History of ‘Cycle’ as election symbol

No pun intended, but it seems that somebody has really lost all hope in ‘Cycle’ this time! Now we know that this is not supposed to be a politically-inspired column but at times one just feels like indulging.

The ‘Cycle’ shot into prominence when late General Zia-ul-Haq gave it a try, riding the two wheeler in full uniform for a ‘City Tour.’

Before starting the ‘energy saving’ plan, he also announced that in future he would be going from ‘Army House’ (residence) to his office in the ‘Presidency’ daily on bicycle. He started pedalling from the Army House and biked his way towards ‘Raja Bazaar’.

On the way he also had a few ‘stopovers’ (breathers) where he distributed ‘atta’ bags among people. Strange isn’t it! Whenever Pakistan is cooperating with the US there is a wheat crisis here!

He did not go alone on the bicycle tour of the city. He was followed in the tracks by the then ISPR director general and his ADC, also on bikes, as he headed towards the City Saddar Road where the ‘media’ was waiting for him.

However, his plans were badly interrupted by a series of disastrous events. While he was just short of the media group waiting for his arrival the news about the attack on ‘Khana Kaaba’ in Saudi Arabia spread like a jungle fire. (Electronic media could not be blamed for breaking that story!)

The news immediately sparked violent protests in which the American Embassy, the American Center and the Bank of America offices were attacked and set on fire by agitating mobs. ‘General Sahib’ was forced to abandon his cycling expedition. Probably that was the last time (and may the first as well) that the chief of the army staff-president of Pakistan rode a bike!

However, we were ‘told’ to believe that ‘General Sahib’ was very popular among the masses and fully enjoyed this adventure, thus we published front page stories and pictures of ‘General Sahib’ in all

newspapers. Only PTV was available as the ‘electronic media’ at that time.

However a ‘very small segment’ (may be a 100 or so million people) of society expressed their displeasure over ‘General Sahib’s’ adventurous ride. A few thousands of them who were ‘advised’ to stay away from the route through which ‘General Sahib’ was to pass, was particularly furious.

May be it was the first time in the country’s history that people wrote and read so much about ‘Cycle’. Well, we must not forget the famous ‘Mirza Ki Bicycle’, one of the most popular short stories by the legendary satirist, Syed Ahmed Shah Pitras Bukhari.

A few people, who were opposed to ‘General Sahib,’ however, believed that his security staff was also not pleased as they ‘jogged’ all the way from the Army House to ‘Raja Bazaar’ on both sides of ‘General Sahib’. And they were the happiest when they came to know that ‘General Sahib’ has abandoned all his future plans to ride bicycle.

But it seems that the ‘cycle’ got imprinted on brains of some very important people and may be it was out of sheer unwavering commitment towards ‘General Sahib’ that the Islami Jamhoori Ittehad (IJI) decided to adopt ‘Cycle’ as their election symbol for the first time in the 1988 general elections.

Some people still claim that as the IJI was formed by those whose conscience awakes only years after retirement and are generally referred to as ‘Aabpara Walley’ that is why they picked ‘Cycle’ as the election symbol for the IJI. May be they were the people who advised ‘General Sahib’ to ride the bike in the first place. Mian Nawaz Sharif contested his first elections under the symbol of ‘Cycle’ at that time in 1988.

We believe it is just ‘green talk’!

In 1990 elections, ‘Mian Sahib’ rode to power on ‘Cycle’ but was unsaddled in 1993 when the Pakistan Muslim League-Junejo (PML-J) group won their claim to be the rightful heir to the symbol. ‘Mian Sahib’ decided to ride the ‘Tiger’ and limped to second place!

Over all these years ‘Cycle’ became the election symbol of the pro-establishment political party, thus it landed in the lap of PML-Q for the 2002 and 2008 general elections.

This time, it seems that the ‘Cycle’ has got stuck in a pretty deep rut. But evidently it is still worth something.

— Mobarik A. Virk