Advocating a French- style Revolution may do no good to Pakistani Society.

Mr. Altaf Hussain, leader of MQM ( Mutahida Qaumi Movement) while making a telephonic address to a gathering of workers on 2 September 2010, has cautioned that a revolution in Pakistan is on the door steps. He urged the workers to motivate the people to get prepared for a revolution on the lines of French Revolution. He reiterated that feudal lords and corrupt politicians, who will be the primary target in the revolution, will not be allowed to escape. He said that those who have looted the national wealth will be hanged in public. Mr Altaf Hussain urged the armed forces and the establishment to join hands with the people of Pakistan for this revolution.

The sincerity of MQM leader cannot be doubted. The speech of the leader is a reflection of the desire that only a revolution can bail out the country from the rotten system which has eaten away all the resources and abilities of this great nation. The desire of the leader of a political party that claims to be the representative of the middle and lower classes of Pakistan to spear head the revolution, sounds logical. However we have to analyze all the pros and cons of such an occurrence.

First of all, the possibility of a bloody revolution has receded in the present times. Given the fantastic spread of electronic media and the ensuing awareness in the civil society, the people have become wiser than before. They now have better knowledge what to do and what not to do.

Secondly, the people of Pakistan have lost faith in the present political leaders. Presently no leader has the credibility to lead a nation wide revolution / movement. Almost all the leaders have a myopic viewpoint as far as their political profile is concerned. It at all a revolution takes place; it will determine its own course and will tend to bring forward its own leadership.

Thirdly, today we live in a world that has been turned into a global village. None of our action, including a revolution, will go unnoticed by the global powers that matter. Those powers would not like anything to happen that may jeopardize their grand / strategic plans in the region. If they feel that some thing is cooking up, they will interfere and try to defuse the situation.

A bloody revolution is not recommended because it may neither produce any favorable results nor will it do any good to the society. Pakistani society has already become frustrated and violent over the past many years due to multiple factors. A bloody revolution will only brutalize it further. At the end of the day there will be nothing but anarchy and confusion. There is a possibility that the rogue elements may hijack the revolution. People will take the law into their own hands and the scenes of brutal incidents of Sialkot will be repeated on the streets. I am sure that even if the revolution takes place, the big fish will slip way to their heavens abroad where they have amassed their wealth. Only the innocent ones and the people with much lesser crimes will be left to be victimized.

There is no doubt that it is only the people who can bring revolution. However best way to bring revolution is to change the system through ballet. The electorate will have to be educated by the political parties who really want to bring a change. Our religion Islam also denounces any violence or disturbance in the society. Islam advocates change through consultation ( mushawarat) that is by peaceful means. In my opinion this is the only plausible way out and our political leaders should work on this agenda.