Takht Lahore and its sense of deprivation
You know perfectly well how our armed forces and the bureaucracy still prefer to retain full control of the state’s affairs. So it’s okay if the elected representatives of the smaller provinces were in power at the centre, because the affairs continued to be run the way the real owners wished. Even though, the government was comprised of representatives from the smaller provinces. It was, therefore, understandable that Takht Lahore – that has always spent its money generously – began to develop a sense of deprivation, as it was not represented adequately in the centre. So it is only Takht Lahore that truly knows how difficult it is to exist without being in power at the centre.
How far do you think Lahore is from Islamabad? The latter was specifically built so that all problems could be solved before nightfall. Mian Sahab even took the trouble to construct the motorway to make this easier. You saw how it became possible to solve all problems with the help of Lahore-Islamabad motorway. But in the last five years, people from far-flung places not only had a blast in Islamabad but also poked much fun at the expense of Takht Lahore, teasing them unnecessarily. On one hand, people from small tribes and provinces were ruling in Islamabad, while the Takht Lahore was sinking in the darkness without any electricity and gas.
In a way, the inhabitants of Takht Lahore asked for votes by saying that the people sitting at the centre and the smaller provinces were the ones that punished the Takht Lahore for being the largest and for possessing the majority was the reason for the darkness and gas deprivation the Takht was suffering. They will eliminate the darkness as soon as they come into power and return the light forcibly taken from them back to their people, they had said. And now when the Takht Lahore has actually come into power, they say that it will take still more time yet to return the light stolen from their people. Mr. Minister has even said that the public will have to decide if it wants CNG or electricity, as they can only manage to provide one or the other.
Actually, our public hasn’t been able to understand the fact in the last 65 years, that the language spoken while one is in power and the language spoken when one isn’t in power are two entirely different languages. Just like day and night, these two languages can never become the same. No matter whoever it is, across the line of power, each person speaks the language of that particular side. If you wish to have Mian Sahab and his cronies speak the same language that they were speaking just before they were voted into power, well, a person will say anything during a rally speech.
But on this throne – which they have come to possess with your assistance – even a comedian starts to talk sense. Mian Sahab is already a serious and patient man. And this time, the public is expecting so many things from him that after crossing the line into power; he not only looks serious but even somewhat saddened. His feeble smile hides many secrets, which will slowly be revealed. Some have already begun to be revealed.
It will be enough if the ones who were planning to bring change within a day can bring that promised change to the place where they have been given a chance to do so. However, in the place where there was no chance that there would be any change ever, Mian Sahab’s one decision has laid its foundations exactly there. On one hand, this decision has indeed worried many but on the other hand it also indicates the next measures that Mian Sahab will probably take. At first, the prime minister was just another pawn in the game of presidency. But now at least the former won’t have to constantly look to the latter for assistance in making such decisions.
The inhabitants of our presidency only have a few more months to go. Then they will have to satisfy their wish to be a president from Karachi’s Bilawal House. Actually, before Islamabad was built, the Presidency was situated in Karachi. But after it moved to the new capital, it is now known as the Governor House. Yet, the road is still known by its old name: Aiwan-e-Saddar Road. This time, the governor will be an Urdu-speaking person. The PPP is already beginning worry about the fact that a Bhutto is going to become the governor, when actually the real Bhutto is eagerly awaiting the departure of the fake Bhutto from the presidency. As soon as the fake one packs up, another bombshell will be thrown upon us.
Mian Sahab has always enjoyed throwing bombshells. When the real Bhutto will sit in the presidency, the sense of deprivation that the Sindhis have suffered due to the two-and-a-half ministries they were given in the Centre, according to a Sindhi newspaper, will be alleviated to some extent. But now it’s time that PPP was held accountable for its actions of the last five years towards the Takht Lahore that reduced it to the lowest point of deprivation. So now the latter shall lead the state proceedings for the next five years. Even then, the Takht plans to keep Larkana at the forefront because the fake Bhutto had moved to Nawabshah and usurped Larkana in the process and now the real Bhutto must be brought back into the fray. Then you’ll see what the Takht Lahore and Larkana will do in Sindh.
Those smaller provinces are entirely your concern! After the 18th Amendment, all provinces have become responsible for their actions. Balochistan has been handed to its real heirs. Let’s see how they deal with the abductors of the ‘missing persons’ fame and those who leave corpses everywhere. Five corpses were gifted to them on the very first day in office. Those in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) are still squabbling over the provincial education ministry. Shoot down a drone and then we’ll believe you. The real change will become evident when it’s time for the moon sighting at the start of Ramazan. In Sindh, a day of mourning and a strike coincided with the provincial government’s first day in power. Apparently, it seems that those who are always in power are going to spend their next five years in power playing the ‘Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Ghum’ film. They will keep coming and going – sometimes happy, sometimes not.
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