Repeating history

That the only lesson we learn from history is that we learn no lesson from history seems to be indelibly ingrained in us. When Musharraf took over, making all the right noises, one hoped that he might emulate Mustafa Kamal Pasha. People hoped that he would clean our Augean stables. Unfortunately, he became a politician.

Even though I am not a great fan of Imran Khan’s overnight elevation to power, he too brought back hope that he might continue and succeed where others had failed. Today, I think the greatest tragedy to have befallen Pakistan is not that Imran Khan keeps shooting himself in the foot, or even that all those sycophants around him ably assist him. The real tragedy is that people knowingly want to bring back those who, over the years, have brought us to this sorry situation. In the once-popular TV series, Kojak, Telly Savalas utters a prophetic line: “A city gets the police it deserves”. Perhaps, logically, a nation also gets the leaders it deserves!

Dr Mervyn Hosein

Karachi