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Pakistani Army chief Raheel Sharif (R) speaking with a student at the Army Public School after it was reopened following an attack there by Taliban militants in Peshawar. - AFP
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Optics. Along with ‘collateral damage’, ‘doable’ and other such terms – this is a uniquely American invention. When applied to the political sphere, this essentially means “the way things look to the general public.”
Now politicians are much like any other product; they need to be marketed, to have a unique selling proposition, to be responsive to public opinion and also to take advantage of available PR opportunities in order to maximize sales. In this case, ‘sales’ translates into votes and goodwill, both of which are a politician’s lifeblood.
With that in mind, let’s examine what occurred on 1/12/2015, when the Army Public School reopened.
There was the COAS, meeting and greeting the students and teachers, his visage stern and fatherly at the same time, offering empathy and support.
At this point let me freely concede that those students and teachers possess more courage in their little fingers than I can hope to have accrued over a lifetime. The simple act of venturing into those rooms once again is inconceivable to me, and their bravery (courage is about overcoming fear, not being immune to fear) is now a thing of legend and a part of our collective national memory as much as the attack itself is seared onto our consciousness.
While the COAS was present and active on the scene, our civilian leadership was conspicuous in its absence.
Let’s also be clear that here I am singling out the Prime Minister and his representatives and also Imran Khan and his provincial party leadership which does, after all, govern KP.
While the COAS now has dozens of pictures of him at the scene, with all the goodwill they represent, the civilians only have increasingly lame excuses.
'Busy with Kerry' Nawaz
Nawaz Sharif, it seems, was busy in preparations for the Kerry visit. Fair enough, but surely a short stop at the school would have been possible? And if not, then perhaps a visit by his ever-energetic brother or, really, any family members or party officials (sometimes one and the same) would have sufficed.
Even if we buy the ‘busy with Kerry’ argument, what stopped him from, say, visiting APS on the day of the attack or a day later and making a speech, much like Hollande at Charlie Hebdo, to galvanise the nation?
Whether or not the nation would actually be galvanised is irrelevant. In terms of perception the dividends for NS would have been huge. It would have allowed him to play statesman, standing in marked contrast to Imran Khan, who was busy in other matters. At least, that’s how any PR agency worth its retainer would have played it.
'Yes sir' Imran
Imran Khan's tweets speak volumes:Imran Khan
Planned to be with our brave children who returned to APS today along with Reham & CM KP, but we were advised to postpone visit 1/2
Think about that for a moment: this is a man whose entire political career is built upon challenging the powers that be, of speaking out loudly, of being (apologies to Altaf Hussain) the ‘right’ man at the right time.
This is also a man who spent months loudly lambasting, lampooning and abusing politicians to the widespread applause of his devotees. Who threatened to hang policemen if they touched his followers.
And now he is told to stay away from an event as momentous as this, and he meekly says ’yes sir?’
This actually sounds like a good idea to him?
Note also that the attack did not take place in Lahore (woe to the Sharifs if it had) or Karachi (he would have called for Qaim Ali Shah’s head) or in that forgotten corner of Pakistan we call Quetta. It took place in Peshawar; the seat of his power.
Let’s also give credit where credit is due: the KP CM and various MPA’s did in fact spend the day visiting government schools and such, and have pictures to prove it. Imran Khan did also visit the APS at least once. But let’s also understand that this simply doesn’t matter.
Visiting a hundred, even a thousand government schools, does not come close to matching the importance of visiting the APS on this all-important day.
And ‘advice’ to stay away is no excuse at all, because last I checked leadership entails, well, leading.
It does not, in any definition, entail obediently doing what you were told to do. Moreover, was anything stopping anyone from visiting once the COAS had left?
Let’s also address another defence that is being made: that the KP govt believes in doing and not just in photo ops. Now that’s rich coming from a party that started a countdown every time there was a blast in KP during the ANP’s rule, counting the seconds it took for an ANP representative to reach the site or the hospital, and calling for resignations if they did not, all the while being fully aware that the ANP were the Taliban’s number one target.
Politics is about perception, and if any politician or political advisor did not see the importance of making an appearance at APS, then that person does not deserve to be in the game to begin with. In the corporate world, such an inept brand manager would have been fired long ago.
While we’re on this topic, lets also examine another deflection that’s being made.
Some have questioned, in a transparent attempt at distracting from this PR fiasco, as to why the PPP leadership is not being questioned as to their own absence. Where was the chairman and co-chairman, they ask? And why won’t you criticize that with as much passion?
The answers are simple: the PPP, in its present form, is a sinking ship; a spent force. The decline that set in long ago has only been accelerated by the multiple launches and withdrawals of the political product that is Bilawal, the one small hope the PPP had of an effective rebranding. It is also an object example of how, a flawed product cannot be made successful simply by adding new packaging and a new slogan. Sorry PPP, but PR and marketing can only enhance a product when you first fix the product itself. And to launch a product and then withdraw it (four times by my count) is just bad planning.
The second reason is, of course, that the PPP does not govern KP. Yes, it should have been there regardless, but the primary onus does not lie on them. Not that they displayed any particular sense of empathy, or sense, when they were in power.
Brand Imran
The man on whom the onus lies, however, seems bent on making it as hard as possible for his supporters to justify his behavior. When parliament was voting on the 21st amendment, he was giving a press conference on rigging, making claims without waiting for the actual NA -122 report to come out.
On the day APS opened he was doing the same. Those who talk about deflection may want to consider this as well, if they can lower their blinkers long enough to do so.
That he survives missteps that would doom any other politician is also a factor of branding. Brand Imran has immense goodwill and is buoyed by the fact that, on a national level, the other products (Brand PML-N, Brand PPP, Brand MQM, ANP and so on) are so very stale, have so many customer complaints to their name.
Note also that I say Brand Imran, not Brand PTI, as this is a party that survives solely due to one man and on the immense brand equity he brings to the table.
As for Nawaz, well, he’s already got his tenuous lease on life, as expertly set out in Cyril Almeida’s column. He doesn’t need to do more, even if he were inclined to do so; he isn’t.
Finally, many have decried the COAS’s move as being a ‘trap’ the hapless politicians have somehow fallen into.
Once again, if this is indeed the case, then it was an incredibly obvious one and one that even the long-extinct Dodo would not have fallen prey to.
If this was indeed a case of the military taking up civilian space then, sorry to say, it was an easy opportunity for our politicians and to miss it was criminal negligence.
No wonder then, that no one’s buying what they’re selling.
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