Power of democracy needed

Living in Pakistan’s largest city, we come across people from all spheres of life. I belong to an Urdu speaking family, and whenever I tell somebody that, they somehow evaluate me as an MQM supporter. This has made me think that perhaps different parties play on cultural differences to gain votes. They don’t want to represent us in any way; winning a seat is their ultimate goal. All promises made are just a stepping stone to rise above their opponents, or a popularity stunt. To them, the Pakistani public has just become a vote-giving machine: as soon as they have been used, they are discarded. Nobody listens to any complaints afterwards.

Democracy is a way for the people to choose their leaders; which can only happen when we have honest and righteous candidates to choose from, ones with the national interest as their priority! We are so hopeless that we run towards the slightest ray of sunshine that peeks, and yet, never learn from our mistake. We keep relying on the next ray of sunshine to put out our miseries; the last hinge our nation is hanging by, at the moment.

What we need is true leadership, true patriotism, and true representation of one nation. Nobody wants Sindhi, Balochi or Pakhtoon representatives any more; we need a Pakistani. I hope and pray, in the near future, one of us stands up to those who have robbed us of our nationality, our identity as Pakistanis, and our unity as a nation. I hope he is able to convince us with his virtues, his speeches and his actions, and not his caste or bank balance, so that we can all vote for him and make an example of the power of democracy.

—Karachi