On July 25, I voted for the first time in Pakistan. During previous elections, I had unfortunately not been in the country. I arrived at the polling station around 11.30AM. A line of about 20 to 30 people stretched outside the gate.
“Are you stamping the lion?” I asked my fellow voters who had just joined the line behind me.
“No we’re voting for the PTI,” they said in unison. People in front of me were also PTI voters.
“We have tried everyone else. Might as well give him a chance. It’s his turn now. Let’s see,” a PTI supporter said. I have heard this reasoning from PTI supporters before. In fact, in any given election a proportion of the voters seem to use this logic for voting for their candidate.
“But we have been trying that formula for 70 years. It’s nothing new.” I said. To this they did not respond.
A convoy of land cruisers rolled up and parked across the street. A tall man, along with a few others, came out and started shaking hands with people. Apparently he was the PTI candidate for National Assembly. I thought about what I would say to him when he came up to me. Maybe something like this: “I am shaking your hand but I am afraid I am not voting for you because rumor has it that you are playing your innings with the help of the umpire.” Fortunately, or unfortunately, he did not make his way to me, shook a few hands and got back in his vehicle, waving his hand at us as he drove away. I did not see anyone wave back.
“I hope we see him again in the next five years,” one of his supporters said.
A Suzuki pickup with soldiers holding AK-47s came and parked in front of the gate. They had brought lunches in plastic boxes for the polling station staff. Someone said, “Here comes the biryani!”
I finally made it inside and was greeted by more soldiers holding AK-47s. After my name was located in the voter roll, I was directed to the right room. Thumb prints were taken and a small stamp, along with two forms, was given to me. While in the voting booth, I marveled at the power that small stamp held. In it contained the destiny of our country. I felt a sense of utter freedom, an unfettered opportunity to exercise my free will and individual choice. As I walked back after voting I thought that those who interfere with the sanctity of vote trample on sacred territory. And those who will be elected, one way or the other, must not forget that Pakistani citizens will be holding that little stamp in their hands in five years, if not sooner. The little thump that will be made by it in the voting booth will be heard far and wide.
In the evening results starting coming in and my vocabulary was increased by the term ‘polling agents.’ Allegations were flying around that polling agents had been shut outside the polling stations in many key locations. Several political parties cried foul and suddenly I felt that the sacred territory of the voting booth may not be so sacred after all. I felt my freedom was infringed upon and I felt violated.
I thought about the way things are in Pakistan and it made me sad. It seemed to me that the country has been going in circles for seventy years, unable to escape its perpetual orbit of under-performance. Take a bird’s eye view of Pakistan and you will see a country in an utter state of neglect. Governments have not been able to do the important work of development, especially human development.
Abraham Maslow, an American psychologist, proposed that we can aspire to higher endeavors only when our basic needs are met. We need to survive before we can thrive. How then can our governments strive for loftier goals when they seem always to be in a desperate struggle for survival? It’s hard to see far ahead when you have to keep looking over your shoulder.
I hope that the parties that are alleging rigging will pose a vibrant opposition in the parliament and demand accountability. I also hope that Imran Khan will prove to be an effective leader, and will deliver the much needed and promised change to the country. And I hope that together parliamentarians will establish the supremacy of parliament over all other institutions. I wish Pakistan good luck.
“Are you stamping the lion?” I asked my fellow voters who had just joined the line behind me.
“No we’re voting for the PTI,” they said in unison. People in front of me were also PTI voters.
“We have tried everyone else. Might as well give him a chance. It’s his turn now. Let’s see,” a PTI supporter said. I have heard this reasoning from PTI supporters before. In fact, in any given election a proportion of the voters seem to use this logic for voting for their candidate.
“But we have been trying that formula for 70 years. It’s nothing new.” I said. To this they did not respond.
A convoy of land cruisers rolled up and parked across the street. A tall man, along with a few others, came out and started shaking hands with people. Apparently he was the PTI candidate for National Assembly. I thought about what I would say to him when he came up to me. Maybe something like this: “I am shaking your hand but I am afraid I am not voting for you because rumor has it that you are playing your innings with the help of the umpire.” Fortunately, or unfortunately, he did not make his way to me, shook a few hands and got back in his vehicle, waving his hand at us as he drove away. I did not see anyone wave back.
“I hope we see him again in the next five years,” one of his supporters said.
A Suzuki pickup with soldiers holding AK-47s came and parked in front of the gate. They had brought lunches in plastic boxes for the polling station staff. Someone said, “Here comes the biryani!”
I finally made it inside and was greeted by more soldiers holding AK-47s. After my name was located in the voter roll, I was directed to the right room. Thumb prints were taken and a small stamp, along with two forms, was given to me. While in the voting booth, I marveled at the power that small stamp held. In it contained the destiny of our country. I felt a sense of utter freedom, an unfettered opportunity to exercise my free will and individual choice. As I walked back after voting I thought that those who interfere with the sanctity of vote trample on sacred territory. And those who will be elected, one way or the other, must not forget that Pakistani citizens will be holding that little stamp in their hands in five years, if not sooner. The little thump that will be made by it in the voting booth will be heard far and wide.
Allegations were flying around that polling agents had been shut outside the polling stations in many key locations. Several political parties cried foul and suddenly I felt that the sacred territory of the voting booth may not be so sacred after all
In the evening results starting coming in and my vocabulary was increased by the term ‘polling agents.’ Allegations were flying around that polling agents had been shut outside the polling stations in many key locations. Several political parties cried foul and suddenly I felt that the sacred territory of the voting booth may not be so sacred after all. I felt my freedom was infringed upon and I felt violated.
I thought about the way things are in Pakistan and it made me sad. It seemed to me that the country has been going in circles for seventy years, unable to escape its perpetual orbit of under-performance. Take a bird’s eye view of Pakistan and you will see a country in an utter state of neglect. Governments have not been able to do the important work of development, especially human development.
Abraham Maslow, an American psychologist, proposed that we can aspire to higher endeavors only when our basic needs are met. We need to survive before we can thrive. How then can our governments strive for loftier goals when they seem always to be in a desperate struggle for survival? It’s hard to see far ahead when you have to keep looking over your shoulder.
I hope that the parties that are alleging rigging will pose a vibrant opposition in the parliament and demand accountability. I also hope that Imran Khan will prove to be an effective leader, and will deliver the much needed and promised change to the country. And I hope that together parliamentarians will establish the supremacy of parliament over all other institutions. I wish Pakistan good luck.