Side-effect

Lahore was warm, friendly, flaunting and boisterous as usual. The occasion was a meeting organised by a promising journalist Mehmal Sarfaraz and a budding political organiser Zeeshan Noel Christopher to discuss a new countrywide political party. Encouraging was the fact that both the organisers are well under 30 years of age and they were able to gather people from a wide cross-section of society. It was in fact one of the many meetings being organised across the country. The party is being established around social democratic principles, contemplating radical economic and political reforms, and wants to promote collective leadership emerging from the grassroots. There were trade unionists, teachers, journalists, artists, writers, political workers and students who virtually dissected the opportunities and constraints that would come by in this tedious process. A policy document prepared by some of us for the proposed party was also read out and discussed.

I have been a part of some of these meetings myself in Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Peshawar, Multan, Sukkur, Hyderabad, Karachi, Turbat and, earlier, in Lahore. A number of such events have been organised in smaller cities of all four provinces and Azad Kashmir. Various groups and individuals are participating, mostly left-leaning but also others who are terribly unhappy with the situation and think it is about time that they themselves take charge. The idea is to bring people together on a crisp, cogent and doable programme which focuses on economic progress through development in agriculture and industry and provision of social services to every citizen. The initiative was taken by Dr Hassan Nasir who returned to Pakistan a few years ago and started reaching out to people all over. He is the son of the most adored humanist leader who believed in socialist ideals, the Late Dr Aizaz Nazeer, who spent 28 years of his life behind bars as a political prisoner during the Ayub, Bhutto and Zia periods. Dr Hasan

Nasir was born after the martyrdom of the young revolutionary Hasan Nasir and is named after him. The senior Nasir was brutally tortured and killed in the Lahore Fort torture cell in 1960. His famous requiem was written by Faiz Ahmed Faiz. People say that he was an unusually handsome man and when his mother came to identify his body, it was so disfigured that she couldn't recognise her son. The political workers of Pakistan make us proud for they have paid a huge price to make the people of this country truly free and prosperous. I feel agitated when a part of the intellectuals and intelligentsia in this country give a verdict that there is no possibility for bringing change in Pakistan due to a lack of will in its citizens and a medieval social order.

I have said before and I say again that we need incorrigible optimists. The people of Pakistan, belonging to diverse social, ethnic and economic backgrounds, possess more determination than ever before to change their collective destiny, eradicate poverty and injustice, live with dignity and freedom, and create a modern, legal, rational and just state: a state that lives up to the expectations of its citizens, harbours new hopes, fulfils aspirations and unleashes the creative potential. Where the will lacks is in the civil and military elite who have neither a sense nor an ability to steer us through the storm, the incompetent and self-serving politicians, and in cynical and self-conceited intellectuals. What we need now to ensure a prosperous future is a new broad-based political force that thrives on a shared vision, internal democracy, honest practices and dedicated cadres. It should be a force that has the ability to bring all stakeholders under one roof, negotiates with internal and external actors in the interest of the people, sets itself realistic but high targets of achievement in all spheres, and enjoys mass popularity due to its political programme, competence, commitment and drive. I see enormous prospects for the emergence of such a political force and that is why working for its success. This will happen sooner than we predict.



The writer is an Islamabad-based poet and rights campaigner. Email: harris@spopk.org