and protest this hostile take-over? But why hope when around here, there isn’t a soul that does not desire power.

Even during my time at law school, I observed that many of my peers pursued their law degrees primarily for the sense of power, security, and pride it conferred—qualities they believed were fundamental to existence in Pakistan. This perception fostered a notion of invulnerability, rendering them seemingly untouchable. For me it was a layer of disgust to say the most.

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Now this notion of being untouchable comes from the hostile environment created by the hierarchy. It’s more of a survivalist mindset, ‘eat or get eaten,’ given the reality that one can be wronged here without receiving justice, individuals often feel compelled to assert dominance over others whenever possible. So, to hope that someone in the hierarchy will be able to deject the notion of power in their hands and rather serve the country right, is a hope that might make angels cry and saints swear.

The urge to have it all in our leaders has been a grave danger for us. However, if there is something that history has proved, is that the uncles decisions come back one way or the other to haunt them, for some even in their graves. The trajectory has always been the same, one uncle brings on another uncle to share with him a powerful position and over time both the uncles get grumpy and start envying each other. This amounts to either one of the uncles stripping off the other from their position. Now these uncles have added another layer, that being the judiciary, to play along with them a game of who gets grumpier and who is striped of first.

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