Political pollution!

Mud-slinging does not come under development projects. It does not improve the situation, or cleanses the atmosphere. The sense fog we are experiencing in the heavens above (weather) during these early February days are being reflected in the notorious fogginess in our political culture. We are suffering from lack of political sunshine (and warmth) in these days of cold wars.

New negative modalities are being introduced in the politico-religious fields, with the sudden upsurge in the anti-Ahmadiyya movement, never seen before in this part of the world since the British days. The presence of hidden foreign hands cannot be discounted when the huge Asian market is up for grabs by the world powers. There is another negative factor in our politics. According to a news item, 45 per cent of the MPs are business persons, without a background or experience in politics. This creates pockets of vested interests. The system losses are huge, based on cumulative effect, but the political pundits concerned are keeping rather mum on the adverse implications.

Legitimate political activity was on hibernation for many years since independence in 1971; and now it looks like that there is a need for a second phase of resting period for the super-active politicians under training (tutorial). If trainees become leaders, then the future of the nation is not bright.

The philosophical approach to create a suitable base is to have a clear role of reward and punishment in the society. Defaulters cannot sit over policies and judgement. The established institutions have to be revived for proper processing of public grievances. The role of the bureaucracy (civil service) is warped due to political distortions; and there are allegations in the press about a parallel secretariat in operation these days. The public services and institutions are already overloaded, with low entrenched inefficiency. The reforms have to start at the roots and trunks, and not at the branches and leaves (thus the details would automatically sort out in the right mode). Ad hocism in politics is a bane for emerging societies.

What we need is perhaps a parallel political stream.