Local government election of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa has proved my words that Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s issues regarding KP and Balochistan have been settled. However, that doesn’t mean that the elections were rigged.
Establishment affects elections in two ways. One is that in certain circumstances, for certain purposes, a particular party is required in power. And secondly, the establishment is not in favour of a particular party to take the reins.
We all know that Maulana Fazlur Rehman has taken a firm stand against the Establishment since the 2018 elections. Due to this tough, clear and unequivocal stand, JUI’s support has been witnessed for the first time in Punjab and Sindh. Otherwise, JUI was only popular in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.
Maulana Fazlur Rehman has become very important in both these provinces due to his position in recent years. But despite his importance, Maulana’s success could only be assured if the Establishment had the confidence that he would not resort to the same resistance after gaining power. After the LG polls, it has been assured that Maulana’s authority will not be a headache for the Establishment. And that’s a good thing.
However, due to his post-2018 stance, Maulana Fazlur Rehman now has support in Punjab as well. But it can be said with certainty that this support is still not enough to win seats in Punjab in the coming elections. With the help of this support, JUI must field its candidates in Punjab and Sindh for the next elections.
The significance of these votes will be that non-aligned Punjabi voters will begin to take a closer look at the JUI’s performance in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan. If this party can show remarkable performance there, then its effect will surely be seen in Punjab in the elections five or six years later.
For success in Punjab, JUI and Jamaat-e-Islami must understand the psyche of Punjabi voters. You can take out a million marches from Punjab in the name of religion but you cannot get votes at all. These provinces have fewer illiterate voters and more literate voters. An educated voter votes on the basis of logic, not emotion.
The same thing we witnessed in the difference between Egypt and Turkey. In Turkey, Erdogan and in Egypt, Mohamed Morsi emerged as religious forces. As soon as Mohamed Morsi came to power, he took up the banner of religion and began trying to convince the world that the “religious revolution” had finally taken place in Egypt.
There has never been a revolution in the world through voting. Revolutions in France, Russia, China, Cuba and Iran came in the form of revolutions. Thus, when revenge emerged as the first priority in these revolutions, it did not affect the revolution but strengthened it.
Revolution is the name of a mass uprising and confrontation whose spirit is angry. So when it comes, it crushes the class against which it rises. We can say in the scriptures that revenge is a bad thing. Murder is always wrong. But in practice, it is not possible for a revolution to come and not take revenge.
When Mohamed Morsi came, he was elected as a political leader but he acted like a revolutionary leader, so the result was the same. If the revolution had really taken place in Egypt, there would have been no question of a rollback. A revolution always reaches a logical conclusion. It gets the name of revolution only when it succeeds, otherwise, it is called a failed coup.
Compared to Mohamed Morsi, Tayyip Erdogan proved to be a very mature person. He knew that his victory was an election victory, not a revolution. He also knew that the key role in this victory would be the performance. Therefore, he was fully aware that as the Prime Minister, he could be stable only if Istanbul’s like performance can be done all over the country.
He put the economic problems of Turkish citizens first. When Islam says that cleanliness is half faith, then who can say that making Istanbul a clean city was not a religious act but a worldly act? When Islam says to be loving and cooperative with your neighbor, then who can say that it is not a matter of Islam by giving economic development to the country to feed the citizens?
Our tragedy is that it is very clear from the speeches of our religious leaders that their concept of the Islamic system revolves around a few slogans that help solve their own economic problems in the form of donations but ordinary citizens get nothing.
Maulana Fazlur Rehman, who emerges victorious in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa local body elections, is in the last days of his life. In his last days, if they turn religious politics from traditional slogans to public service, future generations will be grateful to them.
But if they still carry on the same traditional religious politics of taking votes from the citizens and chanting slogans to appease these students of the madrassas, then their victory may be a reward for students but not for the people. So while congratulating him on the victory, I respectfully request that now we will see whether you are still doing politics of reward or reward from service.
