What Can the New Year hold for Pakistan

One can never dare take their eyes of the fast paced world of Pakistani politics, blink and it’s as if you've missed a whirlwind of events. What a year 2011 has bought. Who would have imagined that the oligarchs running Tunisia, Egypt and Libya would be systematically bought down by their own people- tired of constant neglect and yearning for their God given rights to be recognised.

Thoughts of the Arab Spring coming to Pakistan are far afield. Pakistan enjoys a relatively free press, although Musharraf and Zardari often flirted with its boundaries, and despite the cancer of corruption that prevails through all forms of government- Pakistan does have some sort of democracy albeit filled with feudal Lords.

However, Pakistan is experiencing its own type of ‘Arab Spring’ of late. And who other to lead such a revolution than Imran Khan himself. A man who less than 3 months ago was left on the fringes of chat show politics but now  finds himself at the forefront of a revolution that threatens to turn the political establishment of Pakistan on its head. Rallies numbering in the 100,000 in important cities of Pakistan plus high profile political defections have added to this new impetuous and created hope that just maybe a new political blossom is approaching Pakistan. Perhaps these hopes will be proven to be just ‘dreams’ but nonetheless Pakistan deserves better. A country once envisaged by its forefathers to be one based on the principle and fundamentals of Islam, one based on unity, humility and respect but now lies in squalor, greed and corruption.

But with the New Year there comes hope. Rumours have already begun in Pakistan that the PTI is expected to win a 2/3 majority in the next General election. The political storm that has erupted in Pakistan, fuelled by countless decades of corruption and stirred even more so by the complete failure of the current administration, signals the determination and the desire for change to come to Pakistan. Let’s not be under any illusion. At the centre of this sweeping change in Pakistan lie the efforts of the youth. It Is truly this generation that will be the flag bearers and the spokesmen and spokeswomen of Pakistan in the future. Zardari and indeed Sharif may have the support of greedy, single minded ‘barons’ but the ordinary Pakistani citizen has had enough. There’s a saying often said by people in Pakistan which is “Pakistanis can only elect corrupt officials”. Well I believe it’s time we prove that wrong and show that Pakistan can be a bastion of justice and run properly in accordance with Islam and its principles. Our leaders have done nothing but tarnish the name of not only Pakistan but also Islam.

John Stuart Mill once said, 'As long as justice and injustice have not terminated their ever renewing fight for ascendancy in the affairs of mankind, human beings must be willing, when need is, to do battle for the one against the other.' The time has come where injustice can no longer be tolerated. Imran Khan and his party bring hope for a fresh future to Pakistan and a future in which Pakistan can be looked on as a truly Islamic Welfare State- and it will only be then that there will be Insaaf Lil Ammah (Justice for the ordinary).