Toofan

Khuda tujhe kisi toofan se aashna kar de
Kay teray behr ki maujon mein iztarab nahi


Perhaps even Allama Iqbal could not have predicted how far his nation will fall.
Lately, Pakistan has seen ‘Toofan’ after ‘toofan’. Some brought in by the nature while others created by the people themselves. First, the earthquake, then the senseless killing and destruction supposedly in the name of Islam and now the floods. The last one could have been a blessing except we were not prepared to receive it. For decades now, we hear that we do not have much electricity and we cannot properly cultivate our land because of shortage of water. When Allah gave us enough water that could last us a decade, we were not prepared to make use of it. We all know the solution for decades. However ask anyone and he or she will blame someone else.

My question to all of you is this. Is this a situation where perhaps democracy is not the answer?

More than seventy years ago, Iqbal said this about the state of his people.

Nishan-e-Rah Dekhatay thay jo Sitaron ko
Tarus gaey hein Murd-e-Rahdan kay le-aye

Do you think we still need a ‘Murd-e-Rahdan’—a leader of great vision today?

If the question is yes then how are we going to find that person? Through our current system of democracy?