Changes in Pakistan?

The absence of the left in Pakistan has been an unmarked tragedy.

The imbalance has shifted the nation towards a conservative bent, which without any counter-balancing perspective, has become intolerant and reactionary to any difference of opinion. Conservatism in Pakistan has come to mean an absence of political space, where a dialogue can take place and in this vacuum only a status-quo of mediocrity exists. The uni-polarity of political opinions in Pakistan has seen the death of an idea; the tradition of dissent.

The blame for the death of the left or the tradition of dissent in Pakistan lies with the purveyors of the status-quo in Pakistan. Status-quo in Pakistan in hopes to save a niche for itself, has compromised so much and so much away that now, when the status-quo itself is under threat, it has nothing left to compromise anymore. The lords of status-quo still think that despite everything, they can still preserve their little niche of life in Pakistan, but they do not seem to realize that the ground beneath their feet is slowly slipping away.

Whether we admit or we may wish to deny, the nation is moving towards something exciting and frightening at the same time. It may not be a historic moment, but it will be one of those moments that the historians will discuss long after we have gone from this world. The nation of Pakistan is a young nation and the majority of its people are young people and they are not happy with their lot in life.

If and when the status-quo changes in Pakistan, it will be because the people of Pakistan refused to accept their place within it. They are refusing the ways of the old and demanding compliance with the social contract they believed they had signed a long time ago. When the old world, in Pakistan, will die and change, those of us caught in the middle of its dying agonies might not be even aware or realize the importance of the experience itself.

Experience is hindsight. How many of us who might have witnessed the end of the ancien regime and have stepped into the new world, will realize or even be able to identify that moment; that event; that voice; that word; that deed; that solitary act of defiance that forever changed our world?

The time to walk with our eyes closed has gone and we better start to pay attention to what is happening around us.