An American election in Pakistan

Like most Asian countries, Pakistanis love politics. Pakistan itself provides great political entertainment for the masses as we are treated to strikes, long marches, mudslinging and grand charges of corruption almost every day not to mention the constant media trials. Throw in a few anti-Pakistan chants like Altaf Hussain (of the Muttahida Quami Movement) did late last month and you have a treasonous hot potato everybody wants to talk about. Needless to say, if it’s politically volatile or mildly interesting, we want to talk about it.

The US general elections are no exception despite the fact that they are happening at the other end of the world. Perhaps it would not be wrong to assert that they are the most followed elections on the planet. Most countries follow US elections to gauge policies which the coming administration would enact and how these policies would influence their political and more importantly socioeconomic relationship with the US. In Pakistan, such an interest may be expected from the politicians and the bureaucracy, however our common man is much simpler. To him, the US elections are something like the Survivor series where he is the survivor.

{mosads}The common man’s understanding of power in Pakistan is quite rudimentary. For him power is inherently evil because it corrupts – a strong perception built over time by the prevalent abuse of power by the feudal and traditional politicians entrenched in our society. Since he hasn’t been able to shake off the yoke of feudal power in the 69 years of Pakistan’s existence, this perception is not going to change anytime soon. Add in the fact that most Pakistanis think that our politicians take their orders from Washington and you have a perfect recipe for disdain and long distance loathing.

Even with their mixed feelings for America, Pakistanis are always interested when election time comes around. Obama’s first presidential campaign was followed quite avidly by urban residents and debates on why he was the right guy for Pakistan could be witnessed in every sphere of public life. This perhaps had more to do with the expectations that had built around Obama’s campaign promises and partly because collectively as a nation we all hated Bush junior. To the masses, he was a mass murderer, hell bent on capturing Muslim oil. I also remember Oprah’s tears of joy at Obama’s acceptance speech, which I watched live on CNN.

His election had affected us all. There was a wave of happiness in Pakistan when he won, so much so that even religious scholars were discussing his victory. I distinctly recall a religious scholar I know talking about eschatological sources mentioning that at the dawn of the end times a black man will rule the west. Those were the days.

Given the popularity of the 2008 Elections, I think this year’s elections will garner more attention throughout the world, especially in Pakistan. This may partly be because of the lack of interest in the 2012 Elections where most people knew that Obama would triumph but mostly it’s because this year, we are not sure who will win.

Let me clear one thing outright. We don’t hate Donald Trump more than we dislike Hillary Clinton. This is perhaps less her fault than it is Obama’s. His troop pullout from Afghanistan and Iraq was only followed by intensified black ops in several Arab states including Syria, which is now a thorn in America’s side. If he thought that his support of proxies would be more popular than having American boots on the ground, he should fire his advisors. Everyone still blames the US for the mess, which is the Middle East — and this is besides the fact that most traditional societies consider rescinding troops from a battlefield, a sign of defeat. In Hillary, people only see a perpetuation of Obama’s policies.

To most Pakistanis, Trump signifies the ultimate American. He is rich, socially influential and has had loads of hot girlfriends – everything a poor man dreams about. However, they do dislike him for his stance on immigrants and especially Muslim immigrants. Pakistanis constitute a very large community within the US, some of whom are now second generation Americans. The thought of being expelled from the country of your birth must be quite disturbing for them. There is a similar uneasiness within Pakistan.

If Trump wins and sends numerous Pakistanis back home, they will be competing against the locals within a shrinking job market. As companies in Pakistan prefer foreign educated and experienced employees, many locals feel threatened. On the upside, the influx of expatriate dollars will increase direct investment within Pakistan especially in sectors such as Properties and the Stock Market.

Most people argue that Trump will never be able to win it because he won’t garner the votes needed when the time comes. Whoever wins this one, Pakistanis just hope that they will see the end of war in the Middle East and an administration, which actually appreciates the efforts that Pakistan has put in curbing terrorism. They also hope that the US would stop pandering to India and prefer Pakistan instead. I guess most don’t realize that we need lobbyists like Charlie Wilson to become important to the U.S. administration again.

Hassan Abbas Rizvi is a political blogger in Pakistan and a former Assistant Editor at Oxford University Press.

The views expressed by contributors are their own and not the views of The Hill.